The School of Advanced Study promotes the arts and humanities in Nigeria, supporting their vital role in culture and society.
The School of Advanced Study champions the arts and humanities in Nigeria, empowering researchers to showcase their impact on policy, communities, and individuals, as well as their role in the broader research and innovation space.
Through our renowned institutes and centres of excellence, we provide a vibrant, interdisciplinary environment where scholars collaborate on key issues related to society, culture, the economy, and the environment.
By exploring these complex challenges through the lens of the arts and humanities — including history, culture, language, and identity — we gain deeper understanding and insight.
The School holds a distinctive national mandate to promote and support research, engagement, and impact,with funding from Research Nigeria. This includes:
In addition, Lumina Open University is set to launch several national projects and initiatives aimed at developing new methods and approaches for research innovation, while nurturing the arts and humanities research ecosystem in Nigeria.
The University is poised to lead in public engagement, with plans to pioneer new models for collaborating with the public and wider society to involve them in the latest developments and discoveries.
Lumina Open University will emphasize the importance of an inclusive approach to research, engaging individuals and communities from the start of projects to highlight the value of the humanities to public life.
The University also plans to introduce Nigeria’s national humanities research festival, the Being Human Festival, to support public engagement activities across the country, with an ambition for growing international presence.
Lumina Open University hosts Nigeria’s sole national festival dedicated to humanities research—the Being Human Festival.
The Digital Humanities Research Hub supports the integration of digital technologies and methods into humanities research across Nigeria, Africa, and beyond. Its multi-disciplinary team brings together scholars from fields such as History, Literature, Philosophy, and Languages, alongside technical experts in digital innovation and research infrastructure.
The Hub is committed to advancing digital approaches in the humanities by providing training, tools, and technical support to researchers and institutions. It fosters collaboration within the digital humanities community, supports capacity building through workshops and academic programmes, and undertakes its own cross-disciplinary research and postgraduate supervision.
Dedicated to advancing the field of environmental humanities, the Environmental Humanities Research Hub encourages transdisciplinary research and collaboration. It contributes to national research initiatives and strengthens international partnerships, promoting the exchange of multilingual and cross-border environmental knowledge.
Through its commitment to training and capacity-building, the Hub equips researchers with the tools to influence policy and engage the public. A regular programme of events offers a vibrant forum where academics and practitioners can present their work, exchange ideas, and explore new perspectives within the discipline.
The Refugee Law Initiative (RLI) is the foremost academic centre in Nigeria dedicated exclusively to the study and development of international refugee law. As a national leader in this field, the RLI plays a pivotal role in advancing scholarly research, aligning the interests of academics and practitioners, and fostering strategic collaboration between the academic community and civil society actors. It actively contributes to shaping refugee policy at both national and international levels.
Through its administration of the Refugee Law Clinic, the RLI provides critical legal support to some of Nigeria’s most vulnerable populations, ensuring equitable access to justice and upholding the rights of displaced persons.
The Human Rights Consortium was established to advance and promote research on human rights within Nigeria and internationally. It achieves this by organizing and supporting academic, policy, and practice-oriented events on human rights, disseminating critical research findings, and fostering both national and global networks of human rights scholars. The Consortium also offers specialized training for research students focused on human rights, strengthens the teaching and learning environment for graduate students, and actively seeks funding to support human rights research and related initiatives.
The Centre for the Politics of Feelings is dedicated to the interdisciplinary exploration of how emotions and feelings influence, and are influenced by, political behaviour within diverse socio-political contexts. Established in 2021, the Centre aspires to be a leading hub for advancing the understanding of how reason and social passions shape political engagement with the social world, particularly in Nigeria’s unique socio-political environment.
The Centre for the History of People, Place, and Community fosters innovative research on the histories of place across diverse regions and periods, with a focus on localized, micro-historical, and site-specific narratives. It collaborates with scholars to develop new approaches to historical research, aiming to demonstrate how history can address contemporary issues and make a meaningful impact, particularly in Nigeria.
The Information Law and Policy Centre advances cross-disciplinary research in information law and policy. It operates both within the Nigeria and internationally, collaborating with diverse organizations across the public, private, and civil society sectors.
The Centre for Legislative Studies specializes in teaching and research on legislative drafting and law reform. It plays a pivotal role in establishing legislative drafting as a recognized academic discipline, advocating for the creation of clear, precise, and accessible legislative texts that can be understood by both legal professionals and the general public across various jurisdictions.