Dr Tolulope Osayomi Osayomi

Tolulope Osayomi is a lecturer in the Department of Geography at the University of Ibadan. Dr Osayomi is currently an AfOx TORCH Visiting Fellow at the Faculty of History, University of Oxford, as part of the Africa Oxford Visiting Fellowship Programme.

Tolulope earned his PhD in Health/Medical Geography from the University of Ibadan. His research focuses on the intersection of disease, health, and society, with a special emphasis on spatial epidemiology, global health, spatial demography, and the geography of pandemics. From 2020 to 2021, he led the COVID-19 Mapping Lab at the University of Ibadan's Department of Geography. This institutional initiative played a crucial role in advancing the geovisualisation and scholarly understanding of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria and Africa. His ongoing research primarily contextualizes the geographical patterns of the COVID-19 pandemic within socio-economic, historical, and political frameworks, with a view to forming a holistic understanding of contemporary pandemics. Tolulope is currently serving as the Guest Editor for a special issue on Geospatial Responses to COVID-19 in Africa for the Journal of Geovisualisation and Spatial Analysis (Springer Nature). Additionally, he is affiliated with the Association of Nigerian Geographers, American Association of Geographers, Lagos Studies Association, and the Association of Sociology of Religion. Tolulope is a 2017 fellow of Nigeria's first globally acclaimed Ife Institute of Advanced Studies.

During his time at Oxford, Tolulope will work on his project, 'Deconstructing the African COVID-19 Paradox: African Voices in Global Health'. This study aims to decolonize global health by acknowledging African voices and perspectives in the pandemic response, as well as celebrating the ingenuity of African communities in building resilience in the face of crisis. Overall, this research offers a fresh and insightful perspective on the African COVID-19 paradox and its impact on the pandemic in Africa.