BIOGRAPHY

Professor Damilola S. Olawuyi, SAN, FCIArb, is an international lawyer, professor of law, arbitrator, author, and policy consultant, with expertise in petroleum, energy and environmental law. In 2015, Professor Olawuyi was promoted to the rank of Full Professor of Law at Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria at the age of 32 years, becoming one of the youngest full professors of law in Nigerian history. He is Deputy Vice Chancellor, Chancellor’s Fellow and Director of the Institute for Oil, Gas, Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development (OGEES Institute), Afe Babalola University, Nigeria. He is also a professor of petroleum, energy and environmental law at HBKU Law School, Doha, Qatar where he teaches energy and environmental law courses. 

A prolific and highly regarded scholar, Professor Olawuyi has practiced and taught law in Africa, Asia, Australia, Europe, North America and the Middle East. He was formerly an international energy lawyer at Norton Rose Fulbright Canada LLP, Calgary, where he served on the firm’s global committee on extractive resource investments in Africa. He was also formerly deputy director and head of international environmental law at the Centre for International Governance Innovation, Waterloo, Canada. 

Professor Olawuyi has published several influential journal articles and books on natural resources, energy and environmental law.  He has been an expert speaker and commentator at several international conferences. His most recent book publications include: Environmental Law in Arab States (Oxford University Press, 2022), Local Content and Sustainable Development in Global Energy Markets (Cambridge University Press, 2021), Climate Change Law and Policy in the Middle East and North Africa Region (Routledge, 2021), Extractives Industry Law in Africa (Springer, 2018) and The Human Rights-Based Approach to Carbon Finance (Cambridge University Press, 2016). 

Professor Olawuyi is an Independent Expert on the African Commission’s Working Group on Extractive Industries, Environment and Human Rights. He is Vice Chair of the International Law Association; co-chair of the Africa Interest Group of the American Society of International Law (2016-2019); and member of the Academic Advisory Group of the International Bar Association’s Section on Energy, Environment, Natural Resources and Infrastructure Law (SEERIL).  He is the Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Sustainable Development Law and Policy; Associate Editor of the Carbon and Climate Law Review; and Senior Research Fellow of the Centre for International Sustainable Development Law, Montreal, Canada. He is a member of the Governing Council of Afe Babalola University, Ado Ekiti, Nigeria, and a Fellow of the Nigerian Institute of Chartered Arbitrators.  

Professor Olawuyi has lectured on energy and environmental law in over 50 countries including: Qatar, Great Britain, Greece, France, Denmark, United States, Australia, Spain, China, India, Kenya, Netherlands, Canada, United States and across Nigeria. He has most recently received the Herbert Smith Freehills Visiting Professorship at the University of Cambridge, UK and the IAS Vanguard Fellowship of the University of Birmingham. He has served as a visiting professor of law at the China University of Political Science and Law, Beijing; University Research Fellow at the Consortium for Peace Studies, University of Calgary; and David Sive Scholar at Columbia Law School, New York, United States.  

Professor Olawuyi has been admitted as Barrister and Solicitor in Alberta, Canada; Ontario, Canada; and Nigeria. 

In recognition of his "substantial contribution to legal scholarship and jurisprudence," Professor Olawuyi was awarded the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (Queen's Counsel equivalent) in the year 2020, aged thirty-seven, therefore becoming the youngest academic ever elevated to the rank, and the very first graduate of a private university to become Senior Advocate of Nigeria. In 2021, he was appointed by President Muhammadu Buhari as a member of the Governing Board of the Nigeria Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (NEITI).

​He is a regular media commentator on all aspects of energy, environment and sustainable development.