Dr Alex Vines OBE is Senior Visiting Fellow at the African Leadership Centre. He is also Africa Director at the European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), where he leads the organisation's work on Africa–Europe relations, peace and security, political economy, energy transitions, and global governance.

Alex received his PhD from Coventry University and has worked for more than three decades on African politics, international relations, conflict, governance, and development. In 2002, he founded the Africa Programme at Chatham House and led it for over two decades, establishing it as one of the world's leading centres for research and policy dialogue on Africa. He also served as a Research Director and a Managing Director, joining Chatham House's Executive Leadership Team for over 15 years.

Alex served as Assistant Professor at Coventry University for 15 years and continues to maintain close links with academia. He is Senior Associate Research Fellow at the Istituto per gli Studi di Politica Internazionale (ISPI), an Honorary Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of International Affairs (NIIA), and a member of the Advisory Board of the John & Elnora Ferguson Centre for African Studies at the University of Bradford.

His research focuses on African politics, conflict, governance, natural resources, and Africa's role in an evolving international order, with particular expertise on Lusophone Africa. He has authored, co-authored and edited books and scholarly and policy publications, serves on the editorial and advisory boards of academic journals, and regularly comments on African affairs in the international media. He has also led United Nations investigative panels.

Research

• 'Europe-Africa Relations (including the UK)
• Political economies of Angola and Mozambique
• Africa's natural resource governance
• Future of Peace and Stability responses in Africa 

Alex's current research examines Africa's role in an increasingly multipolar international order, with particular emphasis on how African states and institutions are shaping global governance rather than simply responding to it.

His work explores the geopolitics of critical minerals, energy transitions, strategic supply chains, conflict and security, and the evolving relationships between Africa and external partners, including Europe, China, the Gulf states, and other emerging powers.

He is particularly interested in African agency, regional integration, and the implications of changing patterns of geopolitical competition for peace, economic transformation, and international cooperation. His research seeks to bridge scholarship and policy by informing practical approaches to governance and international engagement.