Our Team

Dr. Mamadou Bodian is a researcher and political scientist specializing in governance, security, and development issues in West Africa and the Sahel. He is a founding member of the Sahel Research Group (SRG) based at the University of Florida, and acts as an expert for Freedom House (Mali and Senegal), Varieties of Democracy (Mauritania), and Afrobarometer (Senegal).

His research focuses on religion, politics, and security issues in the Sahel. He is the author of several articles and co-author of Between Knowledge and Worship: Activism and Religious Movements in Sahelian Universities (Amalion, 2020). He has been a researcher in the Sahel and West Africa program at the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden.

A member of the scientific committee of the Dakar International Forum on Peace and Security in Africa, he serves as expert and consultant for the Center for Advanced Studies in Defense and Security (CHEDS) and the Institute of Defense of Senegal (IDS).

With more than ten years of experience in academic research, coordination of international projects (SIPRI, Fulbright/WARC, World Bank, Minerva Initiative), and university teaching, he has contributed to numerous works on security governance, religious dynamics, and conflicts in the region. Bilingual in French and English, he applies his skills to strengthening institutional capacities, cross-border cooperation, and promoting inclusive and collaborative security governance.

Since August 2021: Researcher at the Fundamental Institute of Black Africa (IFAN), Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar.

Dr. Jean Sylvestre D. Biagui, retired Colonel, was Program Manager of the Master's in Defence, Security and Peace at the Center for Advanced Studies in Defence and Security (CHEDS).

He served abroad in Sierra Leone with IMATT as part of the security sector reform process (2004-2005), as Observer with ONUCI in Côte d'Ivoire (2006-2007), and as Chief of Staff to the Commander of the MINUSCA Force in the Central African Republic (2016-2017). At the strategic level, he served as Division Chief in the Directorate of Legislative Control and as Legal Advisor to the Minister of the Armed Forces of Senegal.

His professional experience spans thirty-nine years in the Armed Forces, from the tactical to the strategic level, with developed expertise in human rights and gender. He contributed to drafting several national strategies, including the strategy for integrating gender in the Armed Forces, the national strategy to combat the proliferation of small arms and light weapons, the anti-mine strategy, and Senegal's National Security Policy.

Education. Master of Arts in Defence (King's College London); Master's in Citizenship, Human Rights and Humanitarian Action (Faculty of Legal and Political Sciences); Doctorate in Public Law from Cheikh Anta Diop University (UCAD).

Ousmane Ndiaye is a retired Chief Warrant Officer of the Senegalese National Gendarmerie with more than thirty years of experience in security, security sector governance, and international cooperation.

His career has spanned both strategic and operational roles within the Senegalese National Gendarmerie and the Interministerial Framework for the Coordination of Counter-terrorism Operations (CICO), as well as missions with international organizations including the United Nations (UNMISS — South Sudan), the American Bar Association (ABA-ROLI), and the United States Institute of Peace (USIP).

He specializes in community policing, conflict prevention and management, logistics, and security coordination. He has contributed to the drafting of national counter-terrorism strategies, the development of complaint mechanisms against security forces, and the training of police and military officers across West Africa and beyond. Bilingual in French and English, he brings recognized expertise in strategic planning, project management, capacity building, cross-border cooperation, and crisis management.

Distinctions: Knight's Medal in the National Order of the Lion of Senegal (2023); honored by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (2013). He dedicates his experience to promoting inclusive and effective security governance.