Welcome back! In this episode Maegan Rodricks and Leanne Rantell speak to Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou, a British-Nigerian political scientist with expertise in business and human rights, conflict and the politics of identity. We discuss her role as chair of the Expert Working Group of Nigeria’s Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission, her interest in climate justice and the role of Africa in the COP26.

Dr. Kathryn Nwajiaku-Dahou is currently the Director of Politics and Governance at the UK’s leading think tank, ODI, where she is also Co-Director of the Centre for the Study of Armed Groups and the Chair of the Decolonising Research and Policy Task Force. In addition, she also chairs the Expert Working Group of Nigeria’s Bayelsa State Oil and Environmental Commission.

In 2005, she obtained a DPhil in politics from the University of Oxford’s Department of Politics and International Relations, where she also taught and held two post-doctoral research fellowships between 2006-2012. Kathryn has also worked for NGOs (ACORD, Oxfam), governments (Ireland) multilateral institutions (OECD, African Development Bank, UN Women) and bilateral agencies (former UK Department of International Development) and has lived, worked and travelled extensively in English and French-speaking Africa (Nigeria, Ghana, Mali, Burkina Faso, Chad and Senegal). In addition to English she speaks several other languages including French, Igbo, Wolof and Spanish.