Andrew Akpan is studying under one of the best philosophers in South Africa, Professor Thaddeus Metz at the University of Johannesburg. Under Metz’s supervision, Andrew works in the areas of moral and political philosophy with particular emphasis on the distribution of political power in a political party. He has presented his paper within the philosophical circle in South Africa and has been invited to Athens to present a paper and sit as a panellist at the ATINER conference on “Decolonisation & Desuperiorisation: On the Dangers of Western Thought”. He has also been chosen as one of the three top MAs in the Faculty of Humanities to represent the University in the 2019 UN-supported 10th University Scholars Leadership Symposium in Malaysia.

Andrew is interning with Reos Partners, a social innovation consultancy that addresses complex, high-stakes challenges around the world. He was attracted to the generative and systemic approaches to problem solving that Reos employ in their work. He hopes to use this knowledge to spearhead or to be part of systemic interventions around governance and policy in Africa. At Reos, Andrew brings to bear his ability to rigorously think through problems where he works on client projects, on operations, and on Reos communication.

Before all of these, he studied for his Bachelors at St. Joseph’s Theological Institute graduating summa cum laude in Philosophy. He then proceeded to study for his Honours with the University of KwaZulu Natal (UKZN) as the 2017 sole recipient of the Archbishop Denis Hurley Scholarship, a scholarship offered by UKZN in recognition of high academic performance, leadership qualities, and community involvement.

He enjoys keeping fit, running half-marathons, and playing tennis. Even though he plays the clarinet, he wants to learn how to play the saxophone.