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Annette Skovsted Hansen - Aarhus University

MA (Columbia University) and PhD (University of Copenhagen) is Associate Professor of Japan and Global History at Aarhus University, Denmark. She is former international staff member at United Nations Headquarters and spokesperson of Association of Development Researchers in Denmark. Her research interests range from dictionaries in nation-building in the 18th century to global networks engendered by foreign aid and maritime history. Currently, she is developing a maritime research network at Aarhus University and leading a research network about Global Ports and Shipping


George Acheampong - University of Ghana


Enterprise lecturer and researcher with extensive knowledge of local economy issues in Ghana. Teaching entrepreneurship at UGBS fulltime. The track chair of the Africa’s Competitiveness in Global Markets for the AIB Africa. Previously PhD intern with the UNU-WIDER in Helsinki, Finland. Has held visiting PhD fellowships with the DERG at the University of Copenhagen and the Center of Entrepreneurship of the Muma Business College of USF, Tampa. Has been working to bring social and economic change to communities through market-based approaches.


Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin - University of Ghana

Abena Animwaa Yeboah-Banin is a Senior Lecturer (Ph.D., University of Leeds) at Department of Communication Studies, University of Ghana. Her research explores the nexus between organisations and their targets, emphasising the platform that marketing communications presents for their engagements. Her research interests also extend to gender in media, media development and media and information literacy. Abena has previously worked in Ghana’s advertising industry and consulted for organisations such as UNESCO and Media Foundation for West Africa


George VanDyck - Regional Maritime University

Senior Lecturer of Maritime Transport and Logistics at the Regional Maritime University in Ghana. George holds an MSc from Cranfield University, U.K and a PhD from Shanghai Maritime University, China. George serves as a member of the Transport Working Group of the Ministry of Transport Ghana, a member of the Logistics and Transport Sector Skills Body under the Ghana Commission for Technical and Vocational Education and Training and a member of the Board of Directors of Greenline Logistics. As a lecturer and researcher, George's interests revolve around port development in West Africa including port efficiency, performance and competitiveness


Vera Fiador - University of Ghana Business School


Senior Lecturer and researcher in the Department of Finance of the UGBS , Legon, Ghana. Expertise lies in the area of finance with general research interests that span a broad array of issues in the area of corporate finance and corporate governance, gender diversity, government fiscal and monetary policies and development finance. Has a number of peer-reviewed journal publications to her name.. She has also developed and mounted training programs for several client organizations. Vera is a member of the African Economic Research Consortium and was a visiting Scholar at the IMF, Washington DC.


Jonas Aryee - Regional Maritime University

Lecturer at Department of Transport, Regional Maritime University, Ghana. He is trained as a maritime and transport economist (University of Antwerp).  His experience has led to cooperation with the Ministry of Transport in Ghana where he has offered his expertise to the Transport Sector Working Group and Transport Planners Group. Further he has consulted for the EU funded portions of the Trans-Ecowas Highway in Liberia.  His research interest also extends to digitalization, port governance, ocean governance, maritime labour and policy. He is also an adjunct lecturer at the Nelson Mandela University in South Africa.


Casper Andersen - Aarhus University

Associate professor in History of Ideas at the University of Aarhus, Denmark. His field of research is the history of science and technology in global contexts with a particular focus on Sub-Saharan Africa. He has published extensively on political, technological and scientific infrastructures In Africa including the monograph British Engineers and Africa 1875-1914 and articles in ISIS, Canadian Journal of African StudiesTechnology and Culture among others. Casper Andersen is member of The Young Academy under the Royal Danish Academy for Sciences and Letters



Martin Arvad Nicolaisen - Aarhus University

Anthropologist, PhD (Copenhagen University) and works as Postdoc at the Department of Global Studies, Aarhus University, Denmark. His research is centered on humanities-based approaches to value creation and the dynamics between formalized organizational structures and interpersonal agency. He has been engaged in both academic research and development projects in Ghana since 2002, including national business sector development programs at the Danish Embassy in Accra from 2008-09. His PhD dissertation from 2018 analyzed the commodity chain of cocoa in Ghana


Student Assistants

Oliver Kwabena Aggrey

Oliver is an early career researcher at the University of Ghana Business School and a research assistant at the UGBS Innovation and Incubation Hub. He holds a Master of Philosophy degree in marketing and has four years of teaching and research experience at the marketing and entrepreneurship department of the University of Ghana Business School

Vanessa Fosuhene

Bachelor degree in Political Science and Chinese from the University of Ghana and serves as an administrative assistant to the PEPP II Project. As an assistant in the project, she is responsible for organizing and helping in project management in Ghana. Vanessa also helps with project research and hopes to develop her research capabilities in the process of assisting with work on the PEPP II project

Søren Jakobsen

Majoring in Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. Additionally has a background at the department of Anthropology at Aarhus University. Project tasks include homepage- and social media management and ad-hoc assignments. Research interests include gender-theory, sustainability, human security, and international relations

Vivyan Yan Mygil

Majoring in Political Science at Aarhus University, Denmark. Project tasks include managing bibliography, proofreading, data coding, visualization, and ad-hoc assignments. Current research interests include gender, communication, and international relations

Thomas Feldskov Nielsen

Studying a Master’s degree in Global Area Studies, and has a Bachelor’s degree in India and South Asian Studies with a supplementary subject in Addressing Global Challenges, at Aarhus University, Denmark. Project tasks include social media management, homepage management, planning of events and ad-hoc assignments. Research interests include international relations, sustainability, social relations and development

Cecilie Birk Domino

Majoring in History at Aarhus University, Denmark. Project tasks include assisting with Work-Package 5, webpage editing and ad-hoc assignments. Current research interests include gender,
identity theory, early modern history, and archive studies