CODESRIA Bulletin
Articles · No. 04 (2021): CODESRIA Bulletin, No 4, 2021 · Pages 7-15
Text of the 11th Thabo Mbeki Africa Day Lecture, delivered on 25th May 2021 with commentary from H.E. Thabo Mbeki, Former President of the Republic of South Africa (see page 14)
Funmi Olonisakin, Professor of Security, Leadership and Development Vice-President and Vice-Principal – International King’s College London
Funmi Olonisakin (born 8 February 1965) is a British Nigerian scholar, who is a Professor of leadership, peace and conflict at King's College London, and an Extra-Ordinary Professor at the University of Pretoria. She is the founder and former Director of the African Leadership Centre (ALC) founded on the principle of Pan-Africanism to build the next generation of leaders and scholars on the African continent with core transformational values. Olonisakin is the Programme Director of the ALC's Master of Science (MSc) programmes on Leadership, peace and security. She is a research associate of Political Sciences at the University of Pretoria, and was an Andrew Mellon Foundation distinguished scholar and a distinguished fellow of the Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP). She is currently an appointed member of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) advisory group of experts. on the review of the UN Peace-building Architecture.
Olonisakin is currently the Vice President/ Principal (International) of King's College London. She was previously the Vice-Dean International, Faculty of Social Science and Public Policy, King's College London, she is the first black female professor and the first black woman to deliver an inaugural lecture at King's College London.