About Us

Yaa Addae was an external marker of the 2021 ACT Essay Prize and is now a module leader for the Black Womanhood Module.

With a background in art history, she is a culture journalist and curator having worked with Ano Institute, Gallery 1957, Southbank Centre, Nubuke Foundation, Goethe Instiut Lisbon, and The Barbican, and led workshops with Autograph ABP, The Church of Black Feminist Thought, The Library of Africa + The African Diaspora and Rumpus Room.

Her writing has been published in AMAKA, Bitch Media, Gal-Dem, Trippin, The Republic, and Everything Passes Except The Past (Sternberg Press March 2021) and her curatorial work was featured in Time Magazine. Currently Yaa is a design researcher at COMUZI Lab.

Joshua is an undergraduate studying Computer Science at Christ Church College, Oxford. He is an outreach ambassador for his college and for the Computer Science department, as well as being involved with student societies such as the ACS and the Oxford branch of the Google Developer Student Club.

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Alongside his studies, Joshua enjoys participating in technical projects, such as a robotics project with the Engineers Without Borders student society. He is also pursuing a career in tech and has completed Software Engineering internships at various companies, including Hewlett-Packard Enterprise and Google.

Tofunmi was a lecturer, mentor, and discussion group leader for the 2020-21 ACT Essay Prize. She will continue in these roles and will deliver a lecture on climate change as racial justice as part of the 2021-22 ACT Essay Prize competition.

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Tofunmi is currently completing her Barrister Vocational Studies and LLM at City, University of London. Previously she studied Political Science and African Studies at McGill University and completed her MSc in African Studies with Heritage at UCL before pursuing her law degree, which she completed in 2020.

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Tofunmi believes in the need to actively decolonise the curriculum and sees education and knowledge as a tool to empower children and young people. 

Abena is a medical undergraduate at St Anne’s College of the University of Oxford.

Abena has been involved in internships at NHS England and founder of the Black Medics of Oxford University group. She also spends her time advising students in their medical school applications.

She is an ACT module leader for Healthcare Inequality.

Grace is an undergraduate finalist at St Catherine’s college, Oxford studying History and English. Grace is particularly passionate about educational access, having worked on the Oxford UNIQ summer school and for the company Study Higher, who help young carers among other widening participation groups.

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Her position as a module leader for the plays stream suitably allows her to combine this passion for access with her passion for theatre.

Grace is an active member of the Oxford Dramatic Society, served on their executive committee, was the winner of their New Writing Festival in 2021 and has had two of her original plays produced for the Oxford stage. She is hoping to carry on her educational access work as a sabbatical officer for the Oxford Student Union next year, along with carrying on with her theatrical pursuits.

Ebun was a mentor and discussion group leader for the 2020-21 ACT Essay Prize whilst completing her undergraduate degree in African Studies and Swahili at SOAS, University of London.

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Her degree concentrations were Art History and Ethnomusicology, through an Afro-Brazilian Womanist lens. Now, she is the Inner Visions of Freedom Module Leader. Alongside this, she currently works as an Advocate for a charity that seeks to empower young women who have experienced sexual and criminal exploitation.

Gbenga has participated in Thinking Black several times over the years, and provided support as a mentor while studying Economics and Management at St. Hugh’s College Oxford.

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He has experience working across multiple industries, and is currently a Fullstack Software Engineer as well as a tutor.

Dorothea is a second year law student at St John’s College, Oxford. Dorothea believes in the importance of educational access, having acted as a Target Oxbridge Law mentor to support black African and Caribbean students on their Oxbridge application journey.

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Dorothea is also passionate about using her own legal knowledge to equip students with the confidence to initiate legal discussion; she has delivered sessions to help prospective law students navigate complex areas of the law as part of an Oxford pro-bono initiative. As a Module Leader she similarly hopes to encourage students to delve into difficult questions that influence and inspire them.

Maria Motunrayo Adebisi is the Prose Creative Module leader at Thinking Black. She is a children’s author who secured a two book deal with multiple leading publishers for her middle-grade adventure fantasy series, Jujuland which will debut in 2023.

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She currently works as a Senior Operations Executive for Beam, a crowdfunding website that helps people experiencing homelessness into secure jobs and housing. She’s been working for Tech startups for a few years, but graduated from the University of Oxford, Somerville College with a degree in English Literature.

Chimdi is an undergraduate student studying Theology and religion at Pembroke College, Oxford. She was part of the first cohort of the African Caribbean Tyler (ACT) Prize back in 2018.

She was the Vice-President of the Oxford African and Caribbean society (ACS) in 2021/22 and actively supports access initiatives at Oxford from Target Oxbridge to UNIQ. She is also part of Diversity & Inclusion work at a university level, sitting on the Race Equality Task Force as well as Black Pembroke, at college level.