Africa is of immense global importance due to its vast natural resources, diverse ecosystems, and growing economic potential. The continent holds significant reserves of minerals, oil, and natural gas, which are critical to global industries. Additionally, Africa’s young and rapidly growing population positions it as a key player in future global labor markets and economic development. Ecologically, Africa is home to rich biodiversity and plays a crucial role in addressing global environmental challenges such as climate change. Politically, Africa’s influence is growing as it takes on a more prominent role in international organizations and diplomacy, shaping global discussions on sustainability, trade, and security
People
DR NAUMAN REAYAT
DR Nauman is the coordinator of this group. He is the Convener, GSN and Convener, Constitutionalism in Developing Democracies, Socio-Legal Studies Association.
For inquiries on this group activities, Nauman can be reached at leicgsn@gmail.com.
PROF CHARLES MANGA FOMBAD
Charles Manga Fombad is a Professor of comparative constitutional law and the Director of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa, (ICLA), Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria. He is a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa, a fellow of the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), an Associate Member of the International Academy of Comparative Law and until recently, a Vice President of the International Association of Constitutional law.
Antele Madugu is a passionate and driven individual from Nigeria. Antele holds a law degree from the University of Abuja, Nigeria, with a Master’s in International Commercial Law from the University of South Wales.
Antele Madugu has worked in several organisations, most recently as a Legal Officer with the Nigerian Ministry of Works and Housing before actively engaging in the world of academia in pursuit of a PhD degree. Their research focus, titled “The African Single Market: An Analysis of Competition Law in the ECOWAS and Its Impact on the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA),
Prof Wahab Egbewole
Wahab Egbewole is a legal practitioner and academic. He is a member of the Governing Council of University of Ilorin representing the Senate. Between 2015 and 2018, he served as the Director of General Studies Division of the University and currently the Research Manager for the Faculty of Law. He is a member of several learned societies including The Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (UK) which he joined in 2016. He has served as the Newsletter Editor and Vice Chair of the IBA Committee on Negligence and Damages and elected as the Chair of the Committee in 2020. He has also won many grants for researches in Law and Society as well as a Principal Researcher on the Law and Disability Right grant awarded by the Open Society Initiative for West Africa (OSIWA). On 24th September, 2018 he was sworn in by the Chief Justice of Nigeria as a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), the highest professional ranking for lawyers in Nigeria. His wealth of experience in the Law sector has been of immense benefit to Welfare Microfinance Bank Ltd where he served the bank as a member of the Board of Director and as Chairman of Board Credit/Risk Management Committee till August, 2022. In September, 2022, he was appointed the 11th Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ilorin.
PROF ASSEFA FISSEHA, ADDIS ABABA UNIVERSITY, ETHIOPIA.
Assefa Fiseha (PhD, Professor) is a leading expert in comparative federalism and devolution in Africa and has been engaged in teaching and research in higher education since 1996. He has published numerous articles, book chapters and a book related to these fields both in Ethiopia and reputable international journals. He has been engaged in constitution making processes and dialogues in several countries (Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Yemen, and Malawi). He has worked in joint research and training projects run by the Max Planck Institute (Heidelberg Germany), European Institute of Peace, the Forum of Federations (an international network of experts in Federalism based in Canada), Berghof Foundation (Germany), InterAfrica Group (Ethiopia) and the Netherlands Institute for Multiparty Democracy (NIMD) among others. Previously, he has served as Dean of the Faculty of Law and designed MA/LL.M and PhD programs run by Addis Ababa University. He has served as a lead research team in different research projects both at Addis Ababa University and other partner research institutions based in South Africa, Canada and Switzerland.
EMILIA NKEMKANMA ORIS-ONYIRI
Emilia Nkemkanma Oris-Onyiri is a doctoral researcher at the University of Nottingham’s School of Law. Her research interest lies in International Trade, Finance and Economic Law. Emilia obtained her Bachelor of Laws (First Class) Honours degree and a Master of Laws degree in Financial and Commercial Law from the University of Central Lancashire. Emilia is a qualified Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria where she practiced advocacy in civil, corporate, financial and commercial law disputes before commencing her doctoral research at the University of Nottingham. Emilia is also a certified Mediator and Arbitrator, a Member of the Nigerian Bar Association and a Member of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators.
DR IDIL OSMAN
Dr Idil Osman is a lecturer at the School of Media and Communication, University of Leicester. She is a global media and communication academic with a longstanding interest in Sub Saharan Africa. Her research focuses on how media and communications relate to modern day conflicts, foreign policy and engage refugee, migrant and diaspora communities. She holds a PhD in Media from the School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies at Cardiff University and has authored numerous publications that focus on media, conflict, development and migration including the most recent book, ‘Media, Diaspora and the Somali Conflict’ (2017) and ‘Somalis in Europe; Stories from the Somali Diaspora’ (2011). Prior to her academic transition, she spent over 12 years as a national and international journalist working for the BBC, the Guardian and the Voice of America in Washington, DC covering Sub Saharan Africa and its diaspora. She continues practising journalism as a writer, commentator and broadcaster for various outlets including Al Jazeera, African Arguments, BBC, ITV, Channel 4, CGTN and TRT World.
Dr Tchilissila Alicerces Simões, MSc, PhD, CPsychol
Tchilissila is a full-time lecturer for the Leicester’s Doctorate in Clinical Psychology. She co-manages the East Midlands Mentoring Scheme and is one of the course’s academic tutors. She earned her Master’s degree from the University of Minho, Portugal, focusing on war-related posttraumatic stress in Angolan civilians residing in Portugal. She holds a PhD in Clinical Psychology, specialising in Family Psychology and Family Intervention, from the University of Coimbra, Portugal.
A pioneer studying the Angolan Family Life Cycle, Tchilissila explores ethnic and cultural specificities in family development. Her research interests include Black families and communities, particularly in family functioning, parenting, family rituals and routines, and family strengths and challenges. She advocates for the use of appropriate cultural lenses in clinical assessment and intervention. Tchilissila has worked and conducted research in Portugal, Angola, and the UK and is a registered, practising clinical psychologist with experience in the NHS and private practice.
JUSTICE (RTD) NKEMDILIM AMELIA IZUAKO
She was called to the Nigerian Bar in 1977. She practiced law until 1982 when she became a magistrate in Nigeria. She became a judge of the High Court Anambra State, Nigeria in 1998. She worked as a judge of the High Court and Court of Appeal in the Gambia from 2004 – 2006. Throughout 2007, she conducted trainings for judicial officers in Nigeria on judicial ethics as a consultant for UNODC. She worked in Solomon Islands as a judge of the High Court from 2008 – 2009. From July 2009 – July 2019, she worked as judge of the United Nations Dispute Tribunal. During her career on the bench, she taught part-time as a senior lecturer in law in both Nigeria and in the Gambia.
OLUM LORNAH AFOYOMUNGU
Olum Lornah Afoyomungu is a feminist lawyer and writer from Uganda. She holds a Bachelor of Laws Degree from Makerere University, a Post-graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Law Development Centre, and a Master of Laws in human rights and democratization in Africa from the University of Pretoria. She has worked as a Legal Associate at Development Law Associates, a Program Manager, Training and Curriculum Developer at the African Development Law Institute where her role involved the conceptualization, planning, and delivering seminars in the area of international law and development. She is currently a Ph.D. candidate at the Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria
DR KHADIDJA KELALECH
Khadidja is a Research Associate at the School of Criminology, University of Leicester. She completed her PhD from the University of Leicester, England in early 2023, focusing on misogynistic representations on social media that impede women’s access to higher education in Algeria.
Khadidja’s academic journey began in 2015, teaching at Algerian universities. Between 2021 and 2023, she worked as a curriculum consultant and assistant lecturer at the University of Leicester. Notably, Khadidja made significant contributions to impactful initiatives such as the ‘Leics Decolonise’ project, aiming to decolonize the curriculum, and co-authoring the University of Leicester’s ‘reading lists and resources toolkit’ that aims at decolonising the curriculum. Khadidja’s recent publications include an article on strategies to decolonise the curriculum through the diversification of reading lists and resources: https://insights.uksg.org/articles/10.1629/uksg.634
Khadidja currently holds a research associate position at both the University of Leicester and DeMontfort University. Her primary research interests revolve around women’s issues in Algeria, spanning topics such as the 1984 Family Code of Algeria, misogyny and hate speech on Algerian social media, women’s access to higher education, and women’s access to entrepreneurship, particularly focusing on rural Algerian women. Additionally, she has contributed to projects examining women’s entrepreneurship in Zambia and Ethiopia and is in the process of publishing a study on levels of acculturation among Syrian refugee women in Turkey and Germany.
DR ASAMAHAN MUSAYA
Asmahan is a Lecturer at the School of Criminology, University of Leicester. She has been teaching across the schools of criminology, law, and sociology in various universities in the UK since 2015. Prior to joining the academia, she worked as a criminal justice recovery caseworker, Research Analyst for HSBC Bank-Global Payment, and a principal researcher for the Prince’s Trust – NEET project.
Her academia is a space within which she makes contributions to the wider society through research informed teaching. She is curious to explore contemporary social issues, legal controversies, and crisis in the penal systems, which most of them have roots not in modernity but in historical development of the empires.
PROF HAKEEM YUSUF
Professor Hakeem Yusuf is a Co-Convener, GSN. He is the Professor of Global Law at the University of Derby. Hakeem’s research interests are in comparative constitutionalism, colonial (rule of) law, transitional justice, and business and human rights. His work in transitional justice, colonial (rule of) law, and comparative constitutional law have won international recognition. In 2011, he served on a truth and reconciliation commission in Osun State, Nigeria. Details on his works and achievements are here
OBERT DANIEL MAWADZE
An accomplished legal professional with extensive experience in various facets of law and academia, A Doctoral of Laws (LLD) researcher at the University of Pretoria (UP), specializing in Comparative Constitutional, International law and Electoral law. My research area of interest focuses on the impact of constitutional amendments in Africa.
My journey in the legal field began with a Bachelor of Laws (LLBs) (Honours) degree from the University of Zimbabwe, followed by a Postgraduate Diploma in Law, Conciliation, and Arbitration from the same institution.
I pursued a Master of Laws in Constitutional and International Law degree at the University of Zimbabwe, an LLM-Master of Laws in Extractive Industry Law in Africa from the University of Pretoria, a Postgraduate Certificate in Risk, Compliance & Governance from the University of the Witwatersrand (WITS), South Africa which qualification reflects my commitment to staying abreast of contemporary issues in governance and regulatory compliance. I pursued a Master of Science degree in International Relations from Midlands State University Zimbabwe. My professional experience spans over 13 years as a Legal Practitioner or Advocate in Zimbabwe, where I have honed skills in litigation, legal research, advocacy, and client representation. This experience was further enriched by my role as a lecturer of law at the University of Zimbabwe where I imparted legal knowledge to the next generation of legal professionals.
Additionally, I served and am currently serving as a legal advisor and board member to private mining and investment organizations, including government agencies focusing on rural infrastructural development, Labour law, Investment and property law, Commercial law litigation, Criminal law and Corporate law. My future aspirations include completing the Doctor of Laws (LLD) degree, further enhancing my expertise in comparative Constitutional and International law, Electoral law, Extractive(Mining) Industry law , Environmental law, corporate law, joining the academia or political leadership in my country Zimbabwe.
GLOBAL SOUTH NETWORK (GSN) 