Professor Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo
Professor | Leeds Beckett
Leeds, UNITED KINGDOM
Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo's teaching and research focuses primarily on Cyber governance, cyber security and governance of digital technologies.
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Biography
Nnenna is a Professor of Law and Technology at the Leeds Law School. She is a Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy, Harvard University (2022-2024), and an Associate Fellow of the Africa Programme at Chatham House, United Kingdom. Her teaching and research interests focus primarily on the governance of digital technologies, cybersecurity, digital rights, and rule of law in cyberspace. She has partnered with various organisations for the delivery of research projects aimed at shaping academic and policy discourses on the governance of digital technologies. She was a member of the International Law Association Steering Committee on Digital Challenges for International Law. The Committee delivered a White Paper on Digital Challenges for International Law - Digital Challenges for International Law - Ila Paris 2023. She recently delivered a commissioned stakeholder mapping project on ‘digital financial security’ on the CyberFI Project of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
In addition to her regular teaching and research, Nnenna serves as the Chair of the Cybercrime Working Group of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE), and the Vice-Chairperson of the African Union Cyber Security Experts Group (AUCSEG). She advices the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Member States on existing international, regional and national legal frameworks related to cybersecurity. She also serves as a delegate to the United Nations ‘Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of ICTs for Criminal Purposes’, as well as the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs.
Nnenna serves on the editorial and advisory boards of various journals. She is a contributing editor for the ‘Directions’ of the Cyber Direct Project of the European Union Institute for Security Studies and an Editor of the Commonwealth Cybercrime Journal. She is also a member of the Research Committee of the GFCE and has served as an expert or consultant for notable organisations such as the Chatham House, the Commonwealth and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). She has taught at various universities including, Swansea University, University of Bradford, Buckinghamshire New University and Lancaster University Ghana.
Industry Expertise (2)
Legal Services
Education/Learning
Areas of Expertise (6)
Law
Cybersecurity
Human Rights
Law and Technology
Cybercrime
Intellectual Property Law
Accomplishments (2)
Africa Legal Innovation Awards (professional)
2020
2021 Teacher of the Year for the School of Law (professional)
Dr Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo was named the “2021 Teacher of the Year for the School of Law” at the annual Swansea Academy of Learning and Teaching (SALT) Teaching Awards.
Education (7)
University of Abuja: LLB, Law 2005
Nigerian Law School: BL, Law 2006
Robert Gordon University: LLM, International Information Technology Law 2009
Paris Lodron Universität Salzburg: Certificate, International Criminal Law 2016
Lancaster University: Postgraduate Certificate in International Academic Practice, Education 2017
University of Ghana: MA, African Studies 2019
University of Johannesburg: LLD, International Law 2018
Affiliations (3)
- Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) : Chair of the Cybercrime Working Group
- African Union Cyber Security Experts Group (AUCSEG) : Vice-Chairperson
- Commonwealth Cybercrime Journal : Editor
Links (8)
Languages (1)
- English
Media Appearances (9)
Security Council Meets on Addressing Evolving Threats in Cyberspace
UN Security Council
Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Vice Chair of The African Union Cyber Security Experts Group, speaks at the Security Council meeting on addressing evolving threats in cyberspace.
Digital Breakthroughs Must Serve Betterment of People, Planet, Speakers Tell Security Council during Day-Long Debate on Evolving Cyberspace Threats
United Nations online
2024-06-19
NNENNA IFEANYI-AJUFO, Professor of Law and Technology, Leeds Beckett University and Vice-Chair of the African Union Cyber Security Experts Group, stressed the need to acknowledge both “our cybersecurity commonalities”, as well as the differences between regions and country-specific realities. Drawing attention to the various frameworks currently in place in Africa, she pointed to the Digital Transformation Strategy for Africa — 2020-2030, adopted by the African Union Commission in 2014, as well as its Convention on Cyber Security and Personal Data Protection (the Malabo Convention), which entered into force in June 2023. The Union also adopted, in January 2024, the Common African Position on the Application of International Law to the Use of Information and Communication Technologies in the Cyberspace, “the first position document on the application of international law in cyberspace that includes a section on capacity-building”, she pointed out.
Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo: “The current state of cybersecurity in Africa is the tendency towards a cyber-militarisation approach”
Global Economic Governance Programme online
Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo is a Professor of Law and Technology at Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom and Vice Chairperson of the African Union Cyber Security Experts Group (AUCSEG) and has been actively involved in advising the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Member States on existing international, regional and national legal frameworks related to cybersecurity, as well as promoting cybersecurity in the region.
The AU took important action on cybersecurity at its 2024 summit – but more is needed
Chatham House online
2024-02-26
Africa witnessed a spate of cyberattacks in 2023, against African Union Commission (AUC) systems, Kenyan government data systems, and Nigerian election infrastructure among others.
Podcast - Independent Thinking: Can the UN’s first cybercrime treaty protect us?
Chatham House online
2024-02-09
Bronwen Maddox is joined this week by Ciaran Martin, the former chief executive of the National Cyber Security Centre; Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, vice chair of the African Union’s Cyber Security Experts Group; Amy Hogan-Burney, general manager of cyber security policy at Microsoft and Joyce Hakmeh, the deputy director of our International Security Programme.
Technology Dependence & Racial Inequality: Theorizing “Design Thinking” on Human Rights
Carr Center for Human Rights Policy online
2023-10-25
The exacerbation of racial inequality through the design of technologies remains an understated way in which the evolution of digital technologies impacts our human rights. As we continue to consider the impacts of modern technology on our human rights in areas such as privacy, freedom of expression, etc., we must also increasingly consider the interaction between digital technologies and forms of racial inequality.
Cyber governance in Africa is weak. Taking the Malabo Convention seriously would be a good start
The Conversation online
2023-07-31
Several African countries are pursuing digital transformation ambitions – applying new technologies to enhance the development of society. But concerns exist over the absence of appropriate policies across the continent to create a resilient and secure cyber environment.
Cybercrime A Barrier To Africa’s Thriving Digital Economy
NewZimbabwe.com online
2021-09-13
Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, Senior Lecturer at the School of Law, Swansea University, UK, said cyber governance and E-commerce play a critical role in ensuring cyber security, and that the interface between cyber governance, cybersecurity and economic viability is one of the most complex policy challenges in the current day digital economy in Africa.
‘Tell an African Story!’
The Republic online
2021-09-08
Academic and author of ‘Gender, Anti-Colonialism and Nationalism’, Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo, believes it is important that Africans tell our own stories: ‘Look at Africa and the history of Africa. Academic writings about Africa are not largely written by Africans and this has allowed for a distortion of our history.’
Articles (7)
Tech alone won’t improve trust in Nigeria’s elections
Chatham House2023-02-23
Election technology has been deployed in a growing list of African countries, from the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Ghana and Kenya, raising hopes for improved transparency, integrity and trust in electoral democracy. But technology alone is not a guarantee of credibility and security. It’s also a new frontier for election fraud amid concerns over vulnerabilities to hacking and manipulation. Complaints of interference by Ghana’s Electoral Commission (EC) and security issues with the DRC’s electronic voting system highlight how technology can lead to contested results and damage public trust.
Cyber governance in Africa: at the crossroads of politics, sovereignty and cooperation
Policy Design and Practice2023 Africa has recently focused on an ambition to achieve digital transformation through the pursuit of various flagship initiatives which are aimed at achieving its ‘Agenda 2063’ objectives. Digital transformation will be better achieved through appropriate cyber governance policies and mechanisms, and the success of Africa’s Digital Transformation Strategy 2020-2030 hinges on diverse factors.
Digital Financial Inclusion and Security: The Regulation of Mobile Money in Ghana
Carnegie Endowment for International Peace2022 Ghana's digital financial services industry, most notably the market for mobile money services, has grown significantly during the pandemic. To achieve full digital financial inclusion, however, the country still must build capacity, skills, trust, and security. The Cybersecurity, Capacity Development, and Financial Inclusion project, or CyberFI, brings together a robust, transparent community of practitioners and researchers working on digital financial inclusion. This series focuses on understanding financial inclusion ecosystems on their own terms—what countries are doing, what is working, and what isn’t.
International multimodal transport business and the regulation of electronic commerce
JL Pol'y & Globalization2015 In this age of globalisation, the forms of contracting, buying, selling and transportation of goods has transcended age long traditional methods of doing same and the society is being geared into a paperless and cashless society. One of the benefits of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as well as globalisation is the introduction of electronic commerce.
Human Rights and Access to Information and Communication Technologies
Int'l J. Advanced Legal Stud. & Governance2013 The world is going through a profound change where advances in Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) have tied nation states into an increasingly complex web of development,'thus prompting the extreme importance of access to ICTs. 2 Article 27of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR) 3 provides that'everyone has the right to participate, enjoy and share in scientific advancement and its benefits'. Though, billions of people the world over are presently excluded from access to ICTs necessitating the submission yet those who lack access to ICTs are extremely marginalised from present day development.
Challenges of Digital Music Copyright and the Liability of Intermediaries
Law Journal Library HeinOnline2013
Net Politics in Africa
Directions blogAfrican governments’ views on cybersecurity are not homogenous and actions that indicate ideals of “net nationalism” continue to emerge in parts of Africa. A politics of net nationalism utterly focused on individual governmental interests will imperil international cooperation, mutual legal assistance and the cross-border flow of information, and may derail international cybersecurity efforts, especially harmful to a region like Africa that undeniably needs digital cooperation to effectively ensure cybersecurity. It is the time for African states to focus on global best practices and strategic cooperation and show interest in multilateral efforts aimed at enhancing cybersecurity and cyber governance.
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