Past Speaker - Prof. Funmi Olonisakin

Professor ‘Funmi Olonisakin is Vice-President and Vice-Principal International and Professor of Security, Leadership and Development at King’s.

She is a founding member of the African Leadership Centre, which aims to build the next generation of African scholars generating cutting edge knowledge for security and development in Africa; and was Director of the Conflict, Security and Development Group (CSDG) at King’s (2003 to 2013). Prior to this, she worked in the Office of the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict.

In 2015, she was appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General, Ban Ki Moon, as one of seven members of the Advisory Group of Experts (AGE) on the Review of the United Nations Peacebuilding Architecture. She was also appointed in 2016 as a member of the Advisory Group of Experts for the United Nations Progress Study on ‘Youth, peace and security’. She serves on the board of the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue and Chairs the Africa Regional Advisory Committee of the Open Society Foundation.

The University of Pretoria appointed ‘Funmi as an Extra-Ordinary Professor in the Department of Political Sciences in 2016. In 2018, the Director-General of United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) invited her to join the Council of the United Nations University.