Prince Agwu is an academic affiliated with the University of Dundee and holds positions as a Senior Research Fellow at the Health Policy Research Group, University of Nigeria, and an Honorary Senior Research Fellow at the College of Arts and Social Sciences, University of Rwanda. He has also been a guest/visiting lecturer at the University of Oxford, England, and the University of Würzburg-Schweinfurt, Germany. He earned a First Class degree in Social Work from the University of Nigeria, along with a Masters and a PhD in Social Policy, the latter funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission. Agwu specialises in health systems, health policy, and migration, with a particular focus on governance models and wellbeing outcomes.
Agwu has published extensively in his field, with more than 75 publications indexed in Scopus. He is an Editor for Health Research Policy and Systems (HRPS), which is co-published by the World Health Organisation, the first African Section Editor for Social Work and Social Sciences Review (SWSSR), and an Editor for Health Economics, Policy and Law (HEPL). Agwu takes an applied approach to research, ensuring the drive for policies, strategies, and programmes is informed by research evidence. For example, as the Principal Investigator of the Protect Urban School Children's Health (PUSH) Project funded by the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) through the CHORUS-Urban Health Consortium, Agwu is supporting the review of Nigeria's school-health policy and emerging with innovations that would bridge gaps between schools and the primary healthcare system. He is also challenging Nigeria's political economy approaches to health financing.
He has been appointed as a member of the International Multi-Stakeholder Committee under Transparency International’s Project on Inclusive Service Delivery in Africa (ISDA), covering the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ghana, Madagascar, Rwanda, and Zimbabwe. ISDA focuses on improving access to education and health services for vulnerable groups by creating transparent and accountable systems. Funded by the British Academy, he is currently leading a scope of work on developing localised social care models in post-genocide Rwanda and Burundi. Other projects of Agwu, either as Principal Investigator (PI) or Co-PI, include subjects on health communication, human trafficking, and examination ethics.
Agwu served as the Principal Investigator for the Human Trafficking Prevalence Study in Nigeria, funded by the US Department of State Programme to End Modern Slavery. The project also aimed to create a Human Trafficking Evidence Laboratory for Nigeria's National Agency for Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP). Currently, Agwu is working on two anti-human trafficking projects: one focused on mobilizing Nigeria's health sector against trafficking, and another integrating anti-corruption efforts into anti-human trafficking initiatives.
In line with his commitment to academic citizenship, Agwu reviews articles for journals including the Lancet Global Health, International Social Work, International Journal of Public Health, British Journal of Social Work, BMJ Global Health, and Health Services Insight. He also evaluates research grant applications for the Medical Research Foundation and the Wellcome Trust. Additionally, Agwu is a columnist for Business AM News and a writer for the International Centre for Investigative Reporting (ICIR), The Conversation, and other media outlets.
He served on the Advisory Board for the Evidence Laboratory at NAPTIP and was part of the steering committee for the Human Trafficking Research Network (HTRN). Agwu leads communications for the African Health Observatory Platform (AHOP), Nigeria. His research aims are grounded in the ideals of social purpose for the Global South, focusing on harnessing Africa's potential for development and contributing to global prosperity and peace.
