Dr. Olivier Walther

Associate Professor

UF Research Foundation Professor (2024-2027)

Affiliate Faculty, Center for African Studies(opens in new tab)

Faculty Member, Sahel Research Group(opens in new tab)

Coordinator, African Networks Lab

Curriculum Vitae

UF Scholar Profile(opens in new tab)

ORCID

Focus Areas

Research Statement

I am an Associate Professor of Geography at the University of Florida and an affiliated researcher at the UF Sahel Research Group. Before coming to Florida, I held faculty appointments at the University of Southern Denmark and Rutgers University and worked as a researcher at the Luxembourg Institute of Socio-Economic Research.

In the last 15 years, my research has focused on the development of cross-border trade and the emergence of transnational political violence in West Africa. I have conducted fieldwork in Niger, Nigeria, Benin, Mali, Mauritania, and Ghana. My research has pioneered the introduction of social network analysis(opens in new tab) to the study of borderlands in West Africa and introduced the concept of spatial conflict life cycle(opens in new tab) in the geography literature.

I have served as a lead investigator or collaborator on externally funded research projects from the National Science Foundation, NASA, the United Nations, the OECD, the European Commission, the European Spatial Planning Observatory, and the national research funds of Denmark and Luxembourg.

Currently, I am coordinating the West Africa research program of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD/SWAC(opens in new tab)), with a core objective to better understand political insecurity in the region. I am an Associate Editor of Political Geography(opens in new tab) and a “chief” of the African Borderlands Research Network (ABORNE(opens in new tab)).

Recent Courses

  • GEO3502 Economic Geography
  • GEO4024C Terrorism and Space

Recent Funded Projects

Recent Publications

Walther, O., Moyo, I., & Soi, I. (Eds.). (2026). Routledge Handbook of African Borderlands. Taylor & Francis.

Walther, O. J., Radil, S. M., & Russell, D. G. (2025). The Spatial Conflict Life Cycle in Africa. Annals of the American Association of Geographers, 115(2), 456-477.

Walther, O. J., Radil, S. M., & Thurston, A. (2025). Political violence and transport infrastructure in West Africa. African Security Review, 34(4), 352-373.

Walther, O. J., Harris-Coble, L., Brottem, L., de Bruijn, M., van Dijk, H., Nwankwo, C. F., & Adesogan, A. T. (2025). Pastoralism is facing existential threat in West Africa. Political Geography, 121, 103363.

Walther, O. J., Nugent, P., & Goewey, S. (2025). The impact of transport policies on road accessibility in Ghana (2010-2019). African Geographical Review, 44(1), 1-17.

Prieto-Curiel, R., Walther, O., & Davies, E. (2023). Detecting trends and shocks in terrorist activities. PLoS one, 18(9), e0291514.

Walther, O. J., Prieto-Curiel, R., Padron, J., & Scheuer, J. (2023). Mapping the travel geography of the 9/11 network. The Professional Geographer, 75(5), 855-869.

Radil, S. M., Walther, O., Dorward, N., & Pflaum, M. (2023). Urban-rural geographies of political violence in North and West Africa. African Security, 16(2-3), 199-222.

Walther, O. J., Szary, A. L. A., Brambilla, C., Brunet-Jailly, E., Klatt, M., Laine, J. P., ... & Radil, S. M. (2023). Border studies at 45. Political Geography, 104, 102909.

Walther, O. J., Radil, S. M., Russell, D. G., & Trémolières, M. (2023). Introducing the spatial conflict dynamics indicator of political violence. Terrorism and Political Violence, 35(3), 533-552.

Educational Background

  • Ph.D. in Geography, University of Lausanne, 2006
  • M.S. in Advanced Studies in Development Studies, University of Geneva, 2004
  • M.S. in Geography, University of Lausanne, 2001
  • B.S. in Geography, University of Lausanne, 1999

Current Graduate Students

Recent Graduate Students