A retiring Presidential address provides the opportunity, for some personal reflections on the issues and concerns that have preoccupied the Association in the immediate two-year period. Presidential addresses that I have had the opportunity to hear over the last decade have ranged from the chronicling of decline in African Studies in UK universities to analysing of the trends in research across the range of disciplines represented in the Association. The more limited remit for this discussion today is one which I presented to the Council on taking office as an issue that I would wish to pursue during my Presidency of the Association, namely the broader question of collaboration between the UK academic community and scholars in African universities in the pursuit of research, whatever the topic or discipline addressed; and the more detailed practical issues of how such collaboration does and does not work, the constraints and hindrances that get in the way, as well as the best mechanisms for making such collaboration succeed.