Dr Ayosola Odunlami

Ayosola has experience spanning banking, insurance and entrepreneurship in Nigeria, and telecommunications, healthcare and education in the UK. This diverse background informs her teaching, research, and enterprise activities, enabling her to connect academic theory with professional practice.

She founded the Pure Skills Network Foundation, a charity that equips individuals with practical, income-generating skills through international skills development workshops and mentoring, empowering participants from different countries to start or expand their businesses.  

Passionate about enterprise education and student engagement, she has led the inaugural ARU Peterborough Student Conference, the ARU Peterborough Business Ideas Challenge, and the Business Ideas Challenge for Schools and Colleges, promoting entrepreneurial thinking, innovation, student research, and knowledge exchange.

In her role as Deputy Course Director (Student Experience), she leads work focused on student progression while developing local and international partnerships.

Her scholarly work explores innovative and collaborative approaches to teaching, learning and curriculum development, with a focus on enhancing student learning and supporting educational development. She has presented her work at national and international conferences and has received scholarship and bursary awards.

Ayosola is committed to developing meaningful partnerships between universities, industry, schools, colleges and community organisations to enhance student learning, enterprise capability and graduate employability.

• English
• Yoruba

• Entrepreneurship, enterprise education, and business start-up
• Internationalisation of the curriculum and Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL)
• Transnational education and global partnerships
• Student engagement and inclusive pedagogy
• Digital education and innovation
• Widening participation and student progression

• Consultancy Major Project (PG project)
• Entrepreneurial Action (MBA project supervision)
• Consumer Behaviour
• Strategic Management
• Global HRM

• PhD in Management, Swiss School of Business Research (SSBR)
• MBA, University of Sunderland
• PGCertHE, Anglia Ruskin University
• BSc in Accounting, Obafemi Awolowo University, Nigeria

• Senior Fellow, Higher Education Academy (SFHEA)
• Certified Management & Business Educator (CMBE), The Chartered Association of Business Schools
• Fellow, Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce (FRSA)
• Fellow, Education Training Foundation (FSET)
• Member, British Academy of Management (BAM)
• Editorial Board Member, SCIREA Journal of Management
• Editorial Board Member, International Journal of Education and Educational Research
• Reviewer, Science Journal of Business and Management (SJBM)
• Founding Board Member, Pure Skills Network Foundation

• Anglia Learning & Teaching Innovations Fund 2025/26 (February, 2026).
• Anglia Learning & Teaching Innovations Fund 2024/25 (February, 2025).
• European Conference on Educational Research (ECER) bursary winner (2019).
• Women of Influence Scholarship Award (May 2017).

Odunlami, A., Emeson, V., Mahama, A., Obaje, A. and Olusegun-Osoba, E. (July, 2025) Enhancing the progression rate of foundation year students to graduate level: Challenges and achievements. A case study of Anglia Ruskin University, Peterborough. Palma, Spain: IATED, pp. 3795-3800. https://doi.org/21125/edulearn.2025.0987

Odunlami, A. (2023). Digital education: Contributions towards sustainable schools for the future. Management in Education, 0(0). https://doi.org/10.1177/08920206231160903

Odunlami, A (2022). Course structure on Access to Higher Education diploma programme: Implications on mental health and decisions of mature students. International Journal of Creative Research Thoughts, 10(8), pp. b743-b749.

Sule O. and Odunlami A. (2026) ‘From data to change: A systemic approach to closing the awarding gap’ AdvanceHE Equality, Diversity and Inclusion Conference 2026: Embedding EDI in Higher Education: Tradition Retold, Borrowed Insights, and Bold Innovations, 25-26 March 2026, Radisson Blu Hotel, Manchester Airport.

Odunlami A., Emeson V., Mahama A., Obaje A. and Olusegun-Osoba E. (2025). ‘Enhancing the Progression Rate of Foundation Year Students to Graduate Level: Challenges and Achievements: A Case Study of Anglia Ruskin University, Peterborough’ EDULEARN25 (17th annual International Conference on Education and New Learning Technologies), 30 June - 2 July 2025, Palma (Spain)

Adeife A. and Odunlami A. (2024). ‘Digital transformation in the workplace setting: navigating changes and leadership challenges. A comparative study between indigenous organisations in England and Nigeria’, British Academy of Management 2024, 2nd – 6th September 2024, Nottingham Trent University.

Odunlami A. (2024). ‘Gaming in lesson delivery: Increasing inclusivity for mature students or challenging?’ World Conference on Education and Training 2024, 25^th – 27^th July 2024, Singapore.

Odunlami A. (2024). ‘Peer support, a vital tool for students’ engagement’ Forum for Access and Continuing Education 2024, 26th – 28th June 2024, University of Sussex.

Odunlami A. (2021) ‘Effect of mental health issues on the success of Access to higher education diploma program: An outcry’ European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2021) of the European Educational Research Association (EERA), 06 – 10 Sept 2021, Geneva (Online).

Odunlami A. (2021) ‘Structure and delivery on Access to higher education diploma programme: Impact on dropout decisions‘ Emerging Researchers Conference (ERC) of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2021), 02 – 03 Sept 2021, Geneva (Online).

Odunlami A. (2020) ‘Financial issues: Implications on Access to Higher Education students' choices’ European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2020) (Virtual conference), 23 – 28 August, Glasgow.

Odunlami A. (2019) ‘Access to Higher Education: Addressing dropout as a means of widening participation’ Emerging Researchers Conference (ERC) of the European Conference on Educational Research (ECER 2019), 2 – 6 September, Universität Hamburg.

Odunlami A. (2019) ‘Access to Higher Education: Addressing dropout as a means of widening participation’ British Educational Leadership, Management and Administration Society Conference (BELMAS 2019), 12 – 14 July, Hinckley Island, UK.