United Nations University -
Institute for Natural Resources in Africa

Staff at the UNU-INRA offices at the University of Ghana campus

Dr. Karl Harmsen joined UNU-INRA as the Director in October 2005. He holds a Phd from the Agricultural University, Wageningen in The Netherlands. His expertise lies in soil chemistry and physics, as well as mathematics. Prior to UNU-INRA, Dr. Harmsen was Directorof the Centre for Space Science and Technology Education in Asia and the Pacific (CSSTEAP), affiliated with the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs in Dehradun, India from 2002-2005. Before that, he was Professor of Environmental Systems Analysis (2001–2002) and Rector (1997–2000) at the International Institute for Geo-information Science and Earth Observation (ITC), Enschede, The Netherlands. Previous career experience includes working with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as executive director of the West and Central African Programs in Niamey, Niger (1994–1996), as director of the ICRISAT Resource Management Program in Hyderabad, India (1992–1994) and as director of the Institute for Soil Fertility, Haren, The Netherlands (1986–1992).

Dr. Konadu Acheampong holds a PHD in Sociology from Iowa State University, where his areas of concentration included Research Methodology, Social Change and Development and Social Demography. Before joining UNU-INRA as a Programme and Administrative Office, Dr. Acheampong has worked as a Principal Scientist (Sociology) for the International Fertilizer Development Centre, an Instructor at Iowa State University and a Project Director for USAID/Ghana in agriculture and rural industries' development. Currently, his role at UNU-INRA involves promoting and maintaining cooperation between UNU-INRA and its institutional partners and collaborators; preparing research and development project proposals; guiding the preparation of Institutional Contractual Agreements and Special Service Agreements; and overlooking budgetary and human resources activities. Dr. Acheampong also serves as a UNU-INRA representative on the UN Commission Premises Committee, UN Operations and Administrative Officers Group and UN Communication Team. Dr. Acheampong is married and has three daughters.

Mr. Benjamin Turkson joined UNU-INRA as a Finance and Administrative Officer in October 2007. He holds a BSc degree in Administration (Accounting Option) from the University of Ghana Business School, and MBA) degree from Strayer University in Washington, DC. He is also a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) with the American Institute of Public Accountants (AICPA) and the Maryland Board of Public Accountancy, USA.

Mr. Turkson has substantial post graduate work experience in the areas of Business Advisory, Financial Accounting, Business Management, and Investment Banking with the private sector within the American corporate world and his home country-Ghana. His career history included working variously as Accounts Executive, Accountant, and Deputy Finance and Accounts Manager, for Xerox Corporation, National Association of Security Dealers, and Gelina Packaging Company respectively. Prior to his departure to the United States in the late 1990s, Mr. Turkson served as a Project Accountant for Akuaba Limited, a real estate development and furniture manufacturing company based in Accra,Ghana. Upon his return to Ghana in early part of 2007, he took up a position with PricewaterhouseCoopers (Ghana) with the Corporate Finance and Recovery unit.

Mrs. Eugina K. Aggrey, a Ghanaian national, joined UNU-INRA in October of 1998 as a Bilingual Secretary. Previously, she served in the Ghanaian Foreign Service and later moved on to the INESCO Regional Office for Education in Africa located in Dakar, Senegal.

Dr. Dilnesaw Alamirew Chekol (Ethiopia) joined UNU-INRA Accra. Before that he had already worked for UNU-INRA, based at the Research Station of the Dreyer Foundation in Dano, Burkina Faso. His position is funded from the GLOWA budget through ZEF, Bonn, Germany. Dr. Alamirew holds a PhD degree from the University of Bonn, Germany (2006) and a MSc degree from the same university (2001). He further holds a Masters degree in Engineering from the University of Applied Sciences in Cologne, Germany, and a BSc degree in Agricultural Engineering from Alemaya University of Agriculture in Ethiopia. In addition to Agricultural engineering and hydrology, he has experience in remote sensing and geographic information science, and in natural resource management and land use planning. At UNU-INRA he is responsible for initiating and organizing training workshops and other training and capacity building ventures under the GLOWA Phase III project.

Dr. Barnabas Akurigo Amisigo (Ghana) joined UNU-INRA in March of 2007. He is on the staff of the Water Research Institute (WRI) in Accra, but seconded at UNU-INRA, with financial support from ZEF, Bonn, Germany. He holds a PhD (2006) in Hydrology/Water Resources Engineering
University of Delft, Delft, the Netherlands. The title of his PhD Thesis was Modeling riverflows in the Volta Basin of West Africa: A data-driven framework. He further hold a MSc in Water Resources Engineering from the University of Guelph, Guelph, Canada (1991) and a BSc (Hons) in Agricultural Engineering from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (1982). His main task at UNU-INRA is to assist in the GVP's Hydro-meteorological studies and modeling including: establishing an appropriate downscaling method for the output of the MM5 mesoscale climate model being adopted by the GVP for use in hydrological modeling at river catchment scale in the Volta Basin; implementing the computer modeling tools developed in GVP at the Kofi Annan Centre of Excellence in ICT, Accra, and being a resource person in trainings organized in the Basin for upgrading the capacity of stakeholders in the use of the models and tools of the project; and quality controlling the available river discharge data in the basin and developing appropriate tools and methodologies for filling gaps in this database. He also assists UNU-INRA in the organization of workshops and trainings for GVP partners in the Basin.

Dr. Daniel Nougbégnon Dalohoun (Benin) joined the staff as a PostDoctoral Fellow funded by UNU-MERIT, Maastricht, The Netherlands, in December of 2006. He holds a PhD degree in Economics & Policy Studies of Technical Change, from Maastricht University, The Netherlands (2005). Further he holds MA degree in International and Development Economics from the University of Namur, Belgium (2001), a MSc degree in Computer Assisted Management Systems from the University of Economics in Bratislava, Slovakia. (1994) and another MSc degree in Economic Statistics from the same university (1993). At UNU-INRA he has worked on a project entitled "Towards an understanding of 'scaling-up' in relation to innovation in the natural resources sector in West Africa: The case of NERICA rice and the challenge of integrating technological and institutional innovations". He has been supervised by Dr. Andy Hall (UNU-MERIT) and Dr. Karl Harmsen (UNU-INRA).

Ms. Gurneesh Bhandal holds a Bachelor of Environmental Studies, with a major in Environment and Business and a Minor in Geography, from the University of Waterloo, Canada. Her areas of interest include environment and development, agriculture and trade, and global governance. Ms. Bhandal joined UNU-INRA in September of 2007 as a Visiting Scientist through the International Institute for Sustainable Development's internship program called Emerging Leaders in Governance and Communications. Apart from working on UNU-INRA's website to enhance its ICT capabilities, she has been studying the role of women in natural resources management. Previously she has worked with Environment Canada as a Research Assistant and with Hewlett-Packard Canada as an Environmental Analyst.

Dr. Dilys Sefakor Kpongor (Ghana) joined UNU-INRA as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow, funded by ZEF, Bonn, Germany. She holds a PhD degree in Agriculture and Resource Management from the University of Bonn, Germany (2007), a MSc degree in Agriculture and Resource Management in the Tropics and Sub-Tropics from the same university (2003), and a BSc (Honours) in Renewable Natural Resources Management from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana (1999). She has experience in crop modeling (DSSAT, APSIM) and participated in workshops on assessing crop production, nutrient management, climatic risks and environmental sustainability with simulation models. At UNU-INRA she will supervise one GLOWA PhD student and conduct experiments on determining plant (maize) parameters required for simulation models that are used to provide basic information for climate change scenario studies.

Mr. William K. Briandt, born and raised in Axim, Ghana, joined UNU-INRA as a Senior Driver/Messenger in 1994, and currently serves as a Liaison Clerk. Previously, he has served as a driver/messenger at the United Nations High Commission for Refugees in Accra, Ghana. Mr. Briandt is married and has one daughter.

Mr. Ernest T. Owusu-Duodu was born in Accra, Ghana and joined UNU-INRA as Clerk-Typist in June 1994. Currently, he has additional responsibility for the INRA library. Previously, he has served as Personnal Clerk at the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) before leaving for the UK. Mr. Owusu-Duodu is married and has three children.

Board Members:

The composition of the Board is now as follows (Oct 2007):