Yewande Okuleye

My PhD thesis, Contested Knowledge: Tracing Patient and Scientific Expertise and the Emergence of Cannabis as a Medicine in the UK (1992 -2017), investigated the confluence of factors which facilitated the medicalisation of cannabis despite the political, medical, and social barriers which hindered the acceptance of cannabis as a medicine.

Oral history interviews were conducted with thirty key actors within the scientific, medical, and lay communities. My findings suggest each stakeholder group had different ideologies, and histories concerning medical cannabis. These differences have generated conflicting narratives and contradictions which continue to shape the emergence of cannabis as a medicine. Within my thesis, I traced moments of intersections within and between different stakeholders and highlight how these relationships advanced the emergence of cannabis-based medicine.

Prior to my returning to academia, I worked as a formulation chemist with Anita Roddick at the Body Shop where I conducted research on alternatives to animal testing models, and developed a wide range of products in hair, skin, and cosmetics categories. My experience at the Body Shop has informed my academic practise as I strongly believe that research should have an impact beyond the confines of academia and elite spaces. This has informed my scholar/activist practice which seeks to initiate dialogue within the broader society.

I now work as a research associate on a Leverhulme funded project led by Professor Garner.

The Oxford Group and the Emergence of Animal Rights: An Intellectual History. This research seeks to generate new insights into how intellectual and social movements emerge by providing a comprehensive account of the Oxford Group, which consisted mainly of postgraduate philosophy students, who converged on Oxford University from the late 1960s and played a prominent role in the emergence of animal rights as a prominent discourse.

My research interest in social movements, historiography and public enagement as social praxis embodies an interdisciplinary approach , which reflects my intellectual and professional histories and influences.