Ibukunoluwa Akinola wins the APDD Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship.

The Institute of African and Diaspora Studies (IADS), University of Lagos, is delighted to announce that Ms. Ibukunoluwa Akinola, a doctoral researcher at the Institute, has been awarded the 2026–2027 African Peacebuilding and Developmental Dynamics (APDD) Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellowship by the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York.

The award has a value of up to US$12,000. It is to support twelve months of fieldwork, data collection and dissertation writing of a proposed thesis, titled: ‘Climate Change and Medicinal Plants: Implications for African Traditional Medicine and Health Resilience in Nigeria’.

Ms. Ibukunoluwa Akinola is one of only 9 recipients selected across six African countries through a rigorous, competitive process that assessed originality, methodological quality, thematic alignment and scholarly relevance. As a fellow, she will also participate in APDD workshops across Africa and join a network of distinguished African scholars working at the forefront of peacebuilding and development research.

We congratulate Ms. Ibukunoluwa Akinola on this outstanding achievement.