…his research focuses on misinformation and electoral integrity
By Emmanuel Oluwadola
The founder of the Centre for Storytelling and Development Initiative (CSDI), Saheed Ibrahim has won a fully funded PhD scholarship at Birmingham City University, United Kingdom.
Ibrahim, who has empowered young Africans and promotes positive African narratives, secured one of the two doctoral awards sponsored by Meedan on electoral misinformation and technology-facilitated gender-based violence in the larger world.
CSDI has directly trained and mentored over 400 young Nigerians in journalism, communication, leadership, and personal development.
This fully funded PhD scholarship will focus on the relationship between election integrity and associated forms of misinformation, with the goal of identifying what kinds of misinformation present the greatest risk to the electoral process.
Ibrahim’s research interests include developmental storytelling and journalism, health communication, artificial intelligence and digital media, political communication, and media representation of vulnerable groups.
Prior to his doctoral award, he graduated as the Best Graduating Student in Mass Communication from Adekunle Ajasin University, Akungba-Akoko (AAUA) in 2011 and later earned a distinction in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan.
He earned a distinction in Communication and Language Arts from the University of Ibadan, while his eight years of media experience has distinguished him with several accolades.
He was the joint winner of the Best Fellow award in the DUBAWA 2024 Fact-Checking Fellowship and was the Runner-Up in the Best Fact-Check category at the fellowship’s awards in November 2023. In December 2024, he won the Investigative Reporter of the Year award for the third consecutive time at the Ondo NUJ Professional Awards.
Recently, he emerged as the Best Fellow (joint winner) of the DUBAWA 2024 Fact-checking Fellowship and also emerged Runner Up for the Best Fact-check Award last year in November. In December, he won the Investigative Reporter of the Year Award for the third consecutive time at the Ondo NUJ Professional Awards.
Ibrahim is a G15 member, fact-checking democracy-related information for the Halt Fake Tracker Hub, an initiative of the Centre for Media and Society (CEMESO), funded by the EUSDGN II project.
He is also a Fellow of the NEXTGEN SRHR Fellowship (2024), the Kwame Karikari Fact-Checking Fellowship (2024), the Mandela Washington Fellowship (2023), and the Communicating Evidence for SRHR Policy and Advocacy Action (C4SPAA) Fellowship (2023). In January 2025, he was selected for YouthRISE Nigeria’s Media Fellowship on ethical reporting of substance use in Nigeria.
Ibrahim is also a member of the African Narrative Collective, shifting stereotypical and harmful narratives about Africa.
