A delegation from Germany's Gerda Henkel Foundation met with Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo as part of their visit to UG to evaluate the Lisa Maskell Fellowship Programme, which has been running for the past three years.
In 2014, the Gerda Henkel Foundation launched the Lisa Maskell Fellowships to support young humanities researchers from Sub-Saharan Africa and Southeast Asia. This represents the single largest international funding initiative for PhD students in the Foundation’s history and each year provides financial stipends for full-time PhD students for young African humanities researchers.
Prof. Amfo in welcoming the delegation expressed her gratitude for the opportunity to host them in UG over a period of three (3) days and hoped for a positive assessment of the programme at the University of Ghana.
The VC underscored two key considerations for the attention of the Foundation. First, she expressed concern about the programme's underrepresentation of students from Francophone nations. Secondly, she requested a review of the three-year funding period, to cover the four-year Ph.D. programme that the University of Ghana currently runs.
She highlighted the importance of collaboration between scientists and humanists and acknowledged that both scientific knowledge and humanistic perspectives are essential for a well-rounded understanding of human society and its challenges.
Vice-Chancellor Prof. Nana Aba Appiah Amfo
Prof. Amfo also re-echoed the need to train students in various disciplines to develop 21st-century skills to help them function effectively in society and multidisciplinary research groups.
Providing an overview of the programme, Prof. Kwame Offei, Principal Investigator (PI), explained that a proposal was submitted to the Gerda Henkel Foundation in 2019 and a grant of $1.8 million received to train Ph.D. students from Ghana and other West African countries. Originally, the proposal aimed to train students from both Anglophone and Francophone countries. However, due to challenges in recruiting suitable candidates from Francophone countries, the programme has focused primarily on Anglophone countries.
Some members of the UG team present at the meeting
He noted that the programme has successfully supported 30 students, including 14 Ghanaians and 16 students from Nigeria, Sierra Leone and Uganda, comprising 18 males and 12 females.
He indicated that the project funds students for 3 years, akin to the systems of other universities in Africa funded by the Foundation. However, since the University of Ghana Ph.D. programme has a 4-year duration, discussions have started between the UG and the Foundation to explore the possibility of extending the funding period for students at the University.
Mrs. Emelia Agyei-Mensah, Registrar of the University of Ghana, wished the team success in their deliberations. She expressed the hope that the discussions would be beneficial and result in positive outcomes.
Lisa Maskell Fellowship Project Manager, Jane Frey, noted that the importance of evaluation is to assess the performance of the Fellowship programme with partner universities. She looked forward to learning more about the programmer’s implementation at the University of Ghana.
Some members of the Gerda Henkel Foundation Team
After a fruitful discussion, both institutions exchanged custom-made gifts.
Other members of the Gerda Henkel Foundation team were Prof. Dr. Andreas Eckert, Professor of the History of Africa, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin; and Joyce Nyairo, Ph.D., Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin.
Also present at the meeting were Prof. Samuel Agyei-Mensah (Co-PI) of the programme; Mr. Benedict Fosu Adjei, Administrator, Graduate School; Dr. Mrs. Elizier Taiba Ameyaw-Buronyah, Director, Public Affairs Directorate; Ms. Pascaline Kuunzungla Songsore, Senior Assistant Registrar, Public Affairs Directorate and Ms. Agnes Boadu, Assistant Registrar, Public Affairs Directorate.
