Sope Williams

Deputy director of the African Procurement Law Unit, Stellenbosch University

She obtained an LLM (with distinction) from the London School of Economics in 2000 and a PhD in Public Procurement and Anti-Corruption Law from the University of Nottingham, UK, in 2011. She has held academic positions at the Universities of Stirling and Nottingham in the UK, as well as at the University of Lagos in Nigeria.

Currently, she serves as a Professor of Public Procurement Law and Deputy Director of the African Procurement Law Unit at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is a leading expert in anti-corruption law, public procurement law and policy in Africa, procurement in multilateral development banks, gender-responsive procurement, emergency contracting, and sustainable public procurement. She co-developed and teaches in the LLM and PGDip in Public Procurement Regulation and Policy at Stellenbosch University, the first program of its kind in Africa.

Her research has received global recognition. In December 2022, she was awarded the prestigious International Anti-Corruption Excellence Award for Academic Research and Education by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) and the State of Qatar. In October 2024, she received Stellenbosch University’s Research and Innovation Excellence Award. Additionally, in 2020, she was appointed as a research fellow at the Public Procurement Research Group of the University of Nottingham, UK.

She is actively engaged in both academic and policy-oriented research, having authored highly influential policy and research documents, with particular significance for Africa as well as global public procurement and anti-corruption initiatives. She has written or co-edited six books on these topics and has published over 65 peer-reviewed articles.

As a distinguished keynote and conference speaker, she has participated in over 140 international events across more than 35 countries. Recognized for her expertise in anti-corruption law and policy, she developed anti-corruption courses for the UN Virtual School in 2012 and for the UNODC in 2019. From 2008 to 2011, she served as a member of the World Bank’s Procurement Technical Advisory Group, established to provide guidance on the institution’s procurement policies.