Director of External Affairs
Associate Professor Olusola Olajide Isola
Olusola O. Isola is an Associate Professor of Media and Security Studies in the Department of Peace, Security and Humanitarian Studies, Faculty of Multidisciplinary Studies, University of Ibadan, Ibadan, Nigeria. His research interests cut across the Media, Security studies, Strategic studies, Peacebuilding and Conflict Management. He currently teaches courses and conduct researches in these broad areas. He obtained a B.sc Degree in Mass Communication from University of Lagos in 1987, Master’s Degree from University of Ibadan and Ph.D in Peace and Conflict Studies also from University of Ibadan in 2008.
Dr Isola started out his working career as a Staff Reporter with the defunct Sketch newspaper in 1989, after which he went into corporate communication as Communication Officer with the Cooperative Federation of Nigeria. He was seconded in 1991 to the World Farmers Times Newspaper Foundation in Paris France as an Editor (Africa Desk) and was later appointed in 2001 as the Executive Director of Independent Journalism Center, a journalism training center in Lagos. He went into the academic fully in 2004 and served as Lecturer in Covenant University, Redeemers University and finally joined University of Ibadan in 2008. He is also currently a Visiting Professor at Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo State.
Dr Isola was a Visiting Research Scholar at African Peacebuilding Program in Woodrow Wilson Center for Scholars in Washington DC, United States of America, in 2018, where he conducted researches in Peacebuilding in Africa, Hate Speech and Election Conflicts in Nigeria and USA. He also obtained various research grants from IFRA, Paris France, CODESRIA, among others. He was a Sub-dean (Postgraduate) in the Institute of African Studies and the Institute for Peace and Strategic Studies, University of Ibadan. He has trained about 12 Ph.D researchers and supervised over 70 MA students. He is currently the Coordinator of the Strategic Studies Program, being jointly run by the University of Ibadan and the National Defence College, Abuja. He was a Sabbatical Fellow at the National Defence College, Abuja in 2022 to 2023.Â