Fola Adeleke

Fola, a privacy and technology lawyer by training, is the Executive Director of the Global Center on AI Governance, a new global hub he co-founded for research and evidence-led action on inclusive and equitable approaches to the use and governance of Al technologies. He is also a Visiting Associate Professor at Wits Law School South Africa and serves as a Commissioner for the Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission.

Fola's human rights experience spans across multiple jurisdictions. In South Africa, he was the Head of Research for the South African Human Rights Commission where he led the monitoring and report on South Africa's compliance with its human rights obligations at various UN bodies. Prior to joining the South African Human Rights Commission, Fola was a Clinical Advocacy Fellow at Harvard Law School supervising clinical projects on business and human rights. Fola was also a Fulbright scholar with the Center for Sustainable Investment at Columbia University. He clerked at the Supreme Court of Appeal, South Africa, and worked at the Open Democracy Advice Centre, where his human rights work spanned across Africa.

Fola has published widely on corporate accountability, open government, privacy and human rights in the marketplace. His book International Investment Law and Policy in Africa: Exploring a Human Rights Based Approach to Investment Regulation and Dispute Settlement was published by Routledge in 2018 and explores a human rights-based approach to investment regulation in Africa.

Fola holds a PhD from Wits University in International Economic Law and an LLM degree from the University of Cape Town. He was selected as one of 25 young Africans in the inaugural Leading in Public Life fellowship and was part of the 2015 Mo Ibrahim Residential School on governance for development in Africa.