chemists-from-ghana

"A mentor is a counsellor, cheerleader, and a comrade who works purposefully to guide, motivate and uplift."

"What a journey the past year has been! It has been one of twists and turns, but certainly a highlight for me has been meeting 25 young men and women with the zeal to confront global health inequalities. For me, playing the role as their mentor and creating an enabling environment to help them explore the huge possibilities and opportunities of advocacy in health was inspiring, to say the least."

"During my mentoring journey, I have learnt to listen better, to cope with interruptions, to provide answers when the young advocates could find none, and to argue and encourage positivity during the health pandemic of COVID-19."

"In role-modelling, I shared information about my career path and provided guidance, motivation and emotional support. Together, we explored careers, we set achievable goals, developed new contacts, shared old contacts, and identified resources. We debated the usefulness of monitoring and evaluation frameworks, the design of realistic indicators, and developed capacity-strengthening techniques."

"In the year of mentoring, I enhanced my own skills in counselling, negotiating, picking the right moment, and sharing the good and the not so good news."

"Everyone needs a mentor… I do too"

"I was always a curious child and used to ask a lot of questions about everything – from why birds sing and fly, to why it gets dark at night. I always wanted to understand how things came into existence. I was particularly active in science experiments in the primary school, and that led me to choose science for my secondary education and later university education. I guess it was a natural response to my curious mind and quest to know!"

"I wanted to experience new people and culture, and in Bergen I was in an environment where I had access to state-of-the-art equipment for my research. The other key benefits were that the programme was in English – and was fully funded. It was a great experience."

"I will say the main difficulty is around funding, which is very limited. At my university, the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, there is funding between USD2000 and 5000 to compete for annually and there is no national research fund, so most funded projects are supported by external donors."

"Personally, I am looking forward to finding collaborators to help fund my research, and also to continue in science diplomacy, outreach and mentorship. I also look forward to working in a Science Policy Space in order to contribute to research in the field and also report on my experiences gathered along the way."

"Don’t allow negative thoughts from yourself or others, your ethnicity, location, environment or gender be a limitation on what you can achieve."

"Joy, pride and gratitude all in one pot. Its a litmus test to all my professional engagements and gives me the zeal to do more. This award is a huge endorsement of my scientific and professional endeavours. It is definitely going to further increase my visibility and offer more opportunities for growth and impact of my causes, including research on environmental contamination, mentorship and outreach."

"Born to parents who are both educators, my siblings and I were surrounded by books and that inculcated in us an interest in reading, writing and learning very early. Growing up in a family of eight taught me the need for peaceful coexistence, free sharing of my gifts, caring for younger siblings and benefiting from the care of older siblings."

"Also growing up in the early 1980s, when Ghana experienced serious economic decline, I learned gratitude for what I have, judicious use of resources and the need to give back to society, especially the underserved. These tenets that I picked from my family’s value system have been part of me throughout my teen years up to today."

"First of all, Ghana is where I feel most at home; I grew up here. Secondly, there are a lot of scientists in the global North and therefore the global South needs equally credible scientists to stay, work and help solve their peculiar problems which research can address. I also serve as a mentor and role model to younger people who aspire to be scientists in future. An ambition like that looks more achievable or real when your role model looks like you and speaks like you!"

"I am striving to improve public knowledge on the dangers associated with pollution by toxic substances (heavy metals, aromatic hydrocarbon, and so on) by determining them in environmental samples and evaluating the exposure and risk associated with them."

"My greatest scientific inspiration is Marie Skłodowska Curie. She is the embodiment of both femininity and scientific excellence. Not only did she depart from the traditional women’s roles of her time, but she went on to become one of the world’s most renowned scientists. To date she remains the only person to have won a Nobel Prize in two academic disciplines – namely, physics and chemistry."

"Some think that all scientists in Africa do mediocre research or lack appropriate equipment. There is also a general lack of trust in data generated in Africa; I’ve witnessed this myself in the time taken to review manuscripts and the comments I’ve received when I was studying for my PhD in Europe versus the early years following my return to Africa. Now I’ve established credibility in the field, I don’t seem to encounter these biases as much."

"I’d travel to Jupiter in the far future – firstly because I love the sound of its name, secondly because of its massive nature (it could accommodate around 300 times Earth’s current population), and thirdly because it is beautiful. I see a future where science has discovered ways of adapting to life on Jupiter – as well as methods to travel there more quickly. That way I could take my summer vacation from my earthly home in Kumasi in Ghana to travel to Jupiter for sightseeing and relaxation..."

"A natural response to my curious mind and quest to know."

"There is need for enhanced collaboration between academia and industry, in order to stimulate development in the country."

"The problems of society are our problems. And we go through research to proffer solutions to the problems of humanity. In that sense, what we say is that, if we carry out these research, we must ensure that the research or the outcomes of this research are impacting the people for whom the research are carried out."

"As the leading science and technology University in Ghana, nobody is going to be left behind as far as our delivery of quality service is concerned."

"KNUST believes in constructive partnership and we cherish the kind of partnership that we enjoy with our industrial partners. And we welcome them to even help us to commercialise all these research outcomes that are coming. They should come and take it up and then take it all out there, so that it will be very beneficial to society."

"This will help in making technological findings more relevant to the daily needs of society, instead of leaving them to gather dust on shelves."

"It has become clear that a greater majority of needy students are unable to access online resources because they do not have the requisite electronic gadgets."

"The growing population of the university required creativity in the approach to handle instruction delivery."

"The University is committed to creating a welcoming and inclusive campus for everyone and that the new facility will play a crucial role in achieving this goal."

"I’m ready to make KNUST a global force."

"In order to realise this vision, it will require a collective effort from all stakeholders."

"I envisage that we could achieve this if all stakeholders would put our shoulders to the wheels by creating strategic opportunities using inspired leadership, active stakeholder participation, highly qualified and motivated human resources, research and entrepreneurship-oriented academic training."

"I acknowledge the disruption of COVID-19 to academic work and the impact on several other sectors."

"We will, therefore, roll out a project dubbed ‘Support One Needy Student with One Laptop (SONSOL PROJECT)’ in the coming days in collaboration with our philanthropists and key stakeholders."

"I hope to improve education and teaching, provide a digital vision, improve the welfare of employees and embark on an entrepreneurship drive for students."

"We will maintain our focus as Leaders in Change in the training of highly skilled 21st-century entrepreneurial graduates for social, economic and technological advancements."

"KNUST stands for relevant research, quality teaching, entrepreneurship training and provision of service to our stakeholders with or without COVID-19."

"The global higher education community including KNUST is required to pursue new strategies to deliver."

"But as our motto clearly says, ‘Nyansapo wosane no badwemma’, as an institution, we share the responsibility of thinking deeply to provide innovative solutions and to harness the opportunities inherent in the pandemic."

"I want impactful research and innovation, infrastructure development and effective community, as well as stakeholder engagement, to drive the vision."

"I hope to increase the visibility of KNUST and improve alumni and government relations."

"While people build their skills in technical abilities, it is important for them to foster a culture of digital literacy and innovation as a way of lifelong learning skills and ultimately enhancing employability."

"The world was now going digital, and everyone needed to embrace it, saying, KNUST was taking bold steps to encourage students to embrace e-space and succeed in their training."

"Students should build digital skills and literacy to enhance their employability."

"I call on industry professionals to utilise the research from the University and the academic community to transform society."