Henning Melber, a political scientist and sociologist, is the van Zyl Slabbert visiting professor for sociology and political sciences at the University of Cape Town. He is senior advisor at the Nordic Africa Institute and the Dag Hammarskjoeld Foundation, having previously held directorships in both institutions. He is also extraordinary professor at the Department of Political Sciences of the University of Pretoria and the Centre for Africa Studies at the University of the Free State, as well as a senior research fellow at the Institute for Commonwealth Studies at the University of London. From 1992 to 2000, he was director of the Namibian Economic Policy Research Unit (NEPRU).
Melber has been co-editor of the Africa Yearbook since its first publication in 2005, is managing co-editor of Africa Spectrum and editor-in-chief of the Strategic Review for Southern Africa. His latest publications include (as co-editor) Peace Diplomacy, Global Justice and International Agency (2014) and (as author) Understanding Namibia (2015) and A Decade of Namibia (2016).