Niall O’Connor appointed SEI Africa centre director

SEI is delighted to announce the appointment of Niall O’Connor as the new SEI Africa Centre Director, effective May 2025. O’Connor brings extensive experience from government, academia and the non-governmental sector, strengthening SEI’s leadership at a time of growing demand for science-based solutions to today’s environmental and development challenges is more urgent than ever.

With a career spanning over 25 years, O’Connor has held senior leadership positions across Africa, Asia and Europe. His background in environmental and development, program management and academic engagement includes leading organizational change, building high-performing teams, developing practical solutions to complex challenges, and generating innovative ideas. He is also recognized for his ability to work with partners, develop capacity, nurture leadership and mobilize resources.

Foundations in Africa

O’Connor’s commitment to sustainable and equitable development is rooted in formative hands-on experiences in Africa. As an undergraduate, he interned in Kenya, where he first cultivated his passion for forestry that supports local communities. He later returned to Africa for his Master’s fieldwork in agroforestry, partnering with the World Agroforestry Centre (ICRAF) to conduct research focused on community-driven environmental solutions.

He went on to advise on farm forestry with the Irish agricultural agency, Teagasc, before establishing the Agroforestry Research Unit for the Government of The Gambia. There, he helped establish systems tailored to sub-Saharan Africa’s agroecological zones. Recognizing the importance of linking research with on-the-ground implementation, O’Connor transitioned into development programmes, eventually serving as Country Director for Concern Universal in The Gambia, Senegal and later Ghana. Among other initiatives, he led the development of the award-winning Gambia is Good programme, which linked smallholder farmers to local tourism markets.

Later, O’Connor served in senior leadership roles with the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) across Africa. His roles included Regional Representative for WWF Madagascar & West Indian Ocean, Director of Performance and Development Africa, and Regional Director for Eastern and Southern Africa – WWF’s largest Programme Office, overseeing six country offices and more than 450 staff.

He holds a BSc and MSc in Forestry from University College Dublin and an MSc in Biodiversity Conservation from Imperial College London, with a focus on community-managed nature park conservation.

A decade of leadership at SEI Asia

O’Connor joined SEI in 2016 as the Centre Director of SEI Asia, based in Bangkok, Thailand. Under his leadership, the centre significantly expanded its influence, partnerships and capacity. He championed a mission-driven approach that aligned science with policy and practice, particularly about climate change, sustainable livelihoods and water governance in the region. One of his notable achievements was brokering a strategic partnership between SEI and the Mekong River Commission (MRC). This collaboration facilitated joint studies, expertise exchange, and coordinated action on transboundary water management, crucial for climate resilience and regional cooperation in the Mekong Basin.

During his tenure, he also consistently advocated for a “business as unusual” approach, encouraging private sector engagement in sustainability and aligning operations with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). His leadership was marked by a systems-thinking perspective and a call for bold, integrated responses to complex environmental challenges.

Vision for SEI Africa

Looking ahead to his new role at SEI Africa, O’Connor’s agenda centres on three critical areas:

1. Strengthening strategic positioning
2. Reinforcing institutional capacity
3. Enhancing programmatic efficiency

His priorities include deepening partnerships and strategic, long-term proposal program development, finalizing SEI Africa’s host country agreement, strengthening internal structures and leadership pipelines, and supporting a more coordinated, impact-oriented research agenda through focused research clusters.

Speaking on his motivation for this next chapter, O’Connor said:

With the solid foundations laid for the centre in Africa, I look forward to working with our committed staff, a host of key partners and government agencies, keen to ensure evidence-based science is integrated into long-term policy decision making. I am excited to see so many opportunities to bridge science and policy, and more importantly, to utilize all of this to accelerate implementation and work towards a sustainable and prosperous future for all. The excitement I feel is matched by the outstanding opportunities and human capacity available across Africa. SEI will do what we can to work with our partners and support our co-production and partnership approach, to ensure a local to global approach to achieving the sustainable development goals for all.

The SEI Africa community welcomes O’Connor with optimism and confidence in the vision and momentum his leadership brings. His appointment marks a strategic milestone for SEI, positioning the Centre to scale its contributions to policy and practice across Africa, and to further amplify African voices in global environmental and development discourse.