Announcing NYU SPS Center for Global Affairs' New Non-Resident Fellows

Dr. Olajumoke (Jumo) Ayandele is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at New York University Center for the study of Africa and the African Diaspora (CSAAD) and a Non-Resident Fellow at the Center for Global Affairs. In her most recent position as a Senior Researcher at The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED), Dr. Ayandele supported the production of real-time data on political violence in Nigeria. She is passionate about understanding the dynamic relationship and intersection between African conflict, human security, and political stability, and has won numerous awards and grants to conduct her research. She holds a Ph.D. in Global Affairs from Rutgers – The State University of New Jersey, an M.P.A. in International Development Policy and Management and a B.A. in Economics, both from New York University.

Dr. María Isabel García is a journalist and Post-Doctoral researcher at the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED-IUGM) in Spain. She graduated from the Universidad Pontificia de Salamanca (UPSA) and has two master's degrees - one in Security Studies and another in Political Science. She obtained her PhD in International Security (summa cum laude) in September 2020, which received the Best PhD Clara Campoamor Award in 2020. She also gained experience as a visiting scholar at the University of Birmingham.

Her research interests include Terrorism and Political Violence, Extremism, Gender, Disengagement and Reintegration.  

As a non-resident fellow at CGA, her work will examine the main reasons that lead a woman to abandon a terrorist organization and the challenges to reintegrate back into society women convicted of a terrorist offense in western countries.

Yovita Ivanova is a Bulgarian-born economist based in Lima, Peru, with extensive professional experience in Europe, and North and South America in the area of sustainable agriculture research and development. She has held various government positions and worked as a consultant for the United Nations. Currently, she is a Senior Manager at the Alliance Bioversity -CIAT and a professor at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru. Yovita is committed to poverty reduction and decreasing inequality while protecting natural resources in developing countries.

Sarmad Khan is an international affairs professional with 20 years’ experience in United Nations development cooperation, international policy and diplomacy and executive leadership development. He is a Board Director on the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS) and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Global Affairs at New York University (NYU). He also sits on the Advisory Boards of the UAE University’s ‘University of the Future’ initiative, and Emerging Health International (EHI). In 2020, Sarmad was recognized by the BMW Foundation Hebert Quandt as one of forty global Responsible Leaders for his contributions to the SDGs through positive change and collaborative action. 

Christiane Lemke is Professor Emerita of Political Science at Leibniz University Hannover, where she was also the Director of the Jean Monnet European Center of Excellence. She has been a J. F. Kennedy Memorial Fellow at Harvard University, Visiting Krupp Chair in the Government Department at Harvard, Max Weber Chair in European Politics at New York University and DAAD-Visiting Professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She was the first woman in Germany to serve as the director of the state parliament in Lower Saxony where she was responsible – among other tasks – for the Europeanization of the parliament’s administration. Professor Lemke is also a media expert on transatlantic security, European affairs, and US politics. Her current research interests focus on transatlantic relations and the salience of climate change policy, migration and human rights, and the significance of gender in migration and international politics.

Adam Seth Levine is the Stavros Niarchos Foundation Agora Institute Associate Professor of Health Policy and Management in the Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins. Of his many research interests, he is currently examining “When, why, and how do diverse people, such as researchers and community leaders, collaborate to address problems in civic life?” In addition to publishing research addressing these questions in peer-reviewed publications and books, he is also deeply committed to broad public engagement. Many of his studies entail formal collaborations with nonprofit organizations, in which they work together to design and carry out research. Thus far he has collaborated with six nonprofits to conduct research in six countries including the United States, Kenya, Nepal, Mexico, Ecuador, and Vietnam. He is also the president and co-founder of research4impact, a nonprofit that creates meaningful collaboration anew between researchers, practitioners, and policymakers.

Ebenezer Obadare is a Professor of Sociology at the University of Kansas, Lawrence, and a Fellow at the University of South Africa’s Institute of Theology. Ebenezer was a Ralf Dahrendorf Scholar and Ford Foundation International Scholar at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) where he completed his PhD in Social Policy in 2005. He is the author of numerous books and essays on civil society and the state, and religion and politics in Africa. His next book, forthcoming from University of Notre Dame Press, is titled: Pastoral Power, Clerical State: Pentecostalism, Gender, and Sexuality in Nigeria. Obadare is editor, Journal of Modern African Studies, and contributing editor, Current History.

Marlon Parker has a passion for technology and innovation. He founded RLabs, a social enterprise that impacted more than 20 Million people across 23 countries. He has been listed by Quartz as one of the Top African Innovators of 2017, one of the 100 World Class South Africans, an honorary faculty member of the International School of Digital Transformation, adjunct faculty at UCT Graduate School of Business and a non-resident fellow at New York University. He was selected as a WEF Young Global Leader, Dangote Fellow and Ashoka Fellow for his work in Social Entrepreneurship.

Dr. Derek M Powell is an Associate Professor in constitutional law and government at the University of the Western Cape in South Africa. A deputy director-general and senior policy advisor in the South African government during the Mandela and Mbeki administrations (1996-2009), he played a leading role in the establishment of South Africa's system of decentralized government.  Prior to that he was head of the research department at the Constitutional Assembly during the two year process to draft South Africa's historic post-apartheid constitution. He has worked on constitutional and public sector reforms all over the world, authored or edited three books, and published many journal articles. His research addresses problems of constitutional law and government during times of crisis and major social change: peace-making and post-conflict recovery, the COVID-19 pandemic, the digital revolution and climate change.

Edward Price is a political economist and former British trade official. At the CGA, he teaches courses on Political Economy and Globalization. Based in the New York Consulate, he represented HM Government to Wall St and the US official sector from 2017 to 2021. He’s written for the Financial Times' Alphaville blog, appeared on Bloomberg Radio and has been featured in Barron's. He’s a member of the Economic Club of New York. Prior to consular service, Edward advised members of the European and British Parliaments and worked in the City. He was educated at the London School of Economics (LSE) and holds two Master’s degrees: MSc Finance and Economic Policy and MA German History.