Doctoral College Seminar Series
Join us for our next seminar in the Doctoral College Seminar Series. This series of talks brings together postgraduate researchers and staff from across the university to share insights into researcher stories and learning.
All welcome!
Decolonising Practice and Research: Integrating Theory and Application
Dr Tunji Offeyi
1st May
12pm-1pm
Birmingham and Online
This seminar explores how decolonial and postcolonial perspectives, Afrocentric viewpoints, and Indigenous knowledge systems can simultaneously inform professional practice and theoretical reflection. Focusing on practical applications such as heritage projects, cultural policy initiatives, and community engagement, the session demonstrates how critical approaches to African knowledge systems, power, and representation shape real-world work and decision-making. It also considers how these experiences intersect with theoretical and conceptual frameworks, highlighting the reciprocal relationship between practice and scholarship. Participants will be invited to reflect on challenges, opportunities, and strategies for integrating these insights into their own research and professional contexts, fostering dialogue that bridges disciplines, sectors, and contexts while centring Afrocentric and decolonial approaches.
Biography
Dr Tunji Offeyi is an award-winning Nigerian-British journalist, poet, and Salzburg Global Fellow. He completed a Professional Doctorate (ProfDoc) in Heritage at the University of Wales Trinity Saint David (UWTSD), becoming the first graduate of the programme.
Dr Offeyi’s research and practice span decolonial and postcolonial perspectives, Afrocentric and Indigenous knowledge, heritage, and creative expression, bridging theory and real-world impact. His work has informed projects on wellbeing, heritage narratives, and cultural policy, including the UWTSD Wellbeing Project (UWTSD Cares) and published booklets such as Heritage Narratives with Pictures and Songs of Happiness.
A practising journalist, Dr Offeyi trained at the University of Derby and The Guardian (UK), and works internationally across print and digital media. His reporting includes interviews with prominent figures such as Izi Codron (producer of Hotel Rwanda), Tee Mac Iseli, Nollywood stars, and leading academics. His writing has prompted social change, including government action on night-time social issues in Lagos, and has been published internationally across Nigeria, the UK, the US, Malta, Austria, and Switzerland.
Dr Offeyi is the author of two creative works: Echoes from the Soul (poetry) and Many People: Different Tales (short stories), and has contributed to numerous scholarly and creative publications on heritage, music, hybridity, postcolonial studies, and decolonial approaches. His academic qualifications include an MA in International Relations
(Staffordshire University), a BA in Literature in English (Lagos State University), and certificates from the University of Oxford (UK) and the Central European University, Budapest, Hungary.
Dr Offeyi also offers professional services in speechwriting, public policy consultation, mentorship, and public engagement, specialising in West African, British, and European contexts.
Register here