- Full Professor/CRC in Socially Engaged Theatre; Director, C-SET, University of Regina
Taiwo Afolabi holds the Canada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre; he is the founder and director of the Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET) and a Full Professor at the University of Regina. He is an artist, qualitative researcher, theatre manager, applied theatre practitioner and educator with a decade of experience working across a variety of creative and community contexts in over thirty countries across five continents. He conducts research, creates works, performs, and teaches at the intersection of performance and human ecology. His research interests lie in the areas of applied theatre, climate change/climate justice, policing, social justice, decolonization, art leadership and management, migration, and the ethics of conducting arts-based research. Dr. Afolabi has co/edited six books and published over 50 articles in various books, journals and op-eds. He is a Senior Research Associate at the University of Johannesburg (South Africa), the founding artistic director of Theatre Emissary International and its social enterprise, Mobile Research Lab, and a Pierre Elliot Trudeau Foundation's mentor. He is a member of the Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists, a Fellow of Royal Society of Arts (RSA), and a 2025 3M National Teaching Fellow, Canada's most prestigious recognition of excellence in educational leadership and teaching at the post-secondary level.
Experience
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2018–presentSenior Research Associate, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
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2023–presentAssociate Editor, Canadian Theatre Review
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2023–presentAssociate professor, Theatre Dept, University of Regina
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2021–presentDirector, Centre for Socially Engaged Theatre (C-SET), University of Regina, Canada
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2021–presentCanada Research Chair in Socially Engaged Theatre, University of Regina, Canada
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2025–presentFull Professor, University of Regina, Canada
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2021–presentCo-Editor, Journal of Arts and Communities
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2020–2023Assistant Professor, Theatre Dept, University of Regina
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2012–2015Artistic Director, Theatre Emissary International
Education
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2024University of Manitoba, University Management Course
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2023University of Toronto, Rotman MBA Essentials
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2020University of Victoria, PhD
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2016University of Ilorin, MA
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2011University of Jos, BA (Hons)
Grants and Contracts
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2021Canada Research Chair
- Role:
- PI
- Funding Source:
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
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2015Queen Elizabeth Scholarship
- Role:
- Funding Source:
Professional Memberships
- UNESCO's International Theatre Institute
- International Federation for Theatre Research
- Canadian Association for Theatre Research
- Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE)
Honours
Member, Royal Society of Canada's College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists; 3M National Teaching Fellow
Contact Taiwo for
- General
- Media request
- Speaking request
- Consulting / Advising
- Research collaboration
- Research supervision
