Meet 38-year-old UNILORIN’s youngest professor

The University of Ilorin has introduced its youngest professor, identifying Lukman Abdulrauf as a leading scholar whose work focuses on the intersection of law, technology and governance.

“Lukman Abdulrauf is a Professor in the Department of Public Law, University of Ilorin, Nigeria, where his teaching and research focus on the intersection of law, technology, and governance,” this was detailed in a Tuesday release obtained on the varsity’s website.

The institution said that “his core areas of specialisation include data privacy, AI governance, digital constitutionalism, and selected aspects of comparative constitutional law, with a particular emphasis on African legal systems.”

Highlighting his academic affiliations, the university stated that Abdulrauf “is an Honorary Research Fellow at the School of Law, University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa, and a Research Fellow of the Institute for International and Comparative Law in Africa (ICLA), University of Pretoria, South Africa.”

It added that he “previously held research fellowships at Stanford University’s Center for Advanced Studies in the Behavioral Sciences (CASBS) and at the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study (STIAS), South Africa, where his work engaged critically with questions of digital governance, human rights, and institutional design in emerging and transitional democracies.”

Research contributions

On his research contributions, the release noted that “his research has attracted competitive external funding, including his role as Co-Investigator on a United States National Institutes of Health (NIH)-funded project examining the Ethical, Legal, and Social Implications (ELSI) of the use of genomic data in health research in African contexts.”

The university said, “This work reflects his broader scholarly interest in data governance, public interest regulation, and the constitutional implications of digital technologies in the Global South.”

It also disclosed that “Professor Abdulrauf serves on the editorial board of International Data Privacy Law (IDPL), published by Oxford University Press, a leading global journal in the field of data protection and information law.”

According to the release, “His academic work has been presented in international fora and contributes to ongoing debates on data privacy, AI governance, digital constitutionalism, platform accountability, and rights-based approaches to technology regulation in Africa and beyond.”

The university further announced that “Professor Abdulrauf recently completed a fellowship at the Freiburg Institute for Advanced Studies (FRIAS), University of Freiburg, Germany, where he researched on digital constitutionalism and AI governance in Africa.”

Providing personal details, the institution said, “Born on February 23, 1987, he celebrated his 38th birthday by being appointed to the prestigious rank of Professor on October 1, 2025.”