G’day Mate! I’m Franka Vaughan, innit? A Mobile Academic’s Tales of Visa Woes and Other Misadventures

Franka Vaughan (PhD) is a collaborative, community-engaged, and practice-oriented researcher and facilitator at the Nossal Institute for Global Health at the University of Melbourne, Australia. She is currently a Vichealth Postdoctoral Research Fellow, working towards developing a co-designed, whole-of-system approach to anti-racism. Her research program spans race relations in settler states, global histories of race and colonialism, governance and statebuilding in post-conflict settings, migration and diasporas, and antiracism praxis in research and curriculum. Franka’s PhD examined the influence of Black American colonization of Liberia on post-war contestations over identity and belonging. She holds a BA (Hons) in Political Science from the University of Ghana, and an MSc in International Development (Governance and Statebuilding) from the University of Birmingham (UK), where she was awarded the prestigious Mo Ibrahim Foundation Scholarship. Franka is a leader and a dedicated advocate for creating safe spaces and fostering an inclusive scholarly community for international students and emerging scholars interested in Africa and its global connections through her work with the African Studies Group at the University of Melbourne and beyond.