Dr Marian Asantewah Nkansah is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemistry at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) in Kumasi, Ghana, where she teaches Practical Chemistry, Nuclear/Radiochemistry, Chemistry and Society, and Petroleum Chemistry. In her research, she focuses on identifying and characterizing the presence of both inorganic and organic contaminants in water, food, soil, the atmosphere and other environmental matrices, and on developing strategies for environmental remediation. By preparing and analyzing samples from different environments, she can determine the levels and effects of contaminants such as heavy metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs) and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which are generated by urbanization, industrial activities, artisanal activities and mining. She is striving to make the public aware of the risks of heavy metals, which she has found in unexpected places such as spices, lipstick, edible clay and classroom dust

Growing up as one of six children in Ghana during a period when the economy was in a state of collapse, Marian had a desire to help society from an early age. After completing her bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Chemistry at KNUST, she went to Norway to pursue her PhD in Environmental Chemistry at the University of Bergen. After completing it in 2012, she returned to KNUST where she worked as Lecturer and then Senior Lecturer before being promoted to Associate Professor in 2019, making her the youngest woman at the university to hold this position.

In addition to her research and teaching, Marian has undertaken training in science diplomacy. She is involved in advocacy and initiatives of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, and she mentors school children and younger peers. Her many achievements have brought her international recognition, including the TWAS FM Al-Kharafi Prize in 2016, a feature in the book Women in Science: An Inspiring Story from Africa and a slot on the commemorative Periodic Table of Younger Chemists by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

Marian has 33 peer-reviewed articles and books chapters.

Dr. Sam Adu-Kumi has diverse research interests in environmental fate, human exposure, and health risk assessment of POPs and heavy metals in Ghana. His work focuses on monitoring, sampling, analysis, and risk characterization of human health risks.