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My research
Academic & Independent Research
My research explores how societies organise agency, respond to crises, and imagine change. Across my work, I am particularly interested in how democracy and development intersect to shape social and political life, especially within global south contexts.
My work is organised around the three interconnected themes described below. By working across these areas, my research seeks to contribute to a more nuanced and integrated understanding of how politics, institutions, infrastructures, and publics converge in contemporary societies.
Social movements, elections and democratic contestation
My work examines protests, social movements, and elections as not just expressions of resistance and contention, but also as dynamic political ecosystems where narratives, identities, and possibilities for change are negotiated. I am interested in the larger systems and structures that movements and parties interact with to shape the democratic character of a state. I am currently pursuing this agenda through my ongoing doctoral research – Protests and Polls.
Across my publications and conference papers, I have analysed how protest movements shape the character of political institutions, including legislatures and policing infrastructures, as well as the governance failures that underpin contention. I am particularly interested in the role of discourse, emotions and symbols in mobilising or demobilising participation and in sustaining movement energies.
This strand of my research interacts with broader debates on contentious politics, the public sphere, affective politics, and democratic participation.
Technology and activism
A second strand of my work explores how digital technologies are transforming civic action and governance.
My past research has examined the role of social media, digital platforms, and data driven systems in remodelling how citizens organise, communicate, and pursue change. This includes how social media shapes the negotiation of public debates; how citizens navigate repression and circumvent digital surveillance; including how technologies mediate protest and humanitarian coordination.
Through my work in these areas, I engage with questions about the opportunities and risks of digital transformation, as well as what they mean for democratic and development aspirations in the global south.
Development, policy and governance
My research also engages with wider relationships between development, governance and the institutional arrangements that bridge these two domains.
My study recognises the roles of political institutions during crises situations. It situates political institutions as targets of disenchanted publics and mediators of the outcomes they seek. I also examine how development outcomes are shaped by both formal structures and citizen agency. These are reflected in my work on legislative behaviour during protest episodes and governance responses to social emergencies.
I have also contributed to comparative and policy-oriented research projects, including work on humanitarian coordination models; digital identity; gendered contentions in fragile, conflict affected settings; climate change and just transition; and cross-border movement solidarity in the global south.
This strand especially reflects my interest in the democracy-development nexus, including the ways in which governance infrastructures can deliver socio-economic development and stronger democratic institutions.
Methods applied
My research combines ethnographic, qualitative, and mixed-method approaches to examine how political, social, and institutional dynamics unfold in real-world contexts. My methodological approach is guided by an interest in lived experience, political meaning-making, and the role of discourse, emotion and symbols in bridging and shaping contentious experiences.
Ethnographic and Qualitative Research
Interviews, participant observation, digital ethnography, and biographic methods.
Textual, Visual, and Creative Analysis
Protest artefacts, media content, and digital and creative materials.
Mixed Methods and Data Analysis
Quantitative and mixed-method approaches, using tools such as SPSS, STATA, and Excel.
Fieldwork and Applied Research
Featured publications
Social Movements, Crisis, and Political Institutions
The legislature as target and mediator of ensuing outcomes during social emergencies: Revisiting Nigeria’s #EndSARS protest.
How do political institutions respond when they become both the focus of public anger and a channel for resolving crisis?
Read publicationWhat factors drive legislators’ response to crises?
This study explores how legislators respond to crises shaped by protest and public pressure, analysing the factors that influence political behaviour in volatile environments.
Read publicationProtest, Governance, and Political Opportunity
From COVID-19 to fuel subsidy removal in Nigeria: Assessing the political opportunities for local grievance.
This article examines how overlapping crises in Nigeria – from the COVID-19 pandemic to fuel subsidy removal (2023) – created shifting political opportunities for mobilisation. It highlights how citizens navigate and respond to changing governance conditions through collective action.
Read publicationTechnology, Development, and Civic Innovation
Technologically Mediated Citizen-Led Welfarism in Nigeria
My contribution here explores how citizens are harnessing digital technologies to organise welfare and support systems outside formal state structures.
Find the bookInitiating the co-development of IFRC’s Digital ID strategy
As part of a collaborative international project, this report explores how digital identity systems can be designed to support humanitarian action while safeguarding data ethics, privacy, and accountability.
Read reportPublic Engagement and Commentary
#EndSARS and #RejectFinanceBill: Patterns of Protest Across Africa
This piece reflects on emerging patterns of protest across African contexts, drawing connections between movements in Nigeria and Kenya.
Read articleOngoing projects
Protests and Polls: A Nigerian Paradigm of Social Movements and Elections Interrelations
My doctoral research, Protests and Polls (PaP), explores the reciprocal relations between two forms of political mobilisation – social movements and elections. PaP’s attempt at interrogating the interpenetration of movement and election rhythms takes issue with existing approaches that draw boundaries between both realms of contention and those that systematise the influence of one upon the other. It essentialises key aspects of the interactional dynamics between movements and elections that have been overlooked by existing scholarship. Hence, its focus on elements that mediate the interrelations – in their symbolic, discursive, and emotional forms. It explores Nigeria’s 2020 #EndSARS movement, the pre-and post-election character of the Obidient movement, and the 2023 general elections cycle to theorise a much-needed African perspective on the relationship between movement and (electoral) politics.
Other research projects
My past projects do not only span diverse sectors, they reflect my commitment to research that is analytically grounded and responsive to real-world challenges. I present some of these below:
Digital Identity and Humanitarian Governance
This project explored the role of digital identity systems in humanitarian contexts, with a focus on how such systems can improve service delivery while addressing concerns around data governance, ethics, and accountability.
The research brought together perspectives from technology, policy, and humanitarian practice to examine how digital infrastructures are reshaping the organisation and delivery of aid.
It contributes to broader debates on digital governance, data ethics, and the transformation of public and humanitarian systems.
NGO Coordination and Governance in Humanitarian Contexts
This research examined alternative models of coordination among NGOs operating in complex environments, with a comparative focus on Syria and Somalia.
The project explored how coordination structures can better connect local, national, and international actors, and how governance frameworks influence the effectiveness and inclusivity of humanitarian response systems.
This work contributes to discussions on institutional coordination, governance, and development practice in fragile contexts.
Gendered Contentions and Women’s Leadership
This multi-country research project examined the role of women in contexts of conflict, fragility, and political contestation, focusing on how women navigate leadership, empowerment, and accountability.
The study contributes to broader conversations on gender, governance, and participation, highlighting the ways in which women engage with and reshape structures of power in challenging environments.
Health Systems Mapping and Development Practice
This project focused on mapping private health and non-health facilities in Nigeria as part of broader efforts to strengthen health systems and service delivery.
The research involved large-scale data collection and qualitative analysis, contributing to understanding how health infrastructures are distributed and how they can be better integrated into development planning.
Just Transition and Development Policy
This research forms part of an international comparative project examining how different countries conceptualise and implement “just transition” strategies in response to climate and economic change.
Focusing on the Nigerian context, the study explores how global debates around climate justice, labour, and development are translated into national policy and practice.