Abigail Branford

Biography

Dr Abigail Branford is a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at the University of Oxford, where her research brings together education, youth studies, and comparative politics. She explores youth perspectives on democracy and authoritarianism, with a particular focus on authoritarian nostalgia across Europe and Africa. Her work examines how young people come to understand histories of non-democratic rule, both within and beyond the classroom. She is also actively involved in teacher professional development and advises educational publishers and organisations on history teaching materials. Before taking up her current fellowship, Dr Branford was a Departmental Lecturer at Oxford’s African Studies Centre, where she taught courses on modern African history and politics. She holds degrees from the University of Cambridge and the University of Cape Town, and completed a doctorate in Education at the University of Oxford as a Rhodes Scholar. She has been awarded fellowships from the Leverhulme Trust, the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council, and Jesus College, Oxford.