IAS is a research body incorporated in and
funded by the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS).
The Institute has been conducting
research on historical, socio-economic,
ethno-cultural and political problems
of all independent African nations.
Field work has always been one
of the brightest components of the
activities of the Institute for African Studies.
In the 1960s these expeditions became
a regular activity of the Institute.
The key feature of all field research
in African countries has been their integrated nature.
Conferences are a major part of
activities of the Institute. They brighten
up the routine, provide new impetus
to the research, open up new fields
of study and expand the boundaries
of research activities.
The Institute for African Studies carries
out its publishing activities by publishing books,
pamphlets and articles relevant to the problems
of Africa, the Arab East, Russia and the CIS.
There is the Editing and Publishing Department
and a Printing shop at the Institute.
The Institute’s Doctoral Studies Department
is an independent structural unit, which deals
with the training of scholarly experts in the problems
of Africa. For the last half century the Institute had
more than 462 Ph.D. students and 32 Doctor of Science
fellows who successfully defended their thesis.
Among them 139 persons were foreign citizens.
The Council of Young Researchers
was recreated in 2009 with the object
of uniting the young researchers,
expressing their interests, saving
scientific potential and overcoming
negative tendency of the generation gap.
The library of the Institute for African Studies is the only
comprehensive collection of scientific and reference literature
on Africa in the Russian Federation and CIS countries.
The library makes a branch of the RAS Institute of Scientific Information
on Social Sciences (ISISS). Its stock numbers about 120 thousand
of library items: books, pamphlets, dissertations and periodicals in Russian
and foreign languages covering the problems of Africa and the Arab East.
April 17, 2026 Memorandum of Understanding on Co-Operation Between the Institute for African Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences Moscow, Russia and National University of Lesotho Roma, Kingdom of Lesotho
