Academic biography

Dr James Akpu is an assistant professor in global history in the School of History and Geography at Dublin City University. He works in the fields of African history, Ireland-Africa relations, church-state relations, the missionary movement, maternal and child health, history of philanthropy, technology, gender, women’s sexuality studies, agrarian and environmental history, the history of human-animal relations and British empire history. Born in Kano in Northern Nigeria, James holds a B.A and M.A. (with distinction) in History degrees from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He graduated top of his class at both levels. Before his university education, he obtained a national diploma in Library and Information Science from the Federal Polytechnic Offa in Nigeria. A former Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, he completed his PhD at Dublin City University in 2022. He was recently awarded a 2023 Mother Theodore Guerin Research Travel Grant in the Cushwa Center at the University of Notre Dame. Outside of research and teaching, James enjoys watching soccer. He is a huge Real Madrid fan.