Olabisi Delebayo Akinkugbe is an Associate Professor and the Viscount Bennett Professor of Law at the Schulich School of Law, Dalhousie University. Professor Akinkugbe obtained a Ph.D. in law from the University of Ottawa, an LL.M. from the University of Toronto, and an LL.B. from the University of Lagos, Nigeria.
His scholarly expertise covers several topics on issues in and at the intersection of public international law, international economic law, international human rights, international law and development, international courts, and regional economic integration in Africa. He explores these issues from the national, regional, and international contexts. His research draws on critical traditions such as Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL), socio-legal approaches to law, post-colonialism among others.
Professor Akinkugbe holds several leadership positions within international law and international economic law journals and professional associations. He is the Co-Editor-in-Chief of the African Journal of International Economic Law; and serves as the Editor of the International Decision section of the American Journal of International Law. He is a member of the Board of Editors of the American Journal of International Law, Journal of International Economic Law, Journal of World Investment and Trade, and the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, Ocean Yearbook.
Professor Akinkugbe is active in the governance of international societies in his field. He serves as a member of the Executive Councils of the Canadian Council of International Law, American Society of International Law, Society of International Economic Law, and the Advisory Board of the African International Economic Law Network. He also serves as a member of the Steering Committee of the Academic Forum on Investor-State Dispute Settlement.
Professor Akinkugbe is a founding editor of Afronomicslaw.org. Afronomicslaw.org focuses on all aspects of international economic law as they relate to Africa and the Global South. Afronomicslaw.org currently hosts the following initiatives: the African Sovereign Debt Justice Network; the African Journal of International Economic Law; individual blog posts as well as thematic symposia; Book Review Symposium; Indaba (important conversations); Webinars; and the Academic Forum.
Before joining the Schulich School of Law, Professor Akinkugbe was an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, New Brunswick, Canada from 2015 to 2017. In Spring Term of 2021, he was an Adjunct Visiting Assistant Professor at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University where he taught a seminar on Law & Development. He previously worked as an Associate in the law firm of Aluko & Oyebode, Lagos, Nigeria and as Legal Counsel at Lekki Concession Company, Nigeria. He previously served as President of the African International Economic Law Network, the Co-Managing Editor of the Nigerian Yearbook of International Law, and on the Board of the International Law Association (Canada).
Professor Akinkugbe's research and publications can be accessed via his SSRN page.