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INVITED PRESENTATIONS

  • Presenter, Public Policy Briefing for Zambian Government and Stakeholders. Lusaka, Zambia, 21 July 2023.
  • Presenter, Resource Nationalism Research Workshop. Lusaka, Zambia, 19-20 July 2023.
  • Speaker (with Jasper Ayelazuno), Ocean and Land Grabbing in Ghana’s Offshore Petroleum Industry: From the Agrarian Question to the Question of Industrialization. Agrarian Change Webinars-Seminars Series. SOAS University of London [online]. 3 November 2022.
  • Roundtable participant, Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? International Studies Association Annual Conference. Nashville, USA. 6-9 April 2022.
  • Invited Speaker, Extractive Bargains, University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC), Price George, BC. 5-6 May 2022.
  • Keynote Speaker, Regional Dialogue on Challenging systems of Economic Power that deny Human Dignity and Compromise Sustainability. Virtual Event, Labour and Economic Development Research Institute of Zimbabwe (LEDRIZ) and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC). 22 September 2021.
  • Speaker, Incommensurable Languages of Value and Petro-Geographies (with William Otchere-Darko). Political Economy Research Group (PERG) at Kingston University, UK. 3 July 2020.
  • Speaker, Large-scale investments, conflicts and rights in Africa. Danish Institute for International Studies. Copenhagen, 28 January 2020
  • Speaker, Workshop on Chinese Investment in Africa, University of Victoria, 14 March 2019
  • Workshop Co-Convener, Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa, Harare, Zimbabwe, 8-10 October 2018
  • Participant, Policy Forum, Zimbabwe Alternative Mining Indaba (ZAMI), Bulawayo, Zimbabwe, 11-12 October  2018.
  • Participant, Africa’s Economic Transformation within the Context of the G-20 Partnership with Africa, Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung and African Center for Economic Transformation (ACET), Berlin. 10-11 May, 2017.
  • Speaker, Regional Capacity Building Workshop, UNCTAD and the Government of Congo, Brazzaville. 28-30 September 2016.
  • Guest lecture, Durham University Energy Summer School, 12 July 2016
  • Speaker, Expert Roundtable – ‘Harnessing the oil and gas sector’s potential to contribute to economic development in East Africa’, Chatham House, London. 3 May 2016.
  • Panel Participant, Sustainable Extractives Forum. London, UK. 27 April 2016.
  • Presentation to the Chr. Michelsen Institute. Bergen, Norway. 25 April 2016.
  • Presentation to the Civil society and Natural Resource Management workshop, Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, Oslo, Norway. 14 April 2016.
  • “Solutions to the Resource Curse: Learning from the Commodity Price Shock” Panel Organised by Columbia Center for Sustainable Investment (CCSI) with the Natural Resource Governance Institute (NRGI). Columbia University Law School, New York. 28 March 2016.
  • “Petro-Developmental States in Africa: An Introduction to Oil-Backed Capitalist Development in the Global South” Studies in National and International Development Speaker Series, Queen’s University, Kingston. 24 March 2016.
  • “Petro-Developmental States and Local Linkages as Oil-Backed Capitalist Development in the Global South” Department of Political Science Seminar Series, York University, Toronto. 21 March 2016.
  • “Increasing Local Participation in Extractive Industries: How Domiciling Activities in the Petroleum Value Chain Can Increase Developmental Outcomes” Newcastle International Development Society Annual Conference. 21 February 2016.
  • Book Launch Event: “Angola: Crisis and Repression or Resilience and Growth?” Menas Associates/Beazley Group. Old Library, Lloyds of London. 28 January 2016.
  • “An Introduction to International Political Economy and the Political Economy of Oil & Gas” Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, Lagos. 15 Nov 2015.
  • Organised a panel on ‘The “Resource Curse” or Economic Transformation’ at Africa Research Institute, 15 October 2015. With Eng. Ernest Nwapa and Isabelle Ramdoo.
  • “Civil Society Actors and Petroleum Management in Angola” Norwegian Institute for International Affairs, Oslo. 3 September 2015.
  • Keynote Speaker “Volunteer Tourism and Volunteering Abroad” International Development Society Information Fair, Newcastle University. 12 November 2014.
  • Workshop Participant, Global Value Chains and the Role of Law in Structures of Production, City University London. 25-26 October 2014.
  • Workshop Participant, Teaching Resource Politics Workshop, University of Tokyo. 13 September 2014.
  • “Overview of Literature on China in Africa” Centre for Public Policy Alternatives, Lagos. 14 Nov 2013.
  • “Resource Extraction and Capitalist Accumulation in Angola and Nigeria” York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS) Afternoon Seminar Series. York University, Toronto. 31 January 2012.
  • “From Rentierism to Capitalist Accumulation in Angola and Nigeria” Department of Development Studies Seminar Series, School of Oriental and African Studies. London, UK. 14 November 2011.
  • “National Content and National Development through Angola’s Oil and Gas Industry” Bergen, Norway: Christian Michelsen Institute. 8 June 2011.
  • “Oil Production and Development in Angola: Preliminary Results of My Doctoral Field Research” (Talk in Portuguese) Luanda: Catholic University of Angola. 17 August 2010.
  • Presented my research and findings at a seminar in Luanda to the NGO ‘Development Workshop’ in 2010.
  • “Development, Transformation and New Imperialism in the Gulf of Guinea: Case Studies of Nigeria and Angola” Stellenbosch, South Africa: Centre for Chinese Studies. 20 May 2010.
  • “Development and Conflict in Northern Ghana” World University Service of Canada (WUSC) Annual Research Forum, Ottawa, ON. 13-15 Nov 2009. (Presented research at the Forum as well as to CIDA and Foreign Affairs Canada in a seminar at the International Development Research Centre – IDRC).

CONFERENCE PRESENTATIONS AND ACADEMIC TALKS

  • “The Role of Local Content in Green Energy Transitions” European Association of Development Research and Training Institutes Annual Conference, Lisbon, Portugal, 10-13 July 2023.
  • “Local Content, Gender, and SME Development in Large-Scale Mining: Tanzania, Zambia, and Zimbabwe” Ninth European Conference on African Studies, Cologne, Germany, 31 May-3 June 2023.
  • “Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa: Alternative Understandings and Policy Options for Sustainable Development” Society for the Advancement of Socio-Economics Conference. Virtual Conference. 3 July 2021.
  • “Incommensurable Languages of Value and Petro-Geographies” (with William Otchere-Darko). Petrocultures 2020, Stavanger, Norway. 26-29 August 2020.[CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19]
  • Invited Participant, Special Roundtable on CSR and Development in Africa’s Natural Resource Sectors, International Studies Association Annual Conference. Honolulu, March 25-28 2020. [CANCELLED DUE TO COVID-19]
  • Panel Co-Convener, Resource nationalism in southern Africa: challenges and opportunities. Presenter, “One Step is Not Enough: A Comprehensive Approach to Resource-Based Development”. Eighth European Conference on African Studies, Edinburgh, 12-14 June 2019
  • Panel Convener, The Politics of Value-Addition in African Countries and the Politics of Global Value Chains, Production Networks, and Commodity Chains. Presenter, “Global Value Chains and Local Linkages in the Nigerian Petroleum Industry” African Studies Association, UK Annual Conference, Birmingham, UK, 11-13 September 2018
  • “Energy, Gender and Inequality” Gender, Work and Organization conference, Sydney, Australia, 13-16 June 2018
  • Workshop Co-Organizer, Towards a New Politics of Natural Resources? (Re)Conceptualizing State-Society Relations in Resource-rich Countries, Institute of Political Science, Leiden University, 24-25 May 2018.
  • “Petro-Developmentalism and Global Value Chains in Nigeria: Are Local Companies Succeeding?” Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS) Annual Conference, Queen’s University, Kingston ON, 4-6 May 2018
  • “The Politics of Civil Society Participation in Local Content Policy Formulation” Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), San Francisco.  4-7 April 2018.
  • Convener of a SSHRC-Sponsored Workshop: Mobilizing Canadian Knowledge on Natural Resource-Based Development in Africa, University of Windsor, Canada. 8 September 2017. (click here for more information)
  • “Dispossessing and dislocating to get Oil and Gas? Agrarian Political-economic Analysis of Social Transformation in Inland Communities along the Western Coastline of Ghana” (with Jasper Ayelazuno), Seventh European Conference on African Studies. Basel, Centre for African Studies. June 28- July 2 2017.
  • “Ghana’s Hydrocarbon Industry: A Look Backward and Forward from the Perspective of Coastal Communities” (with Jasper Ayelazuno); Co-Convenor, ‘Harnessing Natural Resources for Development in Africa’ (series of five panels), Canadian Association of African Studies annual conference, Ryerson University, Toronto. May 31-June 2, 2017.
  • “Petro-Developmental States in Africa: Oil-Backed Capitalist Development in the Global South” Annual Conference of the African Studies Association (ASA), Washington DC. 1-3 December 2016.
  • Panelist, Roundtable: Post-Oil, Post-Socialism, Post-War: On the Reconfiguration of Angola’s Imagined Future (Sponsored by the Lusophone African Studies Association). Annual Conference of the African Studies Association (ASA), Washington DC. 1-3 December 2016.
  • “Ghana’s Hydrocarbon Industry: A Look Backward and Forward from the Perspective of Coastal Communities” University of Oxford. 12-14 September 2016. Panel Co-Convener, Oil, Politics and State-led Development, Development Studies Association Conference. Panel sponsored by the Political Studies Association Development Politics Specialist Group.
  • “The Limits of Petro-Development in Ghana’s ‘Oil City’: How Oil Production Has Impacted Sekondi-Takoradi” ASAUK biennial conference, University of Cambridge. 7-9 September 2016.
  • “Global Value Chains and Local Linkages in the Petroleum Industry” Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), Atlanta.  15-20 March 2016.
  • “Resource-led Strategies and New Developmental States: Lessons from Latin America and Africa” 9th European International Affairs Association (EISA), Giardini-Naxos, Sicily. 23-26 September 2015.
  • “Petro-Developmental States in Africa: An Introduction” STEPS Centre Conference – Resource Politics: Transforming Pathways to Sustainability, Institute of Development Studies, University of Sussex. 7-9 September 2015.
  • “Global Value Chains and Local Linkages in the Petroleum Industry: Potential Issues for Angolan Labour” Sixth European Conference on African Studies. Paris, University of the Sorbonne 8-10 July 2015.
  • “Resource Booms and New Developmentalism: Lessons from Latin America and Africa” (with Jojo Nem Singh” Developmental States Beyond East Asia workshop, Newcastle University. 5 June 2015.
  • “The Role of Law in Local Linkages and Petro-Development” Global Value Chains Pro-Seminar, Institute for Global Law & Policy Annual Conference, Harvard Law School. 1-2 June 2015.
  • “State-Led Development in Latin America and Africa” Newcastle-PUC Rio Security and Development Workshop, Newcastle University. 28-29 April 2015.
  • Chair, Co-Convener and Presenter on panel SB46 ‘Energy Resources and the Question of Developmental States’ with Tim Shaw, Stefan Andreasson, Michael Klare, Daniel Volman, Helena Perez-Nino, Phillippe Le Billon, Peter Newell, and Marcus Power. Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), New Orleans. 19-21 February 2015.
  • “Local Content Policies, Natural Resource Governance and Development in the Global South” 1st Austrian Conference on International Resource Politics, Vienna. 4-7 December 2014.
  • “Post-War Angola as a Developmental State” Annual Conference of the African Studies Association (ASA), Indianapolis IN. 20-22 November 2014.
  • “Africa’s Rise Seen Through the Lens of a Petro-Developmental State” ASAUK Conference 2014, University of Sussex. 9-11 September 2014.
  • “Oil-Backed Capitalist Development in the Global South: Conditions and Prospects” SPERI Annual Conference: The Global Contours of Growth and Development, Sheffield. 30 June – 2 July 2014.
  • “Varieties of (Emerging) Petro-Capitalism: Applying a Paradigm to Angola and Nigeria” British International Studies Association Annual Meeting, Dublin. 18-20 June 2014.
  • “Local Content and Resource Extraction in Angola and Nigeria: A New Moment for State-Led Development in the Gulf of Guinea?” Mining and Political Transformations in Africa. Annual Conference of the Centre of African Studies, University of Edinburgh. 24-25 April 2014.
  • “Local Content in Natural Resource Governance: The Cases of Angola and Nigeria” Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), Toronto. 26-29 March 2014.
  • Workshop Participant, Global Political Economy of Energy Invitation-Only Workshop, Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), 25 March 2014.
  • “Models of State-Led Development in Contemporary Angola” First Annual Lusophone Studies Association Conference. York University, Toronto. 29 October – 1 November 2013.
  • Chair/Discussant, New Directions in Angolan Research, St Peter’s College, Oxford, 17-18 March 2014.
  • “Angola as a Developmental State” Towards the Angolan Past. York University, Toronto. 7-8 May 2013.
  • “Angola as a Developmental State” Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), Ottawa: Carleton University. May 1-3, 2013.
  • “Resource Extraction and Local Content in Angola and Nigeria: A New Moment for State-Led Capitalist Development in the Gulf of Guinea?” Excavating Development: Resource Extraction, Social Classes, and the New ‘Developmental State’. Political Science Roundtable. York University, Toronto. 7 January 2013.
  • “The Pitfalls of National Content: Oil and Development in Angola and Nigeria” Annual Conference of the African Studies Association (ASA), Washington, DC. 17-20 November 2011.
  • “From Rentierism to Capitalist Accumulation: Accumulation by Dispossession, Oil and the Angolan and Nigerian Elite” Eighth Annual Historical Materialism Conference. London, UK. November 10-13, 2011.
  • “The Dual Nature of Local Content in Angola: Development vs. Elite Accumulation” The Study of Angola: Towards a New Research Agenda. Oxford University, St. Peter’s College. June 30-July 1, 2011.
  • “The Pitfalls of National Content: Oil and Development in Angola and Nigeria” Fourth European Conference on African Studies. Uppsala, Sweden: Nordic Africa Institute. 15-18 June 2011.
  • “Oil and Development in Angola and Nigeria” Eighteenth Annual York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS) Conference, York University, Toronto. March 28-29, 2011.
  • “Indigenization vs. Domiciliation: A Historical Approach to National Content in Nigeria’s Oil and Gas Industry” Africa in World Politics Conference, The University of Texas at Austin. 25-27 March 2011.
  • “Accumulation With or Without Dispossession? The Role of China in the New Scramble for African Resources” Historical Materialism Toronto, York University, Toronto, May 13-16, 2010.
  • “Northern Ghana at a Crossroads: A Review of Election 2008” Annual Conference of the African Studies Association (ASA), New Orleans, LA. 19-22 November 2009.
  • “A Review of the 2008 Ghanaian Election from the Capital of the Northern Region” Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), Kingston: Queen’s University. 4-7 May 2009.
  • “China, the West and the new scramble for African oil” Annual Convention of the International Studies Association (ISA), New York, NY. 15-18 February 2009.
  • “Development and security in Africa’s ‘American Lake’: the political economy of oil and exploitation” Reflecting on Africa’s Riches: resources, conflict and exploitation, Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), Edmonton: University of Alberta. 1-4 May 2008.
  • “Contemporary notions of dependency and the expropriation of economic surplus in mainstream and critical thought: the legacy of Andre Gunder Frank and Paul A. Baran” Andre Gunder Frank’s Legacy of Critical Social Science, Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh. 11-13 April 2008.
  • “Ethnicity and conflict in northern Ghana: A history of underdevelopment” Annual New Frontiers in Graduate History Conference, York University. 14-16 February 2008.
  • “Development and security in Africa’s ‘American Lake’”, Annual York Centre for International and Security Studies (YCISS) Conference, Toronto: York University. 7-8 February 2008.
  • “Intensified globalization, development, and the thesis of disruptive transformation: two interpretations of Karl Polanyi” Annual Conference of the Canadian Association of Studies in International Development (CASID), Regina: University of Saskatchewan. May 31-June 2, 2007.
  • “The Role of Youth in Rehabilitation of Mine Victims” Jammu University. Jammu and Kashmir, India. December 17, 2005 and Islamia College. Srinagar, Jammu and Kashmir, India. 14 December 2005.