Dr Benjamin Ajibade

Assistant Professor

School: Healthcare and Nursing Sciences

Dr Benjamin Olusola Ajibade is a Registered Nurse, NMC Registered Teacher, and Assistant Professor in Mental Health Nursing at Northumbria University. He is a Senior Fellow of Advance HE and has extensive experience in mental health and nurse education across national and international contexts.

His academic work focuses on advancing inclusive and culturally responsive mental health and social care, with particular emphasis on addressing health inequalities experienced by racially minoritised communities. His research explores access to care, decision-making, workforce experiences, and the development of inclusive care approaches within health and social care systems.

Benjamin’s work has contributed to national discussions on nursing practice and inclusive care, including research cited by the Royal College of Nursing. He is currently developing a programme of research centred on the co-production and evaluation of an Inclusive Care Framework for racially minoritised populations, supported by involvement in NIHR-related research and wider collaborative projects.

Alongside his research, he has a strong track record in educational leadership and innovation. His work in inclusive and decolonised curricula, assessment, and feedback practices has been adopted across institutions and has contributed to enhancing student experience and success, particularly for international and underrepresented students. He has also developed innovative qualitative research approaches, including the use of LEGO® Serious Play® as a data collection method. His work advances the situational application of LEGO® Serious Play®, particularly in exploring the experiences of transitioning students, providing a novel and contextually grounded approach to understanding lived experience within education and healthcare research.

He contributes to the wider academic and professional community through external examining, keynote presentations, and roles such as QAA Reviewer/NMC Visitor. He is actively engaged in collaborative work with NHS and community partners to ensure his research informs practice and policy.

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Research Themes and Scholarly Interests

My primary area of research interests are

Inclusive mental health and social care
Health inequalities and culturally responsive care
Racial equity and workforce experiences in healthcare
Co-production and evaluation of inclusive care frameworks
Innovative qualitative research methods (including LEGO® Serious Play®)
Inclusive education, assessment, and feedback practices

Key Publications

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Addressing Racialised Awarding Gap in Higher Education: Insights from Personal Tutors, Ajibade, B., Hayman, R., Hibbs, A., Gabi, J. 25 Apr 2026, In: British Educational Research Journal
Advancing the Situational Application of LEGO® Serious Play®: A Qualitative Approach to Exploring Student Transition in Nursing Education, Ajibade, B. 21 Aug 2026, In: Journal of Research in Nursing
Beyond Patronage: Race-Conscious Mentorship in Nursing and Healthcare, Ajibade, B. 19 Jun 2026
Challenges to the career progression of racially minoritised academics in UK higher education: exploring institutional and social barriers: Exploring Institutional and Social Barriers, Ajibade, B. 26 May 2026, In: Human Resource Development International
Confident Calculations: The Easy Guide to Drug Calculations for Student Nurses, Ajibade, B. 7 Aug 2026
Decolonising mental health nursing education: why it matters and where to start, Ajibade, B. 2 Aug 2026, In: British Journal of Mental Health Nursing
Decolonising Nursing and Higher Education: From Diversity Rhetoric to Structural Transformation, Ajibade, B. 8 Jul 2026
Decolonising the Sciences: Enhancing the Experience of Staff and Students from Racially Minoritised Ethnic Groups Using LEGO® Serious Play®, Ajibade, B., Hayman, R., Burns, C., Navarro-Reguero, C., Milian, J. 26 Feb 2026, In: Equity in Education & Society
Factors that influence suicide behaviours and tendencies amongst university undergraduates in Nigeria: a systematic review and meta-analysis, Akinlotan, O., Vidanage, D., Ajibade, B., Asamoah, E., Faleti, D., Udushirinwa, C. 4 May 2026, In: Journal of Mental Health
From Margin to Mainstream: Decolonising Mental Health Nursing Education and Building Inclusive Academic Pathways in UK Higher Education, Ajibade, B. 9 Jul 2026, Progress in Education, Nova Science Publishers

Professional Activity

Please visit the Pure Research Information Portal for further information
Visiting an external academic institution: SEETA University 2026
Organising a conference, workshop, ...: UK Public Health Science conference 2026 2026
Editorial work: Journal of Further and Higher Education (Journal) 2025
Examination: Exploring Health Staff Perspective of Health and Well-being Resource Accessibility During Covid-19 Pandemic at Northumbria Healthcare National Health Service Foundation, United Kingdom, 2024
Visiting an external academic institution: Teesside University 2023
Consultancy: Joint Approval Event for BSc (Hons) Nursing (Adult) and BSc (Hons) Nursing (Mental Health) 2021
Consultancy: External Advisor: Pre-Registration Nursing approval event 2020
Consultancy: Validation of the Nursing degree apprenticeship: FdA Health and Wellbeing (Nursing Associate) [higher apprenticeship] 2019
Visiting an external academic institution: University of Staffordshire 2019
Visiting an external academic institution: University of Wolverhampton 2019