Dates: 29-31 May 2026
Join our residential PhD Conference 2026
This three-day residential conference will focus on contemporary issues in development and provide skills training to support Scholars’ development impact work through a mixture of plenary sessions, group work, and individual activities.
The residential conference will include keynote talks and discussions as well as breakout activities, enabling Scholars to:
- Gain further experience in presenting their research.
- Discuss how their research addresses current development challenges.
- Develop teamworking and analysis skills.
- Improve their ability to connect and communicate with a wide range of audiences for development impact.
- Connect with other PhD Scholars and discover opportunities for future collaboration.
- Explore activities and resources to support impact potential.
- Design a plan of action for achieving development impact through their research and future career activities.
This workshop is for Commonwealth Scholars in the final year of their PhD only.
The Ĺ’s Leaders in Sustainable Development programme of workshops focus on professional and practical skills and are designed to be interactive, with small groups of Scholars and Fellows taking part in each event.
Visit the delegate page to view the full programme and find out more about the residential weekend. Please note that this is page only available to Scholars who are confirmed to attend.
Dr Olamide Eso
Dr Olamide Eso is a 2019 Commonwealth PhD Scholar, award-winning sustainable energy technology scientist, and the first woman in her clan to earn a PhD — a barrier she broke while developing an award-winning solar-wind hybrid cooling system at the University of Nottingham that reduces energy demand by up to 95% in tropical buildings, driven by a personal mission to solve Nigeria’s building energy challenge.
During her scholarship, Olamide served as Ĺ Midlands Regional Network Coordinator, connecting Scholars across eight universities through events, research seminars, and peer networking. She co-organised the first-ever visit of Nigerian Commonwealth Scholars to the Nigeria High Commission in London — a historic first since the scholarship scheme began in 1959. She also sat on the University of Nottingham Senate for a full academic year as the elected voice of PhD students, served on the advisory committee for the university’s new campus development, and, in 2023, was selected to present her research to Commonwealth Education Ministers at Marlborough House, representing the Scholar voice at the highest levels of Commonwealth policy. She has also served as a panellist at the Ĺ Connect and Collaborate Event and is a recognised Green & Black Climate Change Ambassador.
Since completing her PhD, Olamide has worked across the UK, Nigeria, and Tanzania as an independent sustainability consultant with GOPA Worldwide, Integrated Environment & Energy, and as an international researcher with Open Development Education Ltd and National Expert on Energy Efficiency in Buildings for GIZ and Partnership for Energy Efficiency in Buildings (PEEB) projects. In 2025, Olamide joined Stantec UK as a Sustainability Consultant.
She serves as a non-executive advisor to built-environment start-up, Lumaya, and has been a UN Women CSW delegate since 2023. Olamide was also one of the external reviewers of the Commonwealth’s Curriculum Framework for Sustainable Development Goals (2nd Edition) — a landmark publication described by Commonwealth Secretary-General Hon. Shirley Botchwey as “both a powerful tool and a call to action” and set to be adopted across all Commonwealth countries.