Dr. Surulola Eke, currently a Peacock Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of Political Studies, engaged with youth under the auspices of the in direct climate action in Lagos, Nigeria throughout April and May of this year. Dr. Eke led a team of young volunteers with support from his community partners to plant trees as a carbon sink and to provide protection against erosion and flooding. This project was designed with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals in mind, particularly Goal 13: Climate Action and Goal 17: Partnerships, as a way for Dr. Eke to take his research on the connections between capitalism and climate change in West Africa to youth who have lived experiences at these intersections. The School of Graduate Studies and Postdoctoral Affairs was eager to support Dr. Eke’s project idea through the Postdoc Initiative Fund which funds career advancement, professional development, and community building efforts proposed by Postdoctoral Fellows.
Dr. Eke first joined Queen’s University in 2020 as a Banting Postdoctoral Fellow following his doctoral studies at the University of Manitoba in Peace Studies and Conflict Resolution. Since joining Queen’s, he has continued to demonstrate research excellence, publishing extensively and in leading disciplinary journals such as Third World Quarterly, and in other important mediums such as the Routledge Handbook of Peacebuilding and Ethnic Conflict. Dr. Eke also makes scholarly contributions through his teaching in the Department of Political Studies. He has taught a senior undergraduate seminar course ‘Global Climate Governance’ for the last two years and his latest endeavour in Lagos will provide fruitful examples to his students on everyday climate action. Dr. Eke brings together his research, his teaching, and his praxis to advance climate action.
