Tolulope Ayanbola

Tolu is a part-time DPhil candidate at the Centre for Socio-Legal Studies, Faculty of Law, University of Oxford. Her research examines the situated practices of policymakers in Nigeria, focusing on how symbolic resources, such as ideas and narratives, material resources, and formal and informal institutional rules are mobilised in everyday policy work. She is particularly interested in the role of these everyday practices in the development of industrial policy in Nigeria. Her doctoral research is supervised by Professor Nicole Stremlau and supported by the Faculty of Law.

Tolu holds an MPhil in African Studies from the University of Cambridge and a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) from the University of Lagos, Nigeria. She also completed her professional legal training at the Nigerian Law School and is qualified to practise law in Nigeria.

Tolu currently works as a Strategy Advisor at UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). Prior to this role, she practised law in Nigeria, advising companies in the technology, media and telecommunications sectors.