Youth Mobility, Visa Regimes, and Creative Economies: Reconfiguring Cultural and Economic Exchanges in Africa and Beyond 
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PhD in Leadership Studies with reference to Security & Development

Background and context ​
​ The creative economy has emerged as a central site of cultural exchange, economic development, and soft-power politics linking Europe and Africa (UNCTAD 2018; Comunian et al. 2023). African popular culture—music, film, fashion, digital art—has gained significant global traction, with young creatives driving innovation and transnational flows (Strong & Ossei-Owusu, 2017). European institutions increasingly invest in Africa-focused creative collaborations as part of cultural diplomacy and development strategies (Schreiber 2021). Yet these exchanges are profoundly shaped by visa regimes, mobility infrastructures, and border governance that unequally distribute the right to move (Mau 2010; Sheller 2020). Young African creatives frequently face refusals, delays, and financial burdens when applying for European visas, limiting participation in residencies, festivals, and market opportunities. Conversely, European creatives in Africa experience different forms of friction—bureaucratic, logistical, or infrastructural—but rarely the same structural restrictions. Despite growing attention to the “global creative economy,” little research explores how youth mobility and visa policies concretely shape transnational creative work for African creatives 
Area of research ​
​​The proposed project will examine how youth mobility and visa regime structures enable or restrict the development of creative economies connecting Europe and Africa, or within Africa. It is expected that the project will use a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods.
Working at the intersection of
  • mobility studies: examining borders, visa politics, and differentiated mobility rights; including intra-Africa mobility and visa-free travel.
  • youth studies: focusing on youth precarity, aspirations, and global cultural participation.
  • creative economy scholarship: investigating cultural industries, creative labour, digital entrepreneurship, and transnational cultural flows
  • Africa–Europe relations: postcolonial theory, diaspora studies, and cultural diplomacy.
The research will provide a more robust engagement with theories and academic knowledge on young people’s aspirations, precarity, and global cultural engagement in relation to contemporary social theory. It will develop an understanding of how mobility is unequally distributed and politically regulated and will evidence how Visa regimes act as filters of privilege, producing hierarchies of selective mobility and the impact such barriers could have on cultural production, career trajectories and transnational cultural flows. It also seeks to consider how African youth navigate constrained pathways to mobility, often developing creative strategies to overcome structural limitations. 
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Project Code: 2627-ACBB6
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Entry Requirements

This project leads to the award of a PhD in Leadership Studies with reference to Security & Development. Before you apply, please check the specific entry requirements and once ready, complete the application via King's Apply. Remember to include the Project Code in your application.

Supervisors

Dr Wale Ismail, Senior Lecturer in Leadership, Peace & Development Education, African Leadership Centre
Dr Salvatore Di Novo, Lecturer in Culture, Media & Creative Industries (Economics), Department of Culture, Media and Creative Industries
​Marta Foresti, LAGO Collective and Visiting Professor of Practice at CMCI, King's College London.

Project Partner

LAGO Collective is a London-based research and creative collective focused on migration, culture, and the arts. They use data, visual design, film, sound and storytelling to challenge common narratives about movement and migration — reframing them not as crises, but as expressions of creativity, exchange and belonging.  Through projects like “All Other Passports” and the 2025 edition of “The Beauty of Movement 2025,” they bring together artists, policymakers and communities to reflect on mobility, identity and social inequality. By blending research with creative expression, LAGO Collective aims to reshape how societies view migration — emphasising dignity, diversity and connection over fear or division

Keywords
  • Creative producers
  • Mobility visa
  • International collaborations
  • Youth mobility
  • Creative economy
Expected outcome ​
Bridging knowledge and expertise across the Arts and Humanities, Social Sciences, and Public Policy, the project will contribute to some or all of the following outcomes:
  • Provides one of the first in-depth analyses of how mobility regimes shape the creative economy between Europe and Africa.
  • Advances mobility justice and creative economy theory through empirical engagement with youth cultural labour.
  • Illuminates new forms of digital/mobile creativity emerging amid constrained mobility.
  • Identifies barriers within EU and African visa systems affecting creative exchange.
  • Offers evidence-based recommendations for mobility reforms supporting equitable Europe–Africa cultural collaboration.
  • Supports cultural institutions, NGOs, and international agencies in developing more inclusive youth mobility frameworks.
 
Suggested readings
  • Comunian, R., England, L., Hracs, B. J., Joffe, A., Kibuchi, W., Madyibi, V., & Onyekaba, C. (2023). African Hub for Sustainable Creative Economies: collaborative activities and shared learning. An Impact Report. https://www.creative-economies-africa.org/resources/reports
  • Ismail, O. M. (2016). What is in a Job? The social context of Youth (un)employment in Africa. JOURNAL OF AFRICAN ECONOMIES, Vol. 25 (AERC Supplement 1), 37-60. Article Vol. 25 AERC Supplement 1. https://doi.org/10.1093/jae/ejv028
  • McNair, D. (Ed.).; Damluji, H.; Denwood, K.; Fakir, S.; Foresti, M.; Glennie, J.; Luke, D.; Maunganidze, O. A.; Munga, J.; & Ngoga, F. (2024). Why Europe Needs Africa. Carnegie Endowment for International Peace. https://eurafrica.info/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/McNair-Why-Europe-Needs-Africa-2024.pdf
  • Mau, S. (2010). Mobility citizenship, inequality, and the liberal state: The case of visa policies. International Political Sociology, 4(4), 339-361.
  • Sheller, M. (2020). Mobility justice in urban studies. In Handbook of urban mobilities (pp. 13-22). Routledge.
  • Strong, K., & Ossei-Owusu, S. (2017). Naija boy remix: Afroexploitation and the new media creative economies of cosmopolitan African youth. In Afropolitanism: Reboot (pp. 98-114). Routledge.
  • United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. (2018). Creative Economy Outlook 2018: Trends in international trade in creative industries (2002–2015) — Country profiles (2005–2014) (UNCTAD/DITC/TED/2018/3). https://unctad.org/system/files/official-document/ditcted2018d3_en.pdf​
Other online resources