Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo

Nnenna Ifeanyi-Ajufo is a Professor of Law and Technology at the Leeds Law School, Leeds Beckett University, United Kingdom . She is also a Technology and Human Rights Fellow at the Carr Centre for Human Rights Policy at Harvard University for the 2022-2023 academic session. Her teaching and research interests focus primarily on the intersection of law and technology, especially the governance of digital technologies, digital rights, and rule of law in cyberspace.
Nnenna is internationally recognised for her expertise in areas related to law and technology. She has also been actively involved in shaping academic and policy discourses on the governance of digital technologies. She was a member of the International Law Association Steering Committee on Digital Challenges for International Law. The Committee recently delivered a White Paper on Digital Challenges for International Law available at: Digital Challenges for International Law - Ila Paris 2023. She was recently appointed the Chair of the Cybercrime Working Group of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE) and is also a member of the Research Committee of the Global Forum on Cyber Expertise (GFCE). She is the Vice-Chairperson of the African Union Cyber Security Experts Group (AUCSEG) and has been actively involved in advising the African Union Commission (AUC) and African Member States on international, regional and national legal frameworks related to cybersecurity and rule of law in cyberspace, as well as promoting cyber governance in the region.

Nnenna has also been invited to address international organisations, heads of governments and events organised by various foreign ministries and governmental bodies. She presently serves as an African Union delegate to the United Nations Ad Hoc Committee to Elaborate a Comprehensive International Convention on Countering the Use of Information and Communications Technologies for Criminal Purposes and the United Nations Open-Ended Working Group (OEWG) on ICTs. She has written for a range of research projects, journals and media publications, including engaging in various media conversations on issues related to the governance of digital technologies. She has also partnered with various organisations on the delivery of research projects and recently authored a commissioned mapping project on ‘Digital Financial Inclusion’ for the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, and also authored a commissioned report on the National cybercrime laws of Commonwealth Member States for the Commonwealth Secretariat, United Kingdom. She also serves on the editorial and advisory boards of various academic journals and organisations. She is a member of the Chatham House Cyber Capacity Building Advisory Group, a contributing editor for the ‘Directions’ of the Cyber Direct Project of the European Union Institute for Security Studies, a member of the editorial board of the Commonwealth Cybercrime Journal and a member of the advisory board of the African Journal of Legal Issues in Technology.

Nnenna has served as an expert or consultant for notable organisations such as the Chatham House, the Commonwealth, the African Union Commission and the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (UNECA). She is presently the lead consultant for the UNECA cybersecurity projects. She also served as a consultant for the Chatham House Africa and Asia-Pacific Programme on Digital Cooperation – 2021-2022. She was invited by the Commonwealth Secretary General to join an Election Pre-Assessment Mission on election technology and cybersecurity in 2022. She has been a recipient of various awards and fellowships. In 2020, she was named amongst 50 Individuals leading Legal Innovation in Africa at the Africa Legal Innovation Awards.