Mustapha is a Research Associate in the Humanitarian Policy Group with over 10 years’ experience working in Africa and the Middle East as an international development professional and a policy-oriented researcher. He has a broad, cross cutting and interdisciplinary career, leading global crisis response and peacebuilding efforts towards the design and implementation of programmes that link governance, conflict prevention, and peacebuilding to address development deficits around Nigeria, the Lake Chad Basin, and other parts of Africa.

His research interests revolve around fragile states and armed groups, indigenous knowledge systems in peace building as alternative pathways to ending conflict, climate fragility, forced displacements, humanitarian action in post conflict settings, as well as the reintegration and rehabilitation of people associated with armed groups.

Mustapha is a research advisory board member of the Mental Health and Psychosocial Support (MHPSS) in action for quality education, and has held positions and consultancies with international organizations including the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the Bonn International Centre for Conflict studies (BICC) and Neem Foundation. He holds a Masters in Disaster Risks Management and Development studies from Ahmadu Bello University and a B.A in Archaeology from the same university. He is a 2022 Acumen Academy West African Fellow and a Fellow at the Harvard Weatherhead Scholars Programme.