College of Law

Research Area(s)

  • Business organizations and corporate law
  • Contract law
  • Environmental, natural resources and resource development, and agricultural law
  • International trade and investment law
  • Public international law

Professional education

  • PhD (UBC) 2010
  • LLM (Calgary) 2005
  • BL (Abuja, Nigeria) 2003
  • LLB (Hons) (Lagos) 2001

Profile

Dr. Ibironke Odumosu-Ayanu (PhD) joined the College of Law as Assistant Professor in 2008. Prior to joining the college, she was a sessional lecturer at the Faculty of Law, University of British Columbia (UBC). She also worked for the Canadian Institute of Resources Law in Calgary. Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu has served as a consultant for the United Nations University (UNU) on a UNCTAD/UNU project on the rule of law and good business practices in zones of conflict. She is a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In addition to service on advisory boards, she serves as a member of the Board of Directors of the Canadian Law and Society Association and is the Vice President (Conferences) of the Association.

A recipient of numerous academic awards and fellowships, including a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Doctoral Fellowship, a two-year UBC University Graduate Fellowship, two David L. Vaughan QC Memorial Scholarships for excellence in Commercial Law, and a BC Law Foundation Fellowship, Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu graduated a best graduating student from the University of Lagos’ (Nigeria) LLB program with several awards, including the Vice Chancellor’s Prize for Best Performance at the Degree Level. Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu has also received a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, a SSHRC Standard Research Grant and a Foundation for Legal Research Grant.

Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu has spoken at numerous international conferences and co-convened a workshop and a conference. Her current research focuses on local communities and extractive industries. She has research interests in foreign investment law, natural resources, socio-economic development, legal and international relations theory, and Africa and international law. Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu’s articles on these subjects have appeared in several leading international journals. She teaches Contracts, Business Organizations I and a seminar on Law, Development and the International System. Dr. Odumosu-Ayanu received the Provost’s College Award for Outstanding Teaching in 2012.

Publications and research work

“Governments, Investors and Local Communities: Analysis of a Multi-Actor Investment Agreement Framework” (2014) 15 Melbourne Journal of International Law (Forthcoming) 

“Multi-Actor Contracts, Competing Goals and the Regulation of Foreign Investment” (2014) 65 University of New Brunswick Law Journal 269-311

“International Investment Law and Disasters: Necessity, Peoples and the Burden of (Economic) Emergencies” in David Caron, Michael Kelly and Anastasia Telesetsky eds., The International Law of Disaster Relief (New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014) 374-401

“South-South Investment Treaties, Transnational Capital and African Peoples” (2013) 21 African Journal of International and Comparative Law 172-201

“Foreign Direct Investment Catalysts in West Africa: Interactions with Local Content Law and Industry-Community Agreements” (2012) 35 North Carolina Central Law Review 65-94 

“International Investment Arbitration and Corruption Claims: An Analysis of World Duty Free v. Kenya” (2011) 4 Law and Development Review Article 5

“The Settlement of Investor-State Oil and Gas Disputes in Africa” in Francis Botchway ed., Natural Resource Investment and Africa’s Development (Edward Elgar, 2011) 395-422

“Towards Mechanisms for Assessing the Impacts of Foreign Direct Investment Law and Policy in Post-Conflict Rwanda” in Virtus Igbokwe et al, eds., Foreign Direct Investment in Post-Conflict Countries (Adonis & Abbey, 2010) 157-194

“Foreword: International Economic Law in the Third World” (2009) 11 International Community Law Review 349-352 (with James Gathii) 

Co-editor (with James Gathii), International Community Law Review Special Issue on “International Economic Law in the Third World” (2009) 11 International Community Law Review

Co-editor, (with Karin Mickelson and Pooja Parmar) International Community Law Review Special Issue on “Situating Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL): Inspirations, Challenges and Possibilities” (2008) 10 International Community Law Review

“Challenges for the (Present/) Future of Third World Approaches to International Law” (2008) 10 International Community Law Review 467-477 

“Foreword” (2008) 10 International Community Law Review 351-353 (with Karin Mickelson and Pooja Parmar) 

“The Law and Politics of Engaging Resistance in Investment Dispute Settlement” (2007) 26 Penn State International Law Review 251-287

“Locating Resistance in the International Law on Foreign Investment” (2007) 9 International Community Law Review 427-444 

“Transferring Alberta’s Gas Flaring Reduction Regulatory Framework to Nigeria: Potentials and Limitations” (2007) 44 Alberta Law Review 863-902 

“The Antinomies of the (Continued) Relevance of ICSID to the Third World” (2007) 8 San Diego International Law Journal 345-386

“NGO Participation and Recent Transparency Measures in WTO Dispute Resolution: Lessons from FTAs and International Investment Jurisprudence” in Federico Ortino & Sergey Ripinsky eds., WTO Law and Process: The Proceedings of the 2005 and 2006 Annual WTO Conferences (London: BIICL, 2007) 322-324

“Revisiting NGO Participation in WTO and Investment Dispute Settlement: From Procedural Arguments to (Substantive) Public Interest Considerations” (2006) 44 Canadian Yearbook of International Law 353-394

“Protecting Environmental and Health Rights in Africa: Mechanisms for Enforcement” (Calgary: Canadian Institute of Resources Law and Alberta Civil Liberties Research Center, Human Rights Paper No. 4, 2006)