Trustees for Tertiary Education Scholarship Trust for Ghana
Saeed Abdul-Razak, Phd - Chair
Dr. Saeed Abdul-Razak assumed the role of TEST for Ghana Chair in the last quarter of 2022. However, he has served as a trustee for the scholarship since its inception in 2008. Dr. Saeed’s efforts were instrumental in the smooth administration of applications in T4G's initial roll out.
Having pursued BSc in Land Economy at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, he furthered his education in MSc Environmental Change and Management at the University of Oxford, UK, as a Norman and Ivy Lloyd Scholar.
After his MSc, Dr. Saeed worked with as a Climate Change Professional in Ghana primarily focused on policy work, research, and advocacy for local community rights recognition in climate governance. During this time, he was also engaged in the international climate negotiations of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) pushing for climate justice.
Saeed Abdul-Razak obtained a doctorate degree at the University of Reading in 2018. His research, funded by the Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (UK) and using Ghana as a case study, interrogated how countries and institutions localised international climate agreements such as REDD+.
Since 2017, Saeed has worked in various climate change resilience and sustainability roles including in ICF International as a Climate Resilience Analyst and with the Rainforest Alliance as the Global Theme Lead for Climate. He is currently working in the Environment and Climate Cluster of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Ghana.
Saeed firmly believes that we are all connected, so the collective well-being of society is a goal that we must all have at heart and actively portray in actions.
Wisdom Eli Akatu - Trustee
Wisdom is an Environmental Consultant and a registered member of the Institute of Environmental Management and Assessment (IEMA-UK). He has worked as consultant for the past nine (9) years on environmental and sustainable development management systems, and a number of pre-feasibility and bankable feasibility projects within the mining, power, infrastructure and water resources industries.
Wisdom holds a First Class honours degree in Agricultural Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. After completion, he served as a Teaching and Research Assistant in the same institution. He further pursued his Master of Science degree at the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford in Water Science, Policy and Management (2009/10). During his studies in Oxford, he was awarded a Commonwealth/Norman & Ivy Lloyd Scholarship and affiliated to Linacre College.
Wisdom currently works with Knight Piésold Consulting as the Environmental Manager for the firm’s operations within the West Africa sub region. He has managed various projects including Environmental Impact Assessment for onshore and offshore gas receiving plants, pre-feasibility studies for hydro power schemes and closure plans for various mine facilities. He is intimately aware of the level of information required to satisfy regulator and institutional lender demands as well as actively applying the requirements of the International Finance Corporation/ Equator Principles in developing countries.
Leander Kandilige - Trustee
Dr. Leander Kandilige is a Lecturer of Migration Studies at the University of Ghana. He is also a Visiting Lecturer, University of Northampton and Research Associate, Refugee Studies Centre (University of Oxford).
He holds a D.Phil. (PhD) in Migration Studies from the School of Geography and the Environment, University of Oxford. His DPhil. thesis is entitled 'Transnationalism and the Ghanaian diaspora in the UK: regional inequalities and the developmental effects of remittances at the sub-national level'. In addition, he holds an MSt in Forced Migration (University of Oxford); MA in International Affairs (University of Ghana); Postgraduate Certificate in Managing Voluntary Organisations (University of Southampton) and BA (First Class Honours) in Political Science and Philosophy (University of Ghana).
Leander has extensive experience in academia, social housing, works and pensions, and empirical research in the UK over a period of 14 years. In Ghana, Leander previously worked in various positions within the University of Ghana (Teaching Assistant, Research Assistant, Chairman of Alumni Associations, Founder of the Ghana Wildlife Society) and the Parliament of Ghana (Legislative Research Assistant).
Dr. Kandilige was a trustee of the Tertiary Education Scholarship Trust (TEST) for Africa from 2008 to 2013. He became Chairman of TEST for Ghana in May 2014, after returning from the United Kingdom.
Kokui Adzo Adu - Trustee
Mrs. Kokui Adu is a Data Analyst and Financial Management professional with considerable experience in planning and financial management. She has worked in various roles in tertiary institutions and the financial services industry including positions in senior management at the University of Ghana, a Lecturer in Finance and Investments at GIMPA, the Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Assurance Research Institute of KPMG LLP, Montvale, USA. From 2009 to 2013 she was the Chief Executive Officer of the Students Loan Trust Fund. Kokui, holds an MBA in Corporate Finance and InvestmentS Management from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, USA.
Her success in various roles has been demonstrated through key achievements at the University of Ghana where she established the Students Financial Aid Office the first of its kind in any public tertiary institution in the country. She played a key role in the setting up of the Students Loan Trust Fund, growing the institution to its current status as a reliable partner in addressing cost sharing in tertiary education in Ghana. She serves on the Boards of the Central Securities Depository, Ghana Revenue Authority and until recently on the Board of the Students Loan Trust Fund.
Until recently Mrs Kokui Adu was the Managing Director of Firstbanc Financial Services Limited, an integrated investment banking and financial advisory firm.
Dr Philemon Gyasi-Antwi - Trustee
Philemon is a Research Fellow in the School of Health Sciences at the University of Nottingham, UK. The fellowship funded by the InDependent Diabetes Trust (IDDT) is supporting him to develop functional immunoassays, in vitro tissue modelling and biomarker profiling to generate novel antimicrobial polymeric vehicles for drug delivery and wound healing.
He studied MSc Integrated Immunology at Linacre College, Oxford, with support from Norman and Ivy Lloyd /Commonwealth Shared Scholarship and completed a PhD in Immunology at the University of Nottingham. His doctorate investigated the role of hxc-type II secretion system of Pseudomonas aeruginosa during pathogenesis. He holds a BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Kumasi, Ghana.
Dennis Awuah - Trustee
Dr. Dennis Awuah is a Research Fellow at the Beckman Research Institute (BRI), City of Hope in Duarte California, where he is Project lead for the development of safe and innovative immunotherapies for haematological tumours such as leukaemia and multiple myeloma. He holds a Master’s degree in Immunology from The University of Oxford (Norman and Ivy Lloyd Scholar/Commonwealth) and a Ph.D. in Immuno-Bioengineering from the University of Nottingham UK, where he was a recipient of the prestigious Vice Chancellor’s Excellence Award.
Dennis has extensive knowledge and expertise in areas of Biomedical and Bioengineering Research from malaria vaccine development to design and characterization of novel chimeric antigen-specific receptors (CARs). Prior to joining the BRI, he worked on an European Union Consortium project developing and testing human immune responses to diverse micro-fabricated biomaterials. He has held previous roles at the Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research, The U.S. Naval Medical Research Unit, The University of Oxford and most recently, The University of Nottingham.
Dennis was appointed to the Trust in 2012 where he oversees Alumni Relations for TEST Scholars.
Adwoa Boatemaa Appiah - Trustee
Adwoa holds a first class honours undergraduate degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of the Science and Technology, MSc from the University of Oxford and an EMBA in Finance from the University of Ghana Business School. Adwoa has seven (7) years work experience gained with leading financial institutions in Africa namely African Development Bank and currently Ecobank Group. She has been involved in several roles relating to environmental and sustainable development, relationship management and financial management. Her current role in Ecobank involves working within the Group Cash Management team where she is responsible for offering cash management products and services to the Financial Institutions and International Organisations clients across the Ecobank Group spanning 33 African countries.
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