Professor Lesley Lokko OBE

Professor Lesley Lokko OBE is the Founder and CEO of the African Futures Institute (AFI) headquartered in Accra, Ghana and Director of the Nomadic African Studio; an annual month-long teaching programme located in different cities around the African continent. She holds a BSc (Arch), M Arch and PhD in Architecture from the Bartlett School of Architecture, University College London. She was the Founder and Director of the Graduate School of Architecture, University of Johannesburg (2014—2019). She is the Editor of White Papers, Black Marks: Race, Culture, Architecture (University of Minnesota Press, 2000) and the Editor-in-Chief of FOLIO: Journal of Contemporary African Architecture.

She was appointed Curator of the 18th International Architecture Biennale at La Biennale di Venezia in 2023. In January 2023, she was awarded an OBE ‘for services to architecture and education’ in King Charles’ New Year’s Honours List. In January 2024, she was awarded the UK’s highest architecture award, the RIBA Royal Gold Medal. She was named one of the world’s 100 most influential people in the 2024 annual TIME100 list and Ebony Power 100. She is currently a member of the 2025 Aga Khan Award for Architecture Steering Committee. She was appointed a World Design Congress Ambassador for 2025. In 2026 she was included in the Forbes 50 over 50 Global: 2026.