Assistant Professor
Akinyemi.Oyawale@warwick.ac.uk 
Tel: +44(0)24765 23931

Office: D1.31

Advice & Feedback Hours

Mondays: 12:30 - 13:30

Fridays: 11:30 - 12:30

(Term time except Reading Week); Book Advice and FeedbackLink opens in a new window

About Me

I am an Assistant Professor in International Security and the course director for MA in International Relations. I hold a Bachelors in Politics and Psychology from the University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria, a Masters in International Security from the University of Sussex, and a PhD in Politics from the University of East Anglia (UEA), Norwich. I have over a decade of teaching experience at both secondary and post-secondary levels and my teaching philosophy is underpinned by the notion of NLB - Nobody Left Behind. In terms of teaching experience at university level in the UK, I was formerly an Associate Tutor in Politics and International Relations at the University of East Anglia until July 2019 where I won the Arts and Humanities Outreach and Public Engagement Prize in 2018 and was a finalist for the Arts and Humanities Teaching Prize in 2019. Outside of teaching and research, I am a casual boxer and a community development leader with multiple awards including Rivers State award for excellence in March 2011 and the much coveted President's (Nigeria) National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) Award for Excellent Service to the Federal Republic in January 2012; this is the highest youth award in Nigeria.

Winner of the International Studies Association's Deborah Gerner Innovative Teaching in International Studies Award (2025)Link opens in a new window

According to the judges:

We had many strong applications and this was a tough decision, so we want to congratulate you on the award and the excellent work that you are doing. The committee was very impressed with your work, and not only as a teacher, but also as a rising scholar taking on timely security questions through a rigorous, critical lens (ISA Award Committee).

Winner of the British International Studies Association's (BISA) Early Career Excellence in Teaching International Studies Prize (2024)Link opens in a new window

In assessing my nomination, the judging panel noted:

"Akinyemi Oyawale’s nomination stands out in its clear emphasis on decentring mainstream approaches to the study and teaching of IR, including his work at integrating non-Western perspectives. We are particularly impressed with the clear teaching philosophy he outlined based on principles of inclusivity (Nobody Left Behind), which are not only noteworthy in themselves, but which are supported by detailed student testimonies as well as by two teaching awards he received in 2023. His contributions are further evidenced by the fact that he led a segment on inclusive seminars at the 2021/2022 PAIS Teaching Away Day. Dr Oyawale provides a highly evidenced submission that clearly demonstrates his reflective and thoughtful approach to teaching."

Winner of the Butterworth Memorial Award (2023).Link opens in a new window

In addition to WATE, Akinyemi was also awarded the Butterworth Memorial Award which celebrates the exceptional achievement of early career WATE winners (within the first five years of their academic career).

Winner of the Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE) Faculty of Social Sciences (2023).Link opens in a new window

In recognition of my contribution to teaching and student support, I was recently awarded the much coveted Warwick Awards for Teaching Excellence (WATE). To sum up my approach:

 My teaching philosophy is underpinned by the doctrine of Nobody Left Behind. In my teaching, I view students as partners with agency to not merely listen and absorb knowledge from a so-called ‘sage on a stage’, rather as active participants who bring a diversity of rich lived experiences. Combining a Warwick’s ambition of boundless learning with a critical ethos that encourages endless questioning and a transgressive (against oppressive structures) praxis, I have actively supported students in their overall development including providing academic and pastoral support, feedback and assessment that can help students grow.

Teaching Responsibilities

I am the current course director for MA in International Relations and module convener for PO926: Theories and Issues in International RelationsLink opens in a new window. I have delivered guest lectures on first and third year modules on security and race in IR.

Research Interests and PhD Supervision

I am interested in a critical interrogation of International Relations theory more broadly including its often unacknowledged raced and gendered dimensions and in engaging with concrete experiences and practices of (in)security situated within critical security studies. I currently investigate terrorism, counterterrorism, radicalization, extremism mainly from a 'bottom-up' perspective (vernacular security, feminist, everyday, postcolonial, etc) and broader aspects of international security. My ongoing monograph project examines how Boko Haram and state counterterrorism have interacted to impact on the (in)security of citizens in Northeast Nigeria. I am available for PhD supervision on topics related to security, terrorism and counterterrorism (from a critical perspective), radicalisation, violent extremism and 'bottom-up' (in)security more broadly.

Current PhD (Co-)Supervision: Mr Usman AlabiLink opens in a new window. Thesis Title: The Political Economy of Counterterrorism in Nigeria.

Selected Publications

Jarvis, L., Lister, M., Oyawale, A., 2025 (Forthcoming) Twenty Years of Vernacular Security Research: An Overview and Introduction. Security Dialogue. Introduction to the Special Issue titled ‘Vernacular Security Studies: Contributions, silences and future research agendas’.

Oyawale A. (2024) La biopolítica racial de las intervenciones africanas: examinando la resiliencia y la inseguridad en ÁfricaLink opens in a new window. Relaciones Internacionales.

Oyawale A. (2023) Ontological (In)Security Under Postcolonial Conditions: Countering Violent Extremism in NigeriaLink opens in a new window. In Heath-Kelly C and Gruber B (eds) Vulnerability: Governing the Social through Security Politics. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Oyawale, A. (2022). The impact of (counter-)terrorism on public (in)security in Nigeria: A vernacular analysis. Security Dialogue, 53(5), 420–437. https://doi.org/10.1177/09670106211063796

Oyawale A. (2020) The 'Pied Piper' of Maiduguri: Boko Haram and Violent Extremism in NigeriaLink opens in a new window. In: Jackson R, Martini A and Ford K (eds) Encountering Extremism: A Critical Examination of Theoretical Issues and Local Challenges. Manchester: Manchester University Press.

Cochrane, L. and Oyawale, A., 2019. The Conflict in Northeast Nigeria - Akin OyawaleLink opens in a new window. Nokoko, pp.1-15.

Decisioned, Forthcoming & Ongoing Projects:

• Oyawale, A. 2025 (R&R). The State, Boko Haram and Vernacular Security: Gendering Terrorism and Counterterrorism in Nigeria. Security Dialogue. Revise and Resubmit (major corrections) for the Special Issue titled ‘Vernacular Security Studies: Contributions, silences and future research agendas’.
• Impact and Public Engagement Project: Co-organised an International Security Policy Roundtable titled “Gender, Insecurity and Resilience in the Global South: A Policy Roundtable” in Abuja, Nigeria where I delivered a talk titled, 'The State, Terrorism and Gender: Reflections on Insecurity from Nigeria'.
• Vernacular Security and the Global South: Boko Haram, Everyday Politics, and Public Understandings of Terrorism in Nigeria.
• Guest Editor with Professor Lee JarvisLink opens in a new window (Loughborough) and Professor Michael Lister (Oxford Brookes) on a Special Issue titled "Vernacular Security Studies: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow?" provisionally accepted by the Security Dialogue (Autumn 2025).
• Ongoing works on Race and the State in IR, the Political Economy of (In)Security in Africa, lived experiences of poverty, migration, terrorism, counterterrorism, etc.

LinkedIn: AkinyemiOyawale