Irekpitan Okukpon’s journey through environmental law, waste, justice, and community
Published on 13 November 2025
Irekpitan Okukpon’s research explores how global conversations on waste and pollution often miss key dimensions. She is particularly concerned about the gendered impacts of plastic use and disposal in the Global South, where women’s everyday interactions with plastics expose them to health risks that policy rarely acknowledges.
Growing up in Benin City, Nigeria, Dr Irekpitan Okukpon was struck by the mounds of waste in the gutters and the casual way people discarded rubbish. That experience set her on a path that has carried her from Nigeria to South Africa and now to the United Kingdom, where she teaches and researches environmental law at the University of Bradford with a sharp focus on people and communities.
“I was fascinated by waste because it is part of our everyday lives,” she explains. “It tells you something about how people live, what governments prioritise, and who is left out of the conversation.”
Her academic journey began with a master’s in marine and environmental law, but she quickly realised her interests lay in broader environmental questions. At the University of Cape Town, South Africa, she pursued a PhD on electronic waste, examining how regulation could address the growing challenges of disposal and recycling, and the need for sustainable waste management. What started as a focus on e-waste grew into a wider concern with plastics, municipal waste, and the intersections of these issues with climate change, gender, and justice.
Now based in the UK, Irekpitan’s research explores how global conversations on waste and pollution often miss key dimensions. She is particularly concerned about the gendered impacts of plastic use and disposal in the Global South, where women’s everyday interactions with plastics expose them to health risks that policy rarely acknowledges.
“We need a more gender-sensitive approach,” she says. “It’s not enough to talk about a global plastics treaty without asking how plastics affect women differently, and what kind of awareness and education is needed.”
Her perspective is also shaped by years of research in conflict and justice. Before moving to England, she worked on projects in Nigeria that investigated how communities affected by Boko Haram violence sought reconciliation and healing. She has also contributed to reforms of criminal justice through training judges and prosecutors, publishing digests of case law, and producing policy briefs to support fairer practice. For her, law is never just abstract – it is always tied to lived realities.
This commitment to grounding policy in real experience is central to her teaching. At Bradford, she introduces postgraduate students to international waste law and the circular economy, sustainable development law in contemporary business and society, and wider international environmental law, encouraging them to see the human dimensions of regulation. She often reminds students that solutions cannot come from law alone. Science, community knowledge, and social understanding must be brought together.
“What became very clear to me is that you can’t find answers only in regulation,” she says. “You need evidence, you need science, and you need to listen to communities. Without that, policies don’t work. They remain top-down and disconnected.”
Her own story is proof of that conviction. From her early fascination with waste in Benin City and Lagos State, Nigeria, to her present role as a lecturer and researcher, Irekpitan has kept people at the centre of her work. She believes that sustainable change is not simply about managing resources, but about recognising human rights, protecting communities, and valuing the informal practices that already embody circularity and care.
“We often forget that people in the Global South have been recycling and reusing for generations, they just don’t call it the circular economy. But it is, and it needs to be recognised.”
For Irekpitan, research is not only about producing papers and policy briefs. It is about shaping understanding, bridging divides, and making space for voices too often overlooked. Her journey shows that environmental law is not only about rules, but also about justice, dignity, and the possibility of change.
Dr Irekpitan Okukpon, Assistant Professor/ Director of Research at the School of Law and Social Sciences, Faculty of Management, Science and Engineering (FoMSE), University of Bradford
Read more about Irekpitan and her research:
Irekpitan was interviewed by Jaya Gajparia as part of her new ACCCESS interview series, spotlighting environmental social scientists with global-majority backgrounds. Read more.