Meet the panelists for the Ghana STEM conference

Come Friday 28th September, delegates from Academia, the Diplomatic Corps, Corporate Ghana, the STEM Community in Ghana and the general public will gather at the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences for the maiden Ghana STEM Conference, part of the weeklong Next Einstein Forum (NEF) Africa Science Week celebrations.

The conference, to be co-chaired by the Minister of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, Professor Kwabena Frimpong Boateng and the German Ambassador to Ghana, H.E. Christoph Retzlaff will be held under the theme Accelerating Growth and Development through STEM — seeking to elevate the conversation, foster greater participation and encourage the active adoption of STEM to accelerate Ghana’s development.

The conference will have three panel discussions featuring distinguished Ghanaians from Academia, Industry and the STEM community.

Meet the panelists for the different panels:

Panel 1, The Education panel, will examine STEM Education and Industry divide: how do we bridge the gap to foster growth and economic development?

Panelists: Ethel Cofie, leading technologist and CEO of Edel Technology Consulting, Dr. Patrick Arthur, a lecturer and researcher at the Department of Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology, University of Ghana and renowned educationalist and columnist, Anis Haffer will discuss and proffer practical strategies to bridge the gap between STEM education and industry requirements to foster growth and economic development.

The panel will be moderated by Dr. Kajsa Hallberg Adu of Ashesi University

Panel 2 will discuss the female STEM pipeline and how Ghana can proactively promote female participation in STEM.

The panelists are Efua Adabie- Headteacher Ghana Science Academy, Favour Nma Ozichukwu Operations Manager of iSpace and Ato Ulzen-Appiah, Director of GhanaThink Foundation. The panel will be moderated by Golda Addo, CEO Spun Gold Consult.

Panel 3 will discuss youth participation in STEM under the theme ‘securing the future: driving youth participation in STEM.’

Panelists: Freda Yawson of Innovate Ghana, Ama Duncan of Fabulous Women Network and Dr. Thomas Tagoe, Lecturer, University of Ghana and co-founder of GhScientific.

The panel will be moderated by Amma Aboagye, Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnerships Adviser at USAID West Africa & Founder of The Afropole.

The NEF Africa Science Week celebrations is Africa’s biggest annual celebration of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) that brings together thousands of participants to engage in coordinated events aimed at promoting the adoption of STEM across the African continent.

The 2018 celebrations are being held in over 34 African countries including Ghana, Cameroon, Cote d’Ivoire, Kenya, Malawi, Mali, Morocco, Nigeria, Senegal, Rwanda South Africa, Tanzania, Sudan among others.

The maiden Ghana celebrations is powered by Upendi PR a leading PR and Communications firm providing total communication solutions to businesses and individuals across Africa.

Ghana’s celebration kicks off on Tuesday 25th September with a coding and virtual reality outreach for school children in Ho in the Volta Region followed by a STEM activity day with selected schools in Tamale on Wednesday 26th September.

The celebrations will continue with an Open Science Day in Kumasi, featuring exhibition of local innovations, a panel discussion, and hands-on practical science activities in a local school on 27th September.

The Ghana STEM conference on Friday 28th September is the highlight of the celebrations providing opportunities for conversations and exhibitions of the latest innovations and researches that are transforming lives across the continent.

The celebrations will end on Saturday 29th September with a Data Science and Hackathon session for problem solvers at Workshed in Accra and and Open STEM day for pupils at the Planetarium in Accra.

The celebrations is supported by the MTN Foundation and GhanaThink.