PADRA Members

Graham Oluteyo Amakanji is a Lecturer at the Department of Peace and Conflict Studies at Masinde Muliro University of Science & Technology (MMUST), Kenya. He is an early career scholar and a recipient of the Social Science Research Council’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Program’s 2021 Doctoral Dissertation Research and 2022 Doctoral Dissertation Completion Fellowship awards. Graham is also a Rotary Peace Fellow at the Rotary Peace Center- Makerere University, Uganda.
ORCiD: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0617-2551
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/graham-amakanji-oluteyo-77524073/
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=Vym0wUEAAAAJ&hl=en

David Maina has a PhD in social archaeology. His area of interest is how social identities especially gender and social hierarchies were formed, negotiated, re-negotiated and maintained in the past and subsequent implication on material record.

Flora Nguye Mutere is a PhD candidate and Assistant Lecturer in Interactive Media Design at the Technical University of Kenya. Her main research interests include Afro feminism, Digital Heritage Design, and Museology. https://www.nguyesportfolio.com/
www.linkedin.com/in/flora-mutere-okuku-29161170

Dr. Kizito Sabala holds a PhD in International studies and is currently the Head and Political Officer at the IGAD Liaison Office in Nairobi, Kenya and Juba, South Sudan. He is also the Research and Programme Manager at Africa Peace Forum. Dr. Sabala also serves as a Lecturer, Department of Diplomacy and International Studies, (DDIS) the University of Nairobi.

Job Allan Wefwafwa (PhD) is a Post-doctoral Researcher at University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg and lecturer at Technical University of Kenya, Nairobi. His Doctorate is in Media Studies, focusing on social media and African electoral politics. His interests includes Digital media and African democracy, User Experience Research (UXR), and indigenous African knowledge and peacebuilding.
Google Scholar
ORCID Staff Portal-TUK

Elizabeth Nafula Khaemba (DPhil student Moi University, Kenya) doubles as a teacher of English and a part-time lecturer at the University of Eldoret, in Kenya. Her main research focus is on Linguistics, Media, Socio-political development, Conflict and Peacebuilding. She is a 2023 NextGen Research Fellow.

Roseanne Njiru (PhD) is a lecturer and researcher in the department of Sociology, Social Work,
and African Women Studies at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. Her main research interests
include health, gender, human rights and human security, internal displacement, peacebuilding,
development, and decolonization. She is a 2018 APN Individual Research Fellow.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/my-orcid?orcid=0000-0001-8006-1679
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=3HTCgtIAAAAJ&hl=en

Grace Njoki Maina is a Social Science Research Council Next Gen Fellowships (2021-2023) and a Feminist historian with a Ph.D. from Makerere University, specializing in gender and history. Her career objective focuses on contributing to scholarship, research, and advocacy in history and gender. Grace is currently a lecturer at KCA University, Nairobi. She has been a fellow of the Gerda Henkel Stiftung Foundation PhD Scholarship (Makerere University 2021-2023 ), and the University of Michigan African Presidential Scholars (UMAPS) 2023.

Job Mwaura (PhD) is a Postdoctoral Research in the Wits Centre for Journalism at the
University of the Witwatersrand in South Africa. He is a 2023/2024 IRF APN Fellow. His main research interests include Digital and Emerging Media, Artificial Intelligence, and their intersection with culture, society and politics.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1072-6425
Google Scholar: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ddcnrU4AAAAJ&hl=en

Alloice Salex Okumu is a 2024 NextGen Fellow (SSRC) and a distinguished researcher and Ph.D. candidate at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He holds an MA in Project Planning and Management from the University of Nairobi and a Postgraduate Diploma in Monitoring and Evaluation from the University of Washington. With over nine years of experience in development work, Alloice has collaborated with international bodies such as the UN Agency for Migration, UNDP, and Save the Children International, making significant contributions to research and development projects. His academic partnerships with the University of Massachusetts Lowell and New York University have led to the creation of a pivotal monitoring and evaluation platform. As an educator at the University of Nairobi, Alloice shares his extensive knowledge in data management and analysis, utilizing both qualitative and quantitative methods, including SPSS and NVivo. His expertise in project cycle management, training, and capacity building, combined with his leadership and communication skills, has driven successful research initiatives. Alloice’s commitment to social and economic development is evident in his efforts to support sustainable development goals in Africa’s conflict-affected regions, inspiring global discourse on conflict, migration, and trafficking in persons.

Athanas is an auxiliary lecturer at The South Eastern Kenya University in Kitui and the Umma University in Kajiado. He is currently pursuing his PhD in Literature at the University of Nairobi and specializing in war memory. He holds a Master of Arts in Literature and Bachelor of Education degree: Linguistics and literature from the University of Nairobi. His research interests include life writings, conflict resolution, and gender and women studies

Jacinta Matheka is a 2022 Gerda Henkel PhD Fellow in the Department of Literature- Makerere University, Uganda. She attained her Bachelor’s degree in Education from Moi University in 2013 and an MA in Literature from The University of Nairobi in 2019. She is part of the 2024 SSRC Next Gen Dissertation Fellows. Besides general peacebuilding studies, her research interests include the literary representation of historical traumas.

Maryline Chepngetich Kirui is PhD student in Literature in the Department of Literature, Linguistics, Foreign Languages and Film Studies, Kenya. Her research interests are African studies and cultures with particular focus in the representation of violence and trauma in African literary texts. Her aim is to examine the how authors of fictional works and memoirs represent and comment on the violence and Trauma that has marred Africa for decades. She has a Bachelor of arts degree and Master of Arts in Literature in Moi University. She is a beneficiary of The Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship in 2022 and Recalibrating Afrikanistik Fellowship in 2023. Apart from writing critical articles, she also a poet and a short story writer.

Nicholas Odoyo is a PhD candidate in Political Economy at the Makerere Institute for Social Research’s Interdisciplinary MPhil/PhD program at Makerere University, Uganda. His research focuses on epistemological decolonization and agrarian questions in Africa. He is a 2024 Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa (Next Gen) Doctoral Dissertation Research Fellow conducting research on the political economy of land in Kenya.

Dr. Norah Atambo is a Kenyan linguist, researcher and lecturer in the Department of Literature, Linguistics and Foreign Languages of Kenyatta University, Kenya. She has a PhD in Applied Linguistics from Kenyatta University, Kenya; Master of Arts in English Language and linguistics from Egerton University, Kenya; and, Bachelor of Education (Arts) from Moi University, Kenya. In 2017, she was among the scholars who won a coveted one year PhD research fellowship grant by the Social Science Research Council’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Fellowship, with funds provided by Carnegie Corporation of New York.Dr. Norah Atambo has more than ten years in teaching and research at university level. Her research interests are in Discourse Analysis and, Semantics and Pragmatics. She has a specific focus in language and gender, language and politics, language and communication, language and social media, Discourse Analysis, language pedagogy, and politeness in language use. She has published articles in the aforementioned areas in peer reviewed journals.

Patrick Matata Mutinda is a PhD student at Kenyatta University and a 2024 NextGen Fellow of SSRC. He is engaged in a PhD program in Environmental Planning and Management. His doctoral research is focused on The Transitional Communal Land Tenure System of the group ranches in Kenya.
Patrick is deeply passionate about advocating for community land rights. He integrates geospatial technologies with community land laws, policies, and regulations to support sustainable access, use, and management of communal lands. His work targets explicitly addressing the unique challenges pastoralist communities face in Kenya, ensuring that their land tenure systems are resilient and adaptable for the future.

Karanja is a lecturer in the Department of Security, Diplomacy, and Peace Studies, Kenyatta University. His main research interest includes the customization of rule of law values for sustainable peace, security, and development in contexts characterized by intractable conflicts and civil wars, dysfunctional state institutions, limited statehood, state-civic partnership, mediated states, and legal pluralism. He is a Social Science Research Council Next Gen Dissertation Research Fellow (2021). Karanja is also part of an international collaborative research network themed ‘urban-rural dynamics trajectories on community-based conflict management strategies,’ Uppsala, Sweden.

Norah Mose is a 2016-2017 Next Generation Africa Fellow with a research focus on the intersections of language, peace, conflict, politics, and governance. Her work examines how language influences political dynamics and contributes to peacebuilding efforts in conflict situations.

Muema Wambua holds a Doctor of Philosophy in International Relations from the United States International University – Africa (USIU–Africa). He is an adjunct lecturer of International Relations at the Department of International Relations at the USIU–Africa. He is three-time recipient of the Social Science Research Council’s Next Generation Social Sciences in Africa Fellowship, funded by the Carnegie Corporation of New York. He has research interests in international interventions, peace and conflict, security, transitional justice, and international trade. Some of his key publications include: ‘Rivalries, Tensions and Reversals in US Peace and Security Interventions in Africa’ In Africa Policy towards the US: The Biden Era, 2021; Historical Injustices and Transitional Justice Interventions in Post-National Accord Kenya: Victims and Interveners’ Experiences and Perceptions. Journal of the British Academy, 2021; ‘Hurting Stalemate in International Interventions: An Analysis of the African Agency in the IGAD-Led Engagements in the South Sudan Crisis, 2013-2018’ In Beyond History: African Agency in Development, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution; 2020; Transitional Justice and Peacebuilding: The ICC and TJRC Processes in Kenya. African Conflict and Peacebuilding Review, 2019; and The Ethnification of Electoral Conflicts in Kenya: Options for Positive Peace. African Journal on Conflict Resolution, 2017.

Mahat Issack Hassan is a PhD Candidate at the Institute of Peace and Security Studies at Garissa University, Kenya. He holds a B. ED(Arts) degree (Egerton University), and an MA(Literature) degree from the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He has been a sessional lecturer in Egerton university, Kenyatta University, Mount Kenya University, Umma University and Karatina University in Kenya.
His research interests include: the nexus between border (land) Conflict, ethnicity (people) politics and the negotiation for political belonging and citizenship rights of minority groups in the post-colonial African States. His current research is under the umbrella theme, “State-Society relations” with specific focus on the Kenyan State and the Somali people living in the former Northern Frontier District (NFD) of Kenya. He also has a growing interest and is actively engaged in research on Somali Oral Literature.
Mahat has also taught English and Literature at Nairobi School and the Starehe Boys’ Centre. He has participated in the preparation of the Kenya Secondary School syllabuses and co-authored Secondary School textbooks at the Kenya Institute of Curriculum Development. He has served as an Editor (Humanities) at the Jomo Kenyatta Foundation, an Educational Publisher based in Nairobi, Kenya.