Samuel Adeyanju, PhD

Samuel Adeyanju

About

Human-environment social scientist working on conservation, rural livelihoods, and climate solutions in West Africa.

Samuel taking field notes beside a tree

I am a Postdoctoral Researcher at McGill University. My research uses qualitative and participatory methods, including ethnography, interviews, focus groups, and case studies, to examine how rural livelihoods, common-pool resource governance, gender and equity, and conservation interventions interact in West Africa. I link community-level evidence to international conservation and climate policy.

I completed my PhD in Forestry at the University of British Columbia in 2026 as a Vanier Scholar, supervised by Professor Terry Sunderland, and my MSc at UBC as a Mastercard Foundation Scholar. Before graduate school, I earned a first-class degree in Forestry and Wood Technology from the Federal University of Technology, Akure, Nigeria. For more details, see my CV.

Samuel beside the entrance sign of Mole National Park, Ghana
At the entrance to Mole National Park
An elephant near a river in Mole National Park, Ghana
An elephant by the river in the park

Mole National Park, Ghana

Journey

Experience and education

    Engagement

    Talks, policy, and media

    Conference presentations

    Samuel presenting shea value chain findings at the National Sustainability Society Conference, Notre Dame, 2025
    NSS Conference 2025Presenting the shea findings at the National Sustainability Society Conference, Notre Dame, October 2025
    Samuel beside his poster on livelihood interventions in CREMAs at ICCB 2025
    ICCB 2025Brisbane · Poster on livelihood interventions in CREMAs
    Samuel presenting a poster on non-timber forest products during COVID-19 at IUFRO 2024
    IUFRO World Congress 2024Stockholm · Poster on NTFPs as a safety net during COVID-19
    Samuel beside a poster on Igbo Olodumare Sacred Forest at IUFRO 2024
    IUFRO World Congress 2024Stockholm · Poster on Igbo Olodumare Sacred Forest
    Samuel presenting his PhD research at the 2023 FLARE Annual Meeting
    FLARE 2023Nairobi · Talk on livelihood-centred conservation in Ghana
    Samuel presenting at the IUFRO Transforming Approaches Conference, Vancouver, 2019
    IUFRO Transforming Approaches 2019Vancouver · Conference presentation, August 2019

    Also presented at

    • Commonwealth Forestry Conference, Vancouver (2021)

    Policy engagement

    Samuel delivering the youth keynote at the UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry, Vancouver, 2018
    UNECE COFFI 2018Vancouver · Youth keynote
    Samuel speaking at the IFSA press conference on the UN Climate Change livestream, COP23, Bonn, 2017
    UNFCCC COP23Bonn, 2017 · IFSA press conference
    • Panelist, Global Landscapes Forum Biodiversity Digital Conference (2020) and GLF Kyoto (2019)
    • Youth keynote and youth delegation lead, UNECE Committee on Forests and the Forest Industry, Vancouver (2018)
    • Delegate and IFSA press conference panelist, UNFCCC COP23, Bonn (2017)

    Service

    • Journal reviewer, Current Research in Environmental Sustainability and Discover Sustainability
    • Advisory Group Member, Commonwealth Forestry Association (2021 to present)
    • Convener, Black History Month Initiative, UBC Faculty of Forestry (2022 to 2024)

    In the media