Dear visitor!
Welcome to my personal webpage in the framework of the Marie Curie ITN Project on EU External Action (EXACT).
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Telephone (Office): +49 221 470 8617
I hail from Abease, a small village in the Pru District of Ghana-West Africa and a graduate of Ghana's premier University (University of Ghana). In 2005, I obtained a Bachelor of Arts with Political Science major (first class honours) and was appointed a Teaching and Research Assistant at the Department of Political Science, University of Ghana in 2006. In 2007, I was awarded Erasmus Mundus scholarship by the European Commission to pursue Master’s degree in Public Policy (MUNDUS MAPP). In 2008 and 2009 successfully completed and obtained double Master‘s degrees from University of York (United Kingdom) and Central European University (Hungary) respectively. In October 2010, I was award the Marie Curie ITN Fellowship by the European Commission for a Joint-PhD programme between Universities of Cologne (Germany) and Edinburgh (Scotland) - where I am developing specialization in analyzing European Union‘s External Policies with special interests in EU's trade and development aid policies with regard to the African, Caribbean and the Pacific Group of States.
| October 2010 - February 2011 | University of Cologne, Germany |
| March 2011 - October 2011 | European Institute of Public Administration, Maastricht |
| November 2011 - March 2012 | TEPSA, Brussels |
| April 2012 - September 2013 | University of Cologne/University of Edinburgh |
Title of research project: European Union's External Trade Negotiations: A Comparative Analysis of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) With ECOWAS and CARIFORUM
Supervisor: Professor Wolfgang Wessels (University of Cologne)
Co-Supervisor: Dr Chad Damro (University of Edinburgh)
With the competence of negotiating trade policies for Member States, the European Commission has been engaging members of the African, Caribbean and Pacific group of states in the negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) since 2002/2003. The outcome has been mixed with some relatively successful agreement with the Caribbean economic bloc (CARIFORUM) as planned while difficulties abound with other negotiations such as with the West African Economic Community (ECOWAS). What explains the differences in the negotiation outcomes? My research dilates on the outcomes of the EPAs negotiations so far reflecting on EU institutional and policy formulation dynamics as well as the wider international trade negotiation contexts. It seeks to investigate the procedures and processes underpinning the EPAs negotiations as well as the actors involved and the kind of influence they exert on the negotiations processes. The study also seeks to discover how the EU have sought to achieve its external policy goals and in what ways such approaches could be improved from a comparative perspective using the case of ECOWAS and CARIFORUM EPAs negotiations. Generally, this research contributes to systematic study of EU external trade negotiations, negotiation theory building, International Political Economy (IPE), and general EU-ACP economic and political relations.
Guest Lecturer, “MA in International Relations and Development Policy), Universität Duisburg-Essen, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Campus Duisburg, Duisburg-Germany, Summer Semester 2014
Lecturer (Lehrbeauftragter), BA Seminar “The International Relations of the European Union and Africa” Universität Duisburg-Essen, Institut für Politikwissenschaft, Campus Duisburg, Duisburg-Germany, Winter Semester, 2013/2014.
Tutor, BA Course “Introduction to European Politics: The Political System of the European Union" University of Cologne, Germany, Summer Semester 2013
Lecturer, BA Course "European Politics: European Union External Relations: the EU-Africa Partnership", University of Cologne, Summer Semester 2012
Policy Brief: Time for a new generation of Trade Agreements? TEPSA, Brussels, February 2012.
Publication of “Leading the way? Comparing the CARIFORUM EPA negotiations with those for ECOWAS”, A study Commissioned by European Parliament, October 2011
An Assessment of European Union’s Development Aid Policy for the ACP Countries – the Case in Ghana. Master’s Thesis, Central European University, Hungary, 2009
Understanding the Economic Partnership Agreements (EPAs) Between EU and the ACP Countries from the European Union‘s Perspective”. Master’s Dissertation, University of York, UK, 2008
Together with Winfried Müller, Baanda Ayub Salim , Andrew Ssemwanga, and Teresa Lee (2012) Institutional Evaluation Report; Ahmadu Bello University (Zaria, Nigeria)
Conference Report, “The Arab Spring: Managing tensions and crisis inside and outside the EU” organized by Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA), Brussels, 15 March 2012
Conference Report, Council of European Union Pre-Presidency Conference “A changed Europe? Crisis and Renewal during the Danish EU Presidency 2012”, co-organized by Trans European Policy Studies Association (TEPSA) and Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), Copenhagen, Denmark, 8-9 December 2011.
Project Team Member, Erasmus Mundus Action 4 project Access to Success, managed by the European Universities Association (EUA) and Association of African Universities (AAU) from 2008-2010. http://www.eua.be/access-to-success
Evaluation Expert, Project - Europe-Africa Quality Connect: Building Institutional Capacity through Partnership coordinated by the European Universities Association (EUA), Association of African Universities (AAU), the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB) and the University of Aveiro (UA), Portugal, October 2010 - September 2012. http://www.eua.be/eua-projects/past-projects/europe-africa-quality-connect.aspx
Research Assistant, Project: Impact Evaluation of African Youth Alliance Programme coordinated by Institute for Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER), University of Ghana and the John Snow Research and Training Incorporated (USA) March –June 2006
Paper Presentation on “The Legal Bases of EU External Trade Policy; What implications for the Negotiations of Economic Partnership Agreements?" Europa Research Group, University of Edinburgh, 18 April 2013.
Paper presented on “The ‘Odd’ Success: Explaining the outcome of EU’s negotiation of Economic Partnership Agreement with Caribbean Region” Paper Presentation during a workshop on “Glocalising Europe: Local identities, European politics, and global finance” organised by School of Social and Political Sciences, University of Edinburgh April 2013.
Presentation on “Developing Entrepreneurial Universities: The role of entrepreneurial universities in socio-economic growth” at the two-day Policy dialogue workshop: "The interlinking roles of academic cooperation and research collaboration as a contribution to knowledge generation, exchange and capacity building measures" in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 23-24 October 2012.
Paper delivered on “Leading the way? Comparing the CARIFORUM EPA negotiations with those for ECOWAS” during a Workshop The Role of Parliaments in Scrutinising International Agreements, organised by the European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, 17- 20 October 2011.
Presentation of a paper on "European Union's Economic Partnership Agreements with Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Countries: A Case of Market Power Europe?" during “New Frontiers in European Studies: UACES Student Forum” 12th Annual Conference, University of Surrey, 30 June – 1 July 2011
Presentation of a paper on "European Union's Trade Negotiations with Africa, Caribbean, and Pacific Countries: Market Power Europe at Play?" during a Graduate Conference on “Taking the European Union into the 21st Century; History, Challenges and Debates” organised by European Union Centre of Excellence, University of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, 9 April 2011
Workshop: “Introduction to German Academic Culture” University of Cologne, delivered by Institut für Hochschulberatung, uni-Support, 9 December, 2014
Summer School: 1st CLEER Summer school on the Law of EU external relations, University of Maastricht, 24-28 June, 2013, Brussels
Workshop “The European Union and the Developing World: Agendas, Tensions, Partnerships and the Trade-Development Nexus, 8 March 2013, University of Glasgow, Scotland
Workshop “The European Union and the global agenda on foreign aid: between actorness and effectiveness” organised by the Transatlantic Seminar Series, School of Social and Political Science, University of Edinburgh, 25 January 2013
Workshop “ACP-EU Cooperation Programme in Science and Technology II – Information Seminar” organised by German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Wissenschaftszentrum, Bonn, Germany, 30 November 2012
EXACT Network Seminar on Academic Skills at the University of Cologne co-supervised by Prof. Geoffrey Edwards (University of Cambridge) and Dr. Robert Kissack (Institut Barcelona d'Estudis Internacionals). Topics covered included: The Art of Teaching, Presentation Skills, Theoretical and Methodological Approaches in Research, Publishing, Research Funding etc., 15-28 September 2012
EXACT Network Seminar on Professional Skills at TEPSA (Brussels) supervised by Prof. Hanna Ojanen (University of Helsinki/Finnish Institute of International Affairs). Topics covered included: Conducting Interviews, Communication and Dissemination of Knowledge and Research (op-eds, policy briefs, research/working papers, social media etc.), Media Training, Public Speaking, press conference simulation, Training in Project Application and Administration, Management and Coordination Skills, Networking Skills etc. 6-19 October 2011
Summer School “Theseus Summer School on European Economic Governance and European Council Simulation”, Brussels, 2-7 July 2012
LISBOAN PhD Summer School “Europe in the World”, University of Crete, Rythemno, Greece, 12-25 September 2011
Europe-Africa Quality Connect: A bi-regional approach to Strengthening University Capacity for Change, Final dissemination conference, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 21-22 June, 2012
Workshop “Europe and Africa: Intra and Inter regional academic mobility”- a two-day workshop as part of Erasmus Mundus Action 4 project Access to Success, Accra, Ghana. 3-4 May, 2012
Workshop: Europe-Africa Quality Connect, Post-evaluation workshop, organized by European Universities Association (EUA) and Association of African Universities (AAU), Aveiro, Portugal, 18-20 April 2012
Workshop: Europe-Africa Quality Connect Project, Training Workshop for Experts, organized by European Universities Association (EUA) and Association of African Universities (AAU), Dublin, Ireland, 4-6 May 2011.
Workshop “Towards a coordinated vision of Europe-Africa higher education partnership: Supporting institutional capacity building in Africa”- second workshop in series Erasmus Mundus Action 4 project, access to success. Oslo, Norway, February, 2010
Workshop “Access and Retention: Sharing best practices between Europe and Africa” – the first workshop in series in Erasmus Mundus Action 4 project -Access to success in Higher Education in Europe and Africa, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, November, 2009
European Union Council of Ministers’ Simulation on “The Rights of Third Country Nationals Living in Europe” Representing Republic of Estonia, Lund, Sweden March, 2009.
Summer School, Regional Governance and New Public Administration, University of York, UK , September, 2008
Summer School, Regional Integration, African Union & European Union in Perspective, University of Ghana Faculty of Law in Collaboration with University of Maastricht, Netherlands, Accra, Ghana .July, 2006
Conference: TTIP: what implications for Africa? organised by Meridia Partners at European Parliament, Brussels, Belgium, 14 October 2014
Conference “The European Union and the Developing World: Agendas, Tensions, Partnerships and the Trade-Development Nexus” University of Glasgow, Scotland, 8 March 2013.
Conference on “Linking Trade and Non-commercial Interests: The EU as a global Role Model? Organised by the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER), The Hague, Netherlands, 9 November 2012.
Conference on The future of EU Trade Policy organized by Directorate General for External Policies and Policy Department and Committee on International Trade, European Parliament, Brussels 15 March 2011.
High Level Development Policy Forum (DPF), Europe's Development Policy Comes of Age, Organised by Friends of Europe, Brussels, Belgium 17 May 2011
Global Economic Crisis; Challenges and Opportunities for Europe Conference, Budapest, Hungary, February, 2009
EU-Africa Cooperation in Higher Education through Mobility Conference, Brussels, Belgium, December, 2008
Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds stipend, Kölner Gymnasial- und Stiftungsfonds, Cologne-Germany, May 2014
Benedict und Helene Schmittmann-Wahlen Award, Schmittmann-Wahlen-Stiftung & University of Cologne, February 2014
DAAD Scholarship, University of Cologne, October 2013
Marie Curie Initial Training Fellowship, European Commission October 2010- September 2013
Erasmus Mundus Scholarship, European Commission, September 2007- October 2009
First Class Honours, University of Ghana, 2005
Academic Excellence Award, Legon Hall Council, University of Ghana, 2005
Academic Excellence Award, Legon Hall Council, University of Ghana, 2004
Ghana Government Scholarship, Osei Tutu High School, Kumasi-Ghana, 1998-1999
