Dr James Akpu is an assistant professor in global history in the School of History and Geography at Dublin City University. He works in the fields of African history, Ireland-Africa relations, church-state relations, the missionary movement, maternal and child health, history of philanthropy, technology, gender, women’s sexuality studies, agrarian and environmental history, the history of human-animal relations and British empire history. Born in Kano in Northern Nigeria, James holds a B.A and M.A. (with distinction) in History degrees from the University of Ibadan in Nigeria. He graduated top of his class at both levels. Before his university education, he obtained a national diploma in Library and Information Science from the Federal Polytechnic Offa in Nigeria. A former Irish Research Council Government of Ireland Postgraduate Scholar, he completed his PhD at Dublin City University in 2022. He was recently awarded a 2023 Mother Theodore Guerin Research Travel Grant in the Cushwa Center at the University of Notre Dame. Outside of research and teaching, James enjoys watching soccer. He is a huge Real Madrid fan.