Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Ghana

The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School in Ghana is an international collaboration aimed at building capacity in oceanographic and environmental sciences in Ghana. A long-term goal of the school is to increase the presence of African scientists at international science meetings. Summer schools have been held in 2015, 2016, and 2017, and another school will be held in 2018. We are working on building links with institutions in other African countries, and on incorporating research partnerships into the summer school.

Participants in the Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School include students and faculty, government officials and private sector professionals from across Ghana.

During the summer school the research assistants took photos and assisted with the lab prep. Outside of school hours, they traveled to sites in and outside of Accra to conduct interviews relevant to the development of sustainability case studies. Elizabeth Oliphant and Mark Finlay studied to the use of jatropha for biofuels in Ghana, Anne Canavati and Jayson Toweh researched the health and environmental effects of electronic waste recycling at Agbogbloshie in Accra, and Erich Eberhard and Jess Hicks considered the economic and environmental impact of cocoa agriculture.