Nelson Zavale

Nelson Casimiro Zavale is Associate Professor at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) in Maputo, Mozambique, where he also serves as Adviser to the Vice-Chencellor for Research Management, Chair of the Institutional Reform, and General Coordinator of the UEM–Swedish Cooperation Grant. During 2016-2020, he served as UEM’s Director of the Quality Assurance. He is also Associate Researcher at Nelson Mandela University, South Africa. He has held senior research fellowships at the University of California, Berkeley (USA), the University of Basel (Switzerland), the University of Kassel (Germany), RWTH Aachen University (Germany), and the College for Social Sciences and Humanities (Germany). From 2020 to 2024, he was an Affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences. His research interests focus on the sociology of (higher) education, and science, technology, and innovation studies. He has published in leading international journals, including Higher Education, Scientometrics, Science and Public Policy, International Journal of Educational Development, Quality in Higher Education, and Child Development. He has also published books and book-chapters. His latest book, University Societal Engagement in African Contexts: Benefits, Drivers and Constraints, was published by Routledge in 2025. Outside academia, he provided consultancy to several (inter)national organisations, including serving as Education Lead or Head for Save the Children in Mozambique.