David Luke

  • Professor in Practice and Strategic Director
  • Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa

David Luke is professor in practice and strategic director at the Firoz Lalji Institute for Africa. Specialising in African trade policy and trade negotiations, Professor Luke has decades of experience in policy advisory services, managing and catalysing research, building partnerships, training and capacity development for private sector and government. This experience stems from an extensive career spanning a tenured appointment at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, and assignments at the African Union, the UN Development Programme and the UN Economic Commission for Africa (ECA) with postings in Harare, Pretoria, Geneva, and Addis Ababa. At ECA’s African Trade Policy Centre, Professor Luke and his team were instrumental in the preparation of the protocols that make up the African Continental Free Trade Area Agreement. His PhD in African Political Economy is from the School of Oriental and African Studies and his MSc. and BSc. are from the London School of Economics and Political Science. His research and teaching interests are in the areas of trade in development; trade and inclusion; and trade and sustainability.