David Ehrhardt studies governance and institutional change in Africa, with a focus on the role of non-state leaders (such as traditional and religious leaders) in promoting changes that enhance development. He is also co-lead of the Learning Mindset innovation project, which develops and researches educational tools that use reflection to promote autonomous learning in higher education.

More information about David Ehrhardt

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David Ehrhardt studies governance and institutional change in Africa, with a focus on the role of non-state leaders (such as traditional and religious leaders) in promoting changes that enhance development. He is also co-lead of the Learning Mindset innovation project, which develops and researches educational tools that use reflection to promote autonomous learning in higher education.

After a BA at University College Utrecht and an MPhil/DPhil (2012) from Queen Elizabeth House at Oxford University, David worked at Oxford as a post-doc on the Islam Research Programme funded by the Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2013, he has worked at Leiden University College on various research projects on Nigerian governance. His most recent project, funded by the Gerda Henkel Foundation, focused on the roles of Nigerian traditional leaders in security governance.

As co-lead of the Learning Mindset innovation project, David also develops and researches educational materials that promote autonomous learning in higher education. Reflection is central to the Learning Mindset approach, which has been piloted at Leiden University College and is now being implemented in different universities across the Netherlands and elsewhere. The Learning  Mindset project has been supported by a Comenius Teaching Fellowship (2020) and the Dutch Higher Education Award (2022).

At Leiden, David has developed and taught over a dozen different courses in African studies, international development, and political science. These courses range from small-scale, seminar-style classes to large compulsory first-year courses, and from project-based (online) courses where students with international clients to a fieldcourse in East Africa. David also co-chairs the Leiden African Studies Assembly, the network of all Leiden staff who work on issues related to the African continent. He co-hosts the Africa Knows podcast and has had several ICM/Erasmus+ grants to promote staff mobility between Nigeria and the Netherlands and is always interested in promoting cooperation between European and African scholars and policy makers. 

David supervises several PhD students and is open to new supervision/collaboration opportunities, especially on non-state/hybrid governance in Africa and anything related to the Learning Mindset.

Academic Expertise

• International Development
• Conflict Studies
• Africa (West Africa and Nigeria in particular)
• Politics of Ethnicity, Religion and Class

Courses

• Introduction to Development Studies
• Key Issues in the Politics of Development: Sub-Saharan Africa
• Global Challenges: Justice
• Designing Academic Inquiry
• Human Security

Publications