Research Interests

My research focuses on the interaction between religion and politics, conflict, and peace. One main aspect of my interests is how Christian and Islamic factors operate with non-religious variables to shape peace and political thought and action in contemporary Africa, in which most people identify as Christians or Muslims. My studies in this area have examined the impact of religious peacebuilding, religious and other drivers of separatism, the determinants of peaceful interreligious relations, the concept of interreligious peace, and the religious and non-religious determinants of internal state legitimacy in a post-colonial context. My research on these themes has largely focused on Nigeria, but I am interested in the broader Global South, especially the former African and Asian colonies. In August 2025, I signed a contract with Brill for my first monograph. In September 2026, I submitted the complete manuscript to the publisher for external review. Titled 'Elements and Drivers of Interreligious Peace', the book draws on peace research to interpret ethnographic data on Christian-Muslim relations in Nigeria. I am also interested in the interaction between African and other Global South indigenous ideas and practices and contemporary politics, conflict and peace.

Two other themes that my research examines are the religious and political lives of African and other Global South immigrants in contemporary Britain, and the immigrants’ connection with conflict and peace within and beyond the UK. My work in this area has largely focused on first-generation immigrants, but I am also interested in other generations. My peer-reviewed publications on these themes have discussed religious changes among Nigerian immigrants and the sustainability of religious communities amid secularisation. In 2026, I received funding from the British Academy to examine local peacebuilding in Southport, North-West England, following the 2024 summer riots in the UK. Many have described the riots as far-right, anti-immigrant, and anti-Muslim.