Biography
Alex Vines has led the Africa Programme at Chatham House since 2002. Previously he has held roles at Chatham House as director for regional studies and international security, and director for area studies and international law.
He chaired the UN Panel of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire from 2005 to 2007, and was a member of the UN Panel of Experts on Liberia from 2001 to 2003. He was also a member of the Commonwealth Observer Group to Nigeria in 2023 (Mozambique in 2019 and Ghana in 2016) and a UN election officer in Mozambique (1994) and Angola (1992).
He worked at Human Rights Watch as a senior researcher on its Africa, Arms and Business and Human Rights programmes, and has served as a consultant including for the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC); JICA, DFID, USAID, the EU and for the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).
He has also written expert reports for the EU parliament and has testified to law makers including for the US Congress and Senate, the EU parliament, the UK and Finnish parliaments and the Angolan and Mozambican National Assemblies.
He is an assistant professor at Coventry University, and sits on the editorial and advisory Boards for the South African Journal of International Affairs, Africa Review (journal of the African Studies Association of India), and the Journal of Southern African Studies.
He also serves on the board of EG Justice – an NGO focused on Equatorial Guinea and is on the advisory board of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS) at the University of Bradford.
Alex was awarded an OBE in 2008 in recognition of his work including founding and developing Chatham House’s Africa programme and holds a PhD from Coventry University.
A full list of research outputs by Alex can be found at this link.
Past experience
| 2019 - 2024 | Managing Director, Risk, Ethics and Resilience, Chatham House |
| 2019 - present | Member, Advisory Board of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies (JEFCAS), University of Bradford and formerly visiting Lecturer, Peace Studies and International Development, (2012-13 and 2018) |
| 2013 - present | Fellow (Hon.), Nigerian Institute of International Affairs, Lagos |
| 2010 - present | Director, EG Justice |
| 2009 - present | Assistant Professor (previously Senior Lecturer), Faculty of Arts & Humanities; and Director of the African Studies Centre, Coventry University (2014-16) |
| 2002 - present | Head, Africa Programme, Chatham House |
| 2012-18 | Research Director, Area Studies and International Law, Chatham House |
| 2008-2012 | Director of Regional and Security Studies, Chatham House |
| 2005-2007 | Member, later Chair, UN Panel of Experts on Côte d’Ivoire |
| 2001-2003 | Member, UN Panel of Experts on Liberia |
| 1993-2010 | Senior Researcher, Business and Human Rights, Human Rights Watch (part-time) and formerly Researcher/Senior Researcher, Arms and Africa Divisions, Human Rights Watch (full-time) |
| 1999-2002 | Associate Fellow, British-Angola Forum, Chatham House |
| 1997 | MacArthur NGO Fellow, Department of War Studies, King’s College, University of London |
| 1994-2000 | Research Associate, Queen Elizabeth House, University of Oxford |
| 1994 | Electoral officer, UNOMOZ, Mozambique |
| 1992 | Electoral officer, UNAVEM II, Angola |
| 1990-1993 | Africa Analyst, Control Risks |
| 1990 | Consultant, Centre for Southern African Studies, University of York |
| 1989 | Research Assistant, National Museums and Monuments, Masvingo, Zimbabwe |
| 1988 | Graduate Scholar, British Institute in Eastern Africa, Nairobi, Kenya |
