Abiola Awe-Adesanya

• LLB Law (Hons) University of Surrey, UK
• Legal Practitioner Certificate, Nigerian Law School, Nigeria
• LLM (Commercial and Corporate Law) Queen Mary University of London, UK

I am a lawyer and PhD law researcher at the University Of Birmingham. I have also worked as a Teaching Associate at both the University of Birmingham and Queen Mary University of London.

I hold a Bachelor of Laws (LLB Hons) degree from the University of Surrey, United Kingdom and obtained my Master’s (LLM) degree in Corporate and Commercial Law from Queen Mary University of London, UK.

I was called to the Nigerian bar as a Barrister and Solicitor of the Supreme Court of Nigeria in 2010. I practice in various aspects of the law including Corporate and Commercial Law, Oil and Gas Law, Property law, Tax law and Arbitration. I have work experience from ExxonMobil Nigeria, Gavelsmiths Solicitors and M.A.O Okulaja (SAN) & Co to mention a few.

I enjoy learning and teaching new areas of the law.

• Teaching Associate: University of Birmingham
• Teaching Associate (MME): Queen Mary University of London

PhD title

Living in a material world: Critical Materials and the Shift to Electric Vehicles – A Legal Analysis

Supervisors

Professor Aleksandra Cavoski and Dr Walters Nsoh

Course

Law PhD / PhD by Distance Learning / MPhil / MJur

This thesis examines the shift from petro-diesel to electric vehicles. It is anticipated that there will be high volumes of lithium-ion batteries in use which will eventually reach a point of inadequacy to effectively drive a vehicle. This thesis explores sustainable ways to shape a circular economy through recycling and re-use of the spent lithium-ion batteries. The key approach to this circular economy is the constant access to rare earths and critical materials which recycling offers. Currently, it is less expensive to mine lithium and cobalt than it is accessing secondary material resources.

Most critical materials such as cobalt and lithium-ion are sourced from limited markets. The Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) produces two-thirds of the world’s cobalt and the lack of social and environmental costs of mining makes critical materials seem less expensive. A true circular economy approach however, would take critical materials seriously and seek national and regional approaches to critical material security.

Due to the multidisciplinary nature of this thesis, the research involves legal issues such as environmental, labour and human rights law as well as non-legal issues such as mining and engineering.