Faculty
Dr. Bachmann was born in Germany in autumn 1961, he is married, and lives and works in Palma de Mallorca, Brussels, and London. Olaf Bachmann holds a PhD in War Studies (King’s College London), and a MA (Distinction) in War in the Modern World. He is co-founder of a consultancy in the fields of security governance, and institution building, and relevant publishing. As a visiting senior research fellow at King’s the focus of his research and writing is on the African Peace and Security Architecture, and the history and contemporary state of African military and warfare.
He spent many years of field research in Central Africa, mainly in Gabon, Cameroon, Rwanda, and The DRC and the Republic of Congo. He is member of the Royal African Society, and of the War Studies Africa Research Group at King’s College London, where he teaches at the African Leadership Centre on Governance of Security and State Formation. Teaching in combination with Master and PhD student supervision, and research commitments, focuses on subjects including the governance of security, and leadership theory with an emphasis on the developing world. He spent much of 2019 as visiting scholar at the German Armed Forces Social Science Research Service. War Studies is his second career after many years in publishing and the book trade.
Faculty Coordinator
Barney Walsh is a Senior Lecturer in Security, Leadership and Development Education at the African Leadership Centre (ALC). He is programme convenor of the blended learning MSc Global Leadership and Peacebuilding and Managing Editor of the ALC Journal of Leadership and Developing Societies. He is also a mentor on the various ALC Fellowship programmes.
Barney holds a BA degree in History and Sociology (international) from Leeds University and MA in International Relations from King's. In 2016 he was the first ever graduate of the PhD Leadership Studies with reference to Security and Development programme at ALC-King’s, where he has worked as Faculty since. Barney has published several peer-reviewed articles in accredited journals, on topics such as Regional Security Complex Theory in Africa, Human Security in East Africa, African Agency and Security issues within China-Africa relations. He has also organised and overseen numerous academic conferences and symposiums. Barney has lived, travelled and worked across Africa, and undertaken field work research in Uganda, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and South Africa.
Research
Leadership Studies
Ugandan political economy
China-Africa relations East African Security
Teaching
Postgraduate
Global Leadership and Peacebuilding MSc
Leadership & Development MSc
Abiodun Alao is a senior member of the African Leadership Centre (ALC) King’s College London faculty. He teaches on the ALC MSc programmes, supervises Masters and PhD dissertations and chairs the Centre’s Examination Board. He is also a Senior Research Fellow with the Conflict Security and Development Group (CSDG). Abiodun holds a Bachelor’s in History and Masters in International Relations from the Universities of Ibadan and Ife respectively. He holds a Doctorate in War Studies from King’s College London where he was a Ford Foundation Doctoral Scholar and also holds a SSRC-MacArthur Post-Doctoral Fellowship. He has undertaken considerable assignment for international organisations. In 2000, he was part of the team that undertook a comprehensive Threat Assessment for Rwanda and between 2001 and 2002 he was among the Team of Academic Experts that advised the Office of the UN Secretary General on the Civil War in Sierra Leone. He co-authored the Concept Note for the Common Defence and Security Policy for the Africa Union in 2003. He continues to hold Expert Adviser position for international organisations like the African Union, ECOWAS and the United Nations. He has held teaching and research positions at the Obafemi Awolowo University Ile Ife and the University of Zimbabwe where he was a Visiting Research Associate.
Adewale Ajadi is a creative consultant, leadership educator, change agent and storyteller. Born in Ibadan, Nigeria, he has over twenty years experience working on people, organisations and communities on issues that transform human interaction in the direction of meaningful dialogue, authentic interaction and empowered value creation as well as evolution.
A barrister, Ajadi also has an MSc. in International Business Economics; he has also studied Leadership Education at Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University; and Complex Systems Theory in New England Complex Systems Institute, MIT. He developed the Framework for Excellence in Equality and Diversity (FEED) system.
Dr. Awino Okech has for the last twelve years been involved in social justice transformation work in Eastern Africa, the Great Lakes region, and South Africa. Dr. Okech’s work has focused on women’s rights in conflict and post conflict societies, security sector governance and governance more broadly. She has supported the work of a number international and inter-governmental organisations in these areas, most notably: acting as lead researcher for Niger and Burkina Faso in a UNECA commissioned study on “Causes and Consequences of conflict in the Sahel” in 2015, serving as the lead drafter for the African Union’s Operational Guidelines on Gender and Security Sector Reform in 2014 and supporting UNDP’s Somaliland Civilian Police Programme review their police reform work in Hargeisa in 2012.
Lecturer in African Security and Leadership Studies
Biography
Dr David Mwambari is a Lecturer in African Security and Leadership Studies at the African Leadership Centre. He is also a by-fellow at Churchill College Cambridge University for the academic year 2019-2020.
He was previously a Research Foundation, Flanders (FWO) postdoctoral research fellow at the Department of Conflict and Development Studies at Ghent University, Belgium (2017-2019). He was an assistant professor of international relations at the School of Humanities and Social Sciences, United States International University, Africa in Nairobi, Kenya (2015-2017).
In addition to academic research, David has worked as a consultant for multinational companies, such as the Royal Dutch Philips and international organisations, such as the Mastercard Foundation. He is a co-founder and board member of the local non-governmental organisation, Sanejo, which focuses on transformation education in post-conflict African societies in line with Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 4.
Desmond Davies, originally from Freetown in Sierra Leone, has been a journalist and commentator on African affairs since 1972. Moving to London in 1978, he worked for New African and Africa Now magazines, becoming Editor of the latter in 1984. He spent 10 years (1993-2003) with West Africa magazine, also in London, and was Editor from 2001 to 2003. He continues to write extensively on African and global affairs. He has a wide range of contacts in Africa and has interviewed numerous heads of state, political, business and cultural leaders. Desmond is currently the Editor of Africa Briefing magazine in London and also a contributor to the Ghana News Agency (GNA). He is a Mentor in strategic communication at the African Leadership Centre, King’s College London.
I specialise in the governance of security with a particular focus on the Security Sector Reform (SSR) policy agenda, combining applied research with strategic policy advice to donors and the facilitation of security transformation processes in conflict-affected countries in Africa and Asia.
I have been at King’s College London since 1999. I joined the Department of War Studies in 2013 and am a member of the Conflict, Security and Development Research Group (CSDRG). I am Editor of Conflict, Security & Development, a peer-reviewed journal published by Routledge, and Adjunct Faculty at the African Leadership Centre, a joint King’s - University of Nairobi initiative. I am also a Senior Security and Justice Adviser with the UK Government’s Stabilisation Unit and on the ISSAT and UN SSR rosters, deploying regularly in support of these three organisations’ operational work.
Dr. Eka Ikpe has researched and written on a range of issues in development economics and security and development. These include: the role of the state in economic development; interaction between agriculture, mineral resources, industrialisation and economic development; post-conflict reconstruction; development planning; regionalism, economic development and security in Africa; foreign direct investment; state fragility and donor-aid policy; security sector reform/transformation; women, peace and security; and peacebuilding.
Eka is currently Co-Investigator of the EPSRC Global Research Challenges Fund project: A Clear Road Ahead- Developing a Combined Technological and Socio-Economic Approach to Freeing Affected Communities from Anti-Vehicle Landmines (2017-2019).
Eka teaches on the MSc Degree Programmes at the King’s African Leadership Centre, undertakes supervision of PhD students and serves as admissions tutor for Postgraduate Degree programmes. She also teaches on the BA Degree Programme in International Development at the King’s Department of International Development. Eka is the International Lead for the African Leadership Centre and the King’s Department of International Development.
Professor ’Funmi Olonisakin is Professor of Security, Leadership & Development at King’s College London. She is also 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. She is currently Programme Director of the ALC King’s College London MSc programmes on Security, Leadership and Society and MSc Leadership and Development as well as the Postgraduate Research Programme on Leadership Studies with Reference to Security and Development.
Professor Ishmail Rashid grew up in Freetown, Sierra Leone and has been teaching at Vassar College since 1998. He received his B.A. Hons in Classics and History from the University of Ghana, M.A in Race Relations from Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo, Canada and Ph.D in African History from McGill University. His primary teaching interests are precolonial and modern African history, African Diaspora and Pan-Africanism, and International Relations. His research interests include subaltern resistance against colonialism, and conflicts and security in contemporary Africa.
Among his recent publications are: West Africa’s Security Challenges (2004) (co-edited with A. Adebajo), “Epidemics and Resistance in Sierra Leone During the First World War,” Canadian Journal of African Studies, Vol 45, No 3, 2011, 415-439; “Religious Militancy and Violence in West Africa: A Study of Islam in Sierra Leone,” (co-author Kevin O’Brien,” in James Gow, Funmi Olonisakin, Ernst Dijxhorn, Militancy and Violence in West Africa: Religion, Politics and Radicalization, London: Routledge, 2013, The Paradox of History and Memory in Postcolonial Sierra Leone (2013)(co-edited with Sylvia Ojukutu-Macauley).
Professor Kiven James Kewir joined the African Leadership Centre, Nairobi, Kenya in October 2016 as Research Leader. He currently serves are Research Leader for the Central African Hub of the African Leadership Centre. He is also a visiting Professor of Conflict Prevention and Regional Integration at the Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences of the Pan-African University (African Union) hosted at the University of Yaounde II Soa, Cameroon and President of Rebuilding Lives (a humanitarian organisation).
He holds a MA in Peace and Reconciliation Studies from the Centre for Peace and Reconciliation Studies in Coventry University, United Kingdom, and a PhD in Political Science from the University of Yaoundé II Soa. Professor Kiven has served as a reviewer for several international journals and led several innovative research projects in the area of conflict prevention. He enjoys reading, writing, playing tennis and jogging.
Associate Professor of History and academic specialist on peace and security issues in Africa. He has written widely and on a variety of issues. A veteran political analyst on Horn of African issues, he played a crucial role in familiarizing the governance of security at both research and policy process levels. He wrote on almost every aspect of peace and security issues in the Horn of Africa, particularly on the threat of radicalization, resource-based conflicts, the war on terror and the role of external actors. He has published several books and more than 34 articles in different journals and books and wrote over 260 briefing papers, articles, commentaries and policy memos related to regime stability, conflict vulnerability and the role of external actors, militarization and governance of the security sector in Africa. He also wrote a weekly peace and security column. He is also the editor of the currentanalyst.com
Mohamud Jama is Professor of Environmental & Development Economics. He is the Director of the Institute of Development Studies at The University of Nairobi.
Mshai holds a PhD in Performance Studies from Northwestern University (USA). Her thesis on Kenya’s “Uhuru Generation”, titled ‘Performing Our Stories, Performing OurSelves’, approaches the idea of a generational historical mission through the re-creation, invocation and facilitation of performance as a site of individual and communal reflection. Prior to this, she obtained an MCA (Masters of Creative Arts) from the School of Studies in the Creative Arts, University of Melbourne (Australia) and a Bachelor of Education (Hons) from Kenyatta University (Kenya).
Dr Olawale (‘Wale) Ismail has over 13 years' experience of carrying out research on security and peace building issues and is the substantive Head of Research at International Alert. He holds a PhD in Peace Studies from the University of Bradford and an MPhil in International Relations from the University of Cambridge. ‘Wale is skilled in working at the interface of research, policy and practice, including undertaking policy-relevant research, SWOT analysis, and scoping studies. His main areas of expertise include security sector and justice reform; peacebuilding and post-conflict reconstruction; radicalisation and terrorism; youth, crime and violence; urbanization; and mediation and dialogue in peacebuilding.
