Obaike Magaji James

Early Career Researcher • Emerging Digital Technologies • Deepfakes and Democracy • Human-centered Policy Development • Sustainability

Malmo, Skåne County, Sweden

About

I believe technology should strengthen democracy, not weaken it, and that sustainability means protecting both the planet and the institutions people depend on. I am a graduate student in Computer Science specialising in Innovation for Change in a Digital Society. My research sits at the intersection of AI accountability, democratic integrity, and human-centred policy design. My thesis, "Institutional Governance Mechanisms Shaping the Adoption of Deepfake Detection Technology in the Swedish Electoral Process," is conducted in parallel with Track B: Detection and Verification Systems of the Deepfake Democracy Project — a Vertically Integrated Project (VIP) at Malmö University. The work benchmarks ten state-of-the-art audio-visual detection tools against real election incidents in Nordic countries and the EU Parliament context, mapping how technical failures in AI detection translate into concrete democratic harms. My VIP research asks: how accurately can open-source detection systems identify manipulated political content in real-world election conditions? Overall, I aim to harness the insights from both studies to (1) inform the design of improved deepfakes verification systems and (2) design a practical assessment tool for election management bodies to assess detection technology deployment readiness. My argument is that sustainability is holistic, extending beyond packaging and carbon emissions. It is also about the information environments that democratic societies depend on. That conviction is grounded in hands-on practice: I founded C-CUBED 🇳🇬 (Conscious Consumers' Coalition), a Nigeria-based initiative aligned with UN SDG 12. I have consistently utilized innovation tools to drive systemic, rather than cosmetic change. If you work in AI governance, electoral integrity, responsible innovation, or sustainability or if you are simply someone who believes that bold ideas should be held to rigorous evidence, then I genuinely would love to connect. Core Competencies • Leadership • Critical thinking • Design thinking • Collaboration • Communication (spoken and written) • Partnership Development • Emotional Intelligence • Project Management • Resource Mobilization • Time Management Technical Competencies: • Research • Plastic Packaging Brand Audit • Data Analysis (SPSS, STATA, Tableau etc.) • Business Development (Business Model Canvas, Pitch Deck etc.) • Prototyping (Physical & Screen-based: Figma, Propie, Arduino etc.) • Product Validation • Service Design • Adobe CS6 (Photoshop, Fireworks, illustrator etc.)

Experience

  • Postgraduate Researcher at Malmö University
    Sep 2025 - Present · 10 mos

    An interdisciplinary approach to vertically integrated project (VIP) aiming to address the unprecedented wave of AI-enabled deepfakes and the direct consequent implications to democratic integrity within the Nordic-specific context.

  • C-CUBED 🇳🇬 (7 yrs 4 mos)
    • Co-Founder
      Jan 2019 - Apr 2026 · 7 yrs 4 mos

      Environmental Justice

    • Chief Data Analyst
      May 2019 - Dec 2022 · 3 yrs 8 mos

      Statistical Consulting

  • Statistical Consultant (Intern) at Dataville Research LLC
    Mar 2021 - Sep 2021 · 7 mos

    Research, Data analysis, Data management, Report writing

  • Data Analyst at NACA Call Center
    Apr 2015 - Sep 2020 · 5 yrs 6 mos

    Capture data; Update data; Analyze call data to gain in-depth insight to inform/support baseline research and policymaking

  • Digital Marketing Manager at Nativedge
    Jan 2015 - Dec 2016 · 2 yrs

    Managed Database, Managed Social Media, Coordinated and Supervised data generation and analysis.