The African Social Research Initiative (ASRI) at the University of Michigan, hosted by the African Studies Center, promotes excellence in social science research, facilitates new collaborative networks, offers statistical training, and fosters professional development among faculty and students at the University of Michigan and academic and non-governmental organization (NGO) research partners in Africa. Building on longstanding U-M research partnerships in South Africa and Ghana (since the 1990s), ASRI focuses on sustaining scholarly partnerships that use and teach multi-method approaches to data collection and analysis. Thematic foci are on politics (democratic governance); economics (income dynamics and poverty); and the intersections of gender, health and development.
Through data-sharing networks, collaborative research and training, and dedicated mentoring of young scholars, ASRI aims to have lasting, enriching effects both at the University of Michigan and at participating universities in Africa, preparing a new generation of scholars for science in the service of society.
