Ben Jones

Ben Jones is an Associate Professor at the Centre of African Studies, Faculty of Theology, University of Copenhagen, and concurrently Professor of Social Anthropology at the School of Global Development, University of East Anglia. His research centers on social and political change in Africa through long-term ethnographic fieldwork in eastern Uganda since 2003.

His work spans social anthropology, African studies, and development research with emphases on youth, education, work, climate change adaptation, gender dynamics, and urban water governance. He employs collaborative methodologies partnering directly with local communities and young Ugandan researchers.

Recent publications (2023-2024) in journals including Compare, Urban Forum, and Africa analyze youth identity formation, Pentecostalism, urban vending economies, and financialization, revealing intersections between education, religion, and economic transformation in African contexts.

Dr. Jones secures major funding from the British Academy and Danish research councils for projects including:

• Youth, education, and work in rural Uganda
• Enumerator treatment in development surveys
• Agro-pastoralism under climate change (with Tufts University)
• Multiple Waterscapes in Urban Ghana (with Kwame Nkrumah University)

He collaborates extensively with Ugandan colleagues, the Busara Centre for Behavioural Economics, Northwestern University, and the Geneva Water Hub while serving on the editorial board of Africa journal.