Key Speakers

Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin

’Funmi Olonisakin is Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at King’s College London and has been founding Director of the African Leadership Centre (ALC), which aims to build the next generation of African scholars and analysts generating cutting-edge knowledge for conflict, security and development in Africa. The ALC is based in Nairobi, Kenya and at King’s College London.

Visit the ALC at: http://www.africanleadershipcentre.org and www.kcl.ac.uk

Professor Olonisakin is currently Vice-President and Vice-Principal International at King’s College London. She has lead responsibility for all international matters at the College.

Prof. Olonisakin is also a Research Associate with the Department of Political Sciences, University of Pretoria, South Africa, where has been appointed a Mellon Foundation Distinguished Scholar on Peace and Conflict. The Geneva Centre for Security Policy appointed her as a Distinguished Fellow in April 2014. She was Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Group at King’s College London from 2003 until 2013.

Prior to this, she worked in the Office of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict overseeing the Africa work of that Office. In this role, she facilitated the establishment of the National Commission for War-Affected Children in Sierra Leone and the Child Protection Unit in the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS). She previously held research positions in the Centre for Defence Studies, King’s College London, where she co-directed the African Security Unit; and at the Institute for Strategic Studies in the University of Pretoria, South Africa and the Department of Political Science, University of Lagos Nigeria.