Adam Harris

Dr. Adam Harris is an Associate Professor in Development Politics at the Department of Political Science, University College London (UCL). Prior to UCL, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Gothenburg’s Governance and Local Development (GLD) programme (2015–2017) and currently serves on the GLD Steering Committee. He earned his PhD in Political Science from New York University in 2015.

His research focuses on ethnic politics, race relations, development studies, and African governance, employing experimental and survey methods. Key themes include challenging assumptions about ethnic voting by analyzing mixed-heritage voters and exploring aid effectiveness and the resource curse across countries like South Africa, Uganda, and Malawi.

His work has appeared in leading journals such as The Journal of Politics, Comparative Political Studies, and World Development. Dr. Harris teaches courses on international development, political economy, and identity politics. He has supervised graduate research on African politics, Chinese aid in Africa, and local governance.

His research on voting behavior in Africa, bureaucratic corruption, and pandemic governance has provided critical insights into governance challenges and electoral dynamics in developing nations.