IN MEMORIAM - DR FUNKE OYEBANJO

Memorial at the London College of Communication
University of the Arts London, 2025

We are sad to announce the passing of our dear friend and colleague, Dr Funke Oyebanjo, in August 2025.  

Funke brought intelligence and warmth to everything, connecting her research to the fluidity of change in the Screen Industries. She brought this brilliance, innovation and passion commitment to the Sonic Screen Lab, where she worked tirelessly with colleagues developing ambitious workshops rooted in ethical integrity. Her passion fuelled and deepened interdisciplinary knowledge between colleagues.  

Described as a 'trailblazer who followed her truth and passion to live life on her terms, driven by her incredible intellect and her creative visions'. Her work resonates with a distinctive authorial voice — one that affirms identity, celebrates humour, and articulates, the complexities of diasporic experience through nuanced characterisation and narrative sensitivity,  

Her own research pushed boundaries with creative technologies and Cinematic Virtual Reality. and drew on her substantial experience as a screenwriter with BBC Writer's Room, UK Film Council Channel Four, NETFLIX with Archery's Lagos. She co-founded Talawa Theatre Writers' group and was a valued member of BAFTSS, NAHEMI and a Fellow of the Royal Society of the Arts. With Professor Lucy Brown and Dr Rosamund Davies, she wrote on unconscious bias and structural inequalities in media in award winning publications, presenting at international conferences and to industry audiences at the Edinburgh Television Festival. Their forthcoming book on Collaborative Creativity will be dedicated in her memory. 

In 2023 she put forward the groundbreaking proposition of the haptic encounter as a method of screenplay writing. Her love for storytelling was embedded in Efunsetan, the 19th century Iyalode of Ibadan – a high ranking Yoruba aristocrat  who was much maligned for being a strong-willed female chief. Funke re-positioned her as a character with agency and power. In her words, "I decided to re-present and re-position her as a character with agency and power operating within the confines of patriarchy…I wanted to disturb and provoke the reader's familiar interaction with the character… the haptic encounter is an approach offered to Screenwriters who are prepared to rethink character agency or consider employing their own embodied experience in conceptualising traditionally marginalised characters."  

With this – Funke leaves a powerful legacy for screenwriters, students, researchers - those that seek to encounter, navigate and even challenge the compelling world of storytelling. Her passing is a profound loss and painfully felt by the Sonic Screen Lab, the academic community, her family and friends.