Folashadé Soulé

Folashadé Soulé is a Senior Research Associate in International Relations at the University of Oxford. Her areas of research are across International Relations and International Political Economy and her research interests are in Africa’s International Relations, global governance, and more recently the intersectional study of negotiation practices, agency and bureaucratic politics in Africa-China studies. She has published in several journals, including Global Governance, Foro Internacional, Afrique Contemporaine and Cahiers des Amériques Latines. She holds a PhD in International Relations from Sciences Po Paris and has held postdoctoral fellowships at the London School of Economics and Political Science and as an Oxford-Princeton Global Leaders fellow. She has taught at Sciences Po Paris, the University of Oxford, Université of Lille, and at the University of Cape Town/London School of Economics and the Xi’an Jiaotong /University of Oxford summer school programmes.

As a policy-facing academic, she is an advisor to the Commission on Global Economic Transformation (CGET/INET) and has acted as an international strategy consultant for several international organisations and trained young diplomats and civil servants in Bamako, Mali in international relations. She is an editorial board member of African Affairs (Oxford University Press) and serves on the board of the International Studies Association’s (ISA) Committee of Engagement with the Global South.

By this expert

Africa’s Crisis Is Also an Opportunity

Article | Dec 12, 2023

“If we get our policy, politics, and institutions right, African economies and society could gain greater energy and food security, built on green competition and taking strong action on climate change.“ —Professor Chuks Okereke, Director of the Centre for Climate Change and Development at Alex Ekwueme Federal University

We Need a Double Pronged Public-Private Approach to Food Security

Article | Jul 19, 2023

Dr. Agnes Kalibata, President of AGRA, on how the Ukraine conflict has been a big wake-up call for many African governments, the huge importance of investing in soils, and her frustration at the slow pace of climate mitigation.

Fatima Denton: We Need to Create Spaces to Democratize the ‘Just Transition’

Article | May 8, 2023

“We need to look at the early warning systems in place and aspire to attain food security.”

Should We Focus on the Problems of the Elite, or Those Faced by the Majority of the African Population?

Article | Apr 20, 2023

Professor Youba Sokona, Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and African energy specialist, on how the Ukraine conflict had re-shaped thinking amongst many Africans, and on the transformation in leadership needed to address the problems faced by the majority of Africa’s people.