In 2026, CIVICA is launching four Research Hubs. Led by faculty members, each Hub brings together research teams from across the CIVICA alliance, combining expertise from different disciplines and perspectives.

The Hubs are designed to act as connecting points within a wider European research network. Through workshops, conferences and collaborative events, they draw in scholars from across the alliance and beyond. Their purpose is to support seed research and lay the groundwork for larger, externally funded research projects in the future. 

The four hubs are: 

 

Introducing DigiAfrica 

Africa’s digital transformation is moving fast. Mobile services, digital trade, data centres, and online public services are becoming an everyday part of life across the continent. This transformation is not just about technology, it is also political, economic, legal, and historical. Decisions about infrastructure, regulation, and global partnerships shape who controls value, power, and resources in Africa’s digital future,  

DigiAfrica: Infrastructure, Critical Minerals, and Transnational Governance in Africa’s Digital Transition (DigiAfrica) is one of the new Research Hubs launched under the first CIVICA call. Running from February 2026 to June 2027, the hub focuses on the interplay between digital infrastructure, critical minerals, and transnational governance in Africa.  

As part of the CIVICA European University Alliance, DigiAfrica combines expertise from the social sciences including law, political economy economics, history, and anthropology, to explore the broader societal and policy implications of digitalisation. The hub approaches Africa’s digital transition as complex, interconnected process, where European social sciences research can help understand and guide real-world policy choices.   

 Who is involved 

DigiAfrica brings together researchers from four CIVCIA universities: Sciences Po, the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), Bocconi University, and the European University Institute (EUI). The hub also involves African research and policy institutions, including South African Institute of International Affairs (SAIIA), African Economic Research Consortium (AERC), UN Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA), International Growth Centre (IGC), Wits University, and others.  

Together these partnerships create a platform for interdisciplinary academic research and European academic collaboration. DigiAfrica demonstrates CIVICA’s commitment to the higher education cooperation in Europe that is open, outward-looking, and grounded in societal changes.  

What DigiAfrica is looking into: 

DigiAfrica studies Africa’s digital transition through three key areas: 

  • Digital infrastructure - DigiAfrica examines the physical and regulatory systems that make digital services possible, including connectivity networks, fibre-optic cables, data centres, cloud infrastructure, software, standard and rules. It explores how different infrastructure strategies shape digital sovereignty, economic inclusion, and long-term development, and what Africa and Europe can learn from each other’s strategies.  

  • Critical minerals - Digital and green technologies depend on minerals such as cobalt, lithium, and rare earths - many of which are found in Africa. DigiAfrica studies how global demand for these minerals intersects with digitalisation, whether the rising demand can be translated into structural upgrading and value creation, and how geopolitical competition between major global actors reshapes Africa’s options. The hub links mineral extraction directly to digital futures 

  • Transnational governance and rules - DigiAfrica also examines how regulatory frameworks are negotiated, adapted, and contested across borders, and which governance arrangements best support Africa’s digital ambitions.  Instead of asking whether European rules are “good for Africa”, it poses a different question: what governance frameworks best support Africa’s digital goals? The perspective contributes to broader debates on digital sovereignty, trade and data governance.  

  

Why this research matters now

Africa’s digital economy is expanding rapidly, but it continues to face major obstacles, including infrastructure gaps, fragmented regulatory frameworks, and unequal capture of value. Decisions about fibre-optic networks, cloud services, data governance or mining contracts are not just technical choices: they shape how power, risk, and economic value are distributed within countries and across borders. 

As Project Lead Dr Thomas Streinz explains, “studying Africa’s digital transition now matters because many of the core questions it raises—resource extraction and value distribution, data governance, digital industrial policy, and infrastructural self-determination—are also questions Europe is currently grappling with.”

At the same time African governments are pursuing ambitious digital strategies, including plans to build a continental digital market under the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA). Yet, Africa’s digital transition is unfolding in a crowded and competitive global environment, where actors from Europe, China, the United States, and elsewhere are investing, regulating and competing for influence.  

DigiAfrica examines how African actors navigate these relationships, negotiate partnerships and challenge one-size-fits-all models of digital development. By placing African agency at the centre of its analysis, the hub contributes social science research for policymakers and to global debates on the future of digital transformation. 

What the hub will deliver 

The hub will deliver three major workshops: Florence (digital infrastructure), Paris (critical minerals), and London (data governance & digital trade), alongside bi-monthly public webinars, policy-facing webinars and working papers, a full Horizon Europe grant proposal. The hub will also develop a long-term sustainability to ensure continued collaboration beyond the CIVICA funding period. 

 The goal is to establish a transcontinental platform for research, training, and policy dialogue on Africa’s digital transformation. By combining European social sciences with policy-relevant questions, DigiAfrica demonstrates how interdisciplinary academic research, European research collaboration, and universities’ civic engagement can help shape public policy in a rapidly changing digital world and contribute to ongoing conversations about the future of higher education in Europe.