Visiting Scholar

Lady Ajayi is Visiting Scholar in the Department of Politics.  

She earned her doctoral degree in 2018 in International Relations at Covenant University, Nigeria. As a scholar-practitioner with a few years in teaching, research, advocacy, and community development; she continues to address and trace the intersections on issues bordering around gender-based violence and policy studies; international relations, refugee and forced migration, and Sustainability. In May 2020, she worked with a team on a project called "Climate Crisis, A Race We Must Win". It was designed to "Reimagine the World We Want" through sustainable solutions to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the United Nations. The project explored the creative and innovative capacities of students and youths through a proper understanding of sustainability, their environment, and the current global threat (COVID-19); to produce SDG-based solutions for social impact and profit. The practice promotes entrepreneurship, start-ups development, Innovation, and a green economy. The United Nations published our team Solution17 as good practice, success story, and inspiring breakthrough that can be replicated and scaled up to help galvanize the momentum for implementing the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

We were also selected as beneficiaries of the United Nations Basket Fund grant which was transferred by the United Nations Development Fund (UNDP). Her passion for mentoring students has driven her to enroll in the Roots of Success: Environmental Literacy and Training Job Program. Her goal is to prepare and empower students for green careers and to become activists and leaders who can improve environmental and social conditions in their communities.

 In 2018 she was awarded the African-German Network of Excellence in Science (AGNES) Junior Researcher Grant.  She was a member of the research team awarded an Academic Challenge Grant by the Office of the Provost Ithaca College, New York, United States, titled "Mutating Patriarchies and the Struggle against Domestic Violence: Decoding the Politics of Silencing and Disbelief in West Africa and the United States”.  In June 2016, she was also awarded a three (3) weeks Visiting Fellowship in the Department of Politics, Ithaca College, New York, United States, which led to a symposium on “Evaluating International Collaboration in Struggles for Rights and Justice: Gendered Violence and other Challenges”. Dr. Ajayi was an active participant in the "Classrooms Beyond Borders" (CBB) Program between Ithaca College (USA), Covenant University (Nigeria), UNISA (South Africa), and An Najah University (West Bank) in 2011. She is a member of the International Political Science Association, Lagos Studies Association, and currently serves as the Chair, Standing Committee on Projects of the African Studies and Research Forum (ASRF). Dr. Ajayi has published articles in several peer-reviewed journals and continues to work as a scholar-practitioner engaged in advocating and advancing the quest for an effective regime of human rights and the protection of vulnerable populations.  

Lady Ajayi
Visiting Scholar - Policy Studies, International Relations, Human and Environmental Security, and Gendered Insecurities in Migration