Dr Pedi Obani
Dr Pedi Obani is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Jurisprudence and International Law, University of Benin. She is also a Visiting Research Fellow in Water, Security, Policy and Governance at the School of Politics and International Studies, University of Leeds and a Research Fellow with the Earth Systems Governance project.
Her research interests include promoting inclusive development and environmental sustainability, mainly through an analysis of multi-level governance, legal pluralism and the application of transdisciplinary research methodology. She has extensive experience working in multidisciplinary research teams to assess the impact of laws, policies and other regulatory instruments for the governance of human and natural systems. Between 2019 and 2020, she worked extensively on the issue of stranded hydrocarbon assets in African countries, in her capacity as a Research Fellow in Environmental Policy at the United Nations University – Institute for Natural Resources in Africa (UNU-INRA).
Since 2012, she has worked with international organisations, regional and international NGOs and government agencies in an advisory capacity, on issues of environmental sustainability, gender inclusiveness, and social justice. Between 2010 and 2011, she worked in the private energy services sector in the United Kingdom, first in the role of a Project Green intern and subsequently as Operations Manager.
She has conducted extensive research on sustainability issues relating to the human rights of water and sanitation, climate change adaptation, and the governance of natural resources, especially in the context of Africa. In the course of this, she has also developed a framework for assessing the impact of human rights to water, sanitation, and hygiene governance instruments on social, relational, and ecological inclusiveness. This formed the basis of her presentation for the 2019 African Studies Association UK Mary Kingsley Zochonis Lecture. She has also been involved delivering an online training on the Sustainable Development Goal 6 (SDG6), in partnership with the University of Manchester. Overall, she has over 20 technical and high impact peer reviewed publications and around 10 conference presentations to her credit.
Obani currently sits on the Advisory Board of the Initiative for Equality (IfE), the Board of Directors for Sustainable TransEnvironment International Foundation (STEi Foundation), and the Executive Council of the African Women Law Experts Network (AWLEN).