Gustavo de Carvalho is Acting Head of the African Governance and Diplomacy Programme, where he has been based since 2022. A Brazilian national who has lived in South Africa for more than 17 years, he has over two decades of experience supporting policy development, research and strategic analysis across Africa, Latin America and Europe, with a focus on multilateralism, African agency in the international order and the continent’s relations with global powers and multilateral groupings such as BRICS. He has held positions at various think tanks, universities and international organisations, including the UN Peacebuilding Fund in Guinea-Bissau, the Institute for Security Studies and the African Centre for the Constructive Resolution of Disputes. He holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Brasília and an MA in African Studies from the University of Oxford. He is currently a doctoral candidate in International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand.