Marian Nkansah is a Ghanaian scientist who specializes as an environmental chemist. She led a study in 2016, with the help of other experts from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, that confirmed that edible white clay may cause cancer.
She received her undergraduate degree at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, earning a bachelor’s degree in chemistry and a master’s degree in Environmental Chemistry. She also graduated from the University of Bergen in Norway with a PhD in Environmental Chemistry. Professor Nkansah has worked in KNUST for most of her career but worked in the University of Agder, Norway from 2009 to 2012 as a doctoral research fellow. She has received training in Science Diplomacy in addition to her research and teaching. Prof. Nkansah is a reviewer for a number of national and international publications and also a member of the Ghana Young Academy of Arts and Sciences’.
Marian Nkansah, Achievements
Professor Nkansah has several recognitions and awards to her name. She is an affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences and was featured in the first-ever book on African Women in Science. In 2016, she won the Fayzah M. Al-Kharafi Prize and was Selected to attend Lindau Nobel Laureate meeting. Professor Nkansah was also a winner for the Global Young Academy of OWSD-ELSEVIER Award for Women in 2021.
Her research for the OWSD-ELSEVIER award focused on finding answers to environmental problems related to harmful chemical levels and fate in food, water, soil, rocks, sediments, and other environmental materials, such as heavy/trace metals, persistent organic pollutants (POPs), and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). She also studies how these contaminants interact with one another in the ecosystem.
As a member of the Women in STEM Ghana initiative, Prof. Nkansah makes a significant contribution to Ghana’s STEM fields and is dedicated to mentoring school children to consider careers in STEM as well as university students, particularly those enrolled in STEM fields, and younger colleagues on how to have a thriving career.