Yemisi Akinbobola

Senior Lecturer and Research Degrees Coordinator

Yemisi holds a PhD in Media and Cultural Studies from Birmingham City University. She is a senior lecturer and Research Degrees Coordinator for the Birmingham Centre for Media and Cultural Research. Her research interests are in African Feminism(s) and media in Africa, particularly the intersections of Women's Rights and Media, and Media and the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) Agenda.

Expert
Senior Lecturer
African Feminism
Media

Biography

I am an award-winning journalist, academic and cofounder of the international NGO, African Women in Media (AWiM), which works towards gender equality in and through media in Africa. I am a Senior Lecturer and Research Degrees Coordinator (RDC) in Media at BCU. As RDC, I am responsible for our postgraduate researchers studying for their PhD. I have taught various modules from Foundation Year, right up to Masters, and was previously Course Director for MA Global Media Management, and previously led international partnerships.

I speak about the experiences of African women journalists at various forums, from academic conferences to high-level policy forums. I was part of the UNESCO and African Union led committee that drafted the Lusaka Declaration on Press Freedom in Africa, where I ensured the document provided for women journalists. I am Vice President of the Sustainable Journalism Partnership (Sweden), on the Advisory Committee for the Global Media Congress (UAE), and that of the Africa Media Convention. In 2023, my NGO led an international committee in developing the Kigali Declaration on the Elimination of Gender Violence in and through Media in Africa, which was unanimously adopted by 250 people during the African Women in Media 2023 Conference in Rwanda. In 2021, I was named one of 100 most influential African women.

Expertise

My research interest is in the intersection of women’s rights and media development in Africa. Specifically, my research contributes to scholarship in African Feminism(s), media development and journalism practice in Africa. In recent times, I have developed an interest in the Women, Peace and Security Agenda, and I have an emerging interest in AI in newsrooms, especially relating to African women journalists.

I have written book chapters and journal articles on the experiences of African women journalists and the representation of African women’s rights issues, including an upcoming chapter titled “Podcasting African Women: Lived Experiences and Empowerment”. Much of my research seeks to contribute to scholarly debate on African feminism(s), as did my journal article “Neoliberal Feminism in Africa”, which was also translated into Turkish.

My work on the lived experiences of African women journalists led me to cofound the international NGO African Women in Media which has a network of over 16,000 women worldwide. Its annual conference has run since 2017 with a global audience. I am currently writing a monograph and conducting research in Ethiopia, building on work I have done in Rwanda and across the continent.

Impact

My work at African Women in Media has taken me on an incredible journey, and on many occasions, I am at tables where I am either the only woman or the only one advocating for women. I have a global network of media practitioners, policymakers, activists, publishers, entrepreneurs and many more. I bring my experiences in all these environments into my teaching and research and also use these as outlets for my research to ensure real-world impact.

I have been able to support students with my experience and network and doing my best to ease their access to their professional growth. I contribute to BCU’s internationalisation strategy through this work.

Current Research

I am currently researching the barriers faced by Ethiopian Women Journalists. This is in partnership with Fojo Media Institute at Linnaeus University, and the Ethiopian Media Women Association, as well as writing a book.

It builds on a similar research project in Rwanda. It was a privilege to have led the research in Rwanda that subsequently led to the development of an anti-sexual harassment committee and policy for media in Rwanda. Both projects followed a continental research report I did on the same topic. And, of course, the adoption of the Kigali Declaration on the Elimination of Gender Violence in and through Media in Africa, by a room of 250 journalists, academics, and policymakers, was a significant achievement that I look forward to building on.