PhD Candidates
Martin Addi
PhD in the area of Climatology and Climate ChangeMartin Addi is an Assistant Research Scientist in the Remote Sensing and Climate Center at Ghana Space Science and Technology Institute of Ghana Atomic Energy Commission, Accra. He received his MPhil. and Bachelor’s degree in Meteorology and Climate Science from department of Physics, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana in 2017 and 2013 respectively. He previously worked as a Meteorologist with Ghana Meteorological Agency in the Numerical Weather Prediction unit from April 2016 to August 2018.
His main research interests are in the areas Weather and Climate Modeling, Climate Change and impact studies, adaptation and mitigation of climate change impact on socioeconomic development. He is pursuing PhD. Meteorology and Climate Science in KNUST under the CREAM project work package one (Climate analysis) to understand the historic climate and climate change projections over Pra and Densu river basins for integrated water resource management.
Franz Alex Gaisie-Essilfie
PhD in the area of Land-use/-cover modellingFranz Alex Gaisie-Essilfie has a Bachelor of Science degree in Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Ghana), and a Master of Science in Geo-information Science and Earth Observation from University of Twente (The Netherlands). His post-graduate thesis investigated the comparative accuracies of Markov-Random Field Super Resolution Mapping and Maximum Likelihood Classifier for whole-image classsification and object identification.
Franz has previously worked as a Teaching and Research Assistant at KNUST, and has also worked on several projects as a GIS and Remote Sensing consultant. He has also worked as a software developer, applying his knowledge in GIS and Remote Sensing to develop software to address various issues.
Franz is currently a Principal Technologist at the CSIR - Water Research Institute, where his activities focus primarily on GIS and Remote Sensing.
Mark Osei-Owusu
PhD in the area of HydrologyMark Osei-Owusu is a Principal Technologist at the Surface Water Division of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research-Water Research Institute (CSIR-WRI). His undergraduate study was in BSc Physics from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana and graduated in 2013. He received his MSc in Water Resources Engineering and Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in 2017.
His research interest lies in exploring the holistic approach to water resources management and restoration of the integrity of river basins through modelling. Mark is currently pursuing his PhD in Water Resources Management at KNUST.
Bismark Awinbire Akurugu
PhD in the area of HydrogeologyBismark Awinbire Akurugu has a Bachelor of Science degree in Environmental Science from the University for Development Studies, Navrongo, and Master of Philosophy in Hydrogeology from the University of Ghana, Legon. His graduate thesis was on hydrogeological and hydrochemical characterisation of crystalline basement rocks in the Talensi District of Upper East Region, Ghana, which is part of the White Volta basin.
Bismark was a Teaching Assistant in the University for Development Studies, Earth and Environmental Science Department, and subsequently a Graduate Assistant in the Earth Science Department of University of Ghana during his MPhil studies.
Bismark is currently enrolled in the Department of Earth Science, University of Ghana as a PhD student, with a research focus on the Densu river basin. He seeks to assess and characterise groundwater resources within the basin to determine its sustainability in the wake of climate change, urbanisation, water pollution and population growth using tools such as numerical techniques, geostatistics, hydrochemical modelling etc.
PhD in the area of Economics and Valuation of Ecosystem Services
Essential Qualifications: Good Master’s degree in Environmental Economics, Ecological Economics, Natural Resource Economics or equivalent qualification. Other Qualifications: Good skills in statistics, economic valuation of ecosystem services, environmental/ecological modelling.
5. PhD in the area of Water System Optimization and Trade-off analysis
Essential Qualifications: Good Master’s degree in Water Resources Engineering, Hydrology, Mathematics, Civil Engineering (Water Resources and Hydrology Option), Agricultural Engineering (Soil and Water Engineering option), Physical Geography or equivalent qualification. Other Qualifications: Good skills in mathematical/computer modelling, computer programming (preferably R or Python), GIS and data mining.
PhD in the area of Environmental/Natural Resource Governance
Josephine Frimpong is currently a PhD candidate with the Department of Planning, KNUST. She holds a Master of Philosophy degree in Planning from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology and a Bachelor of Science degree in Development Planning from the same university. Frimpong was a teaching/research assistant with the Centre for Settlements Studies and the Department of Planning, KNUST in 2013 and 2014. She has been involved in a number of projects, notably the Food Security in Northern Ghana (FOSTERING) project by SEND-Ghana, and the WISE-UP or 'Water Infrastructure Solutions from Ecosystem Services Underpinning Climate Resilient Policies and Programmes’ by the Basque Centre for Climate Change, BC3. She was also involved in a study conducted by the Kumasi Institute of Technology, Energy and Environment (KITE) on examining transparency and accountability within the oil, gas and mining sectors in Ghana. Her research experiences have been in the areas of health, community planning and social capital, ecosystem services, food security and environmental resilience. Josephine’s current research interests include governance, public policy and resilience.