Christopher Isike (South Africa)

Christopher Isike, PhD is a Professor of African politics and development, and Head of Department Politics and International Studies, University of Zululand, South Africa. An Africanist scholar by research standpoint, Prof Isike’s teaching and research interests revolve around the quality of women’s political representation in Africa, women and peace-building in Africa, African immigration to South Africa, human security, human factor development in Africa, African soft power politics and development dynamics. A C3 rated researcher by South Africa’s National Research Foundation (NRF), Prof Isike has published scores of quality articles in international peer-reviewed journals. He consults for the UNFPA, UNICEF, UN Women and the KwaZulu-Natal provincial government on gender equality and women empowerment issues in the province. In recognition of his work on gender equality in Africa, he was selected by the South African government to be part of a KwaZulu-Natal government delegation to Ethiopia on a study tour to explore its social transformation model in ending early childhood/forced marriages in 2013. Prof Isike has just finished a one year sabbatical stint as Senior Research Advisor at the Shell Petroleum Development Company in Nigeria where he was a programme monitoring and evaluation specialist in the External Relations Department of the company. He is a Council and Executive member of the South African Association of Political Science (SAAPS), a member of the International Political Science Association (IPSA), Canadian Association of African Studies (CAAS), EPOS; Global conflict mediation and resolution network and Ontario International Development Agency (OIDA). He is happily married to Dr Efe Isike and they have 3 beautiful children; Oghenevieze (8), Ogheneruonah (6) and Oghenemaro (4).