Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi, PhD
About Adaku Jennifer Agwunobi, PhD
I’m a creative polymath, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Oxford University, PhD holder with 4 degrees, Singer/Songwriter and Entrepreneur. I’ve headlined several shows in Nigeria and also organised my own headline concerts including Lagos (December 2022) and London (July 2022) - birthing the global festival series "Vibes With Dr Adaku" (VWDA). I was the first Black doctoral researcher at my previous campus (Loughborough University London) to obtain a PhD and I passed my PhD viva in a record breaking 2 years and 10 months. I released my debut album entitled “the vibes are known” in November 2021, exactly two years later marking the anniversary of me passing my viva. All the songs on my album were written, recorded and performed by myself, working remotely with producers around Nigeria, Colombia and the UK. I am currently on an Innovate UK funded accelerator called CyberASAP focused on cybersecurity working on a project that will be an Oxford University spin-out. My PhD thesis was on entrepreneurial health and well-being in the digital economy, using intersectionality as a theoretical lens, so I mostly focused my research on Black female entrepreneurs in my thesis. My PhD thesis entitled ‘Entrepreneurial health and wellbeing in the digital economy: an intersectional critical realist investigation’ investigates the link between health and discrimination within the context of entrepreneurship in the digital economy as well as using intersectionality as a theoretical lens. Some of the topics covered include micro-aggressions, whitewashing, physical health, mental health, digital wellbeing, cyberbullying, stereotyping and stigma. I am a research fellow at the Skoll Centre for Social Entrepreneurship, Saïd Business School (University of Oxford) as well as a Research Associate at Wadham College, University of Oxford. My first Postdoc at Oxford University was in the Engineering Science department and we were working on an orthopaedic clinical tool, following my second MSc in Health Economics. Additionally, I co-founded ‘Black and PhD’ building a network of Black Phd students and PhD holders globally, with the aim to make a huge impact. I am the founder of hairgoals® which is a tech-savvy natural hair care and wellness brand offering products to help people reach their hairgoals but also utilising blockchain technologies, in the form of NFT’s, to improve the well-being of our consumers through engaged communities, activations and events.