Professor Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe is a Professor of Population Studies at the Regional Institute for Population Studies (RIPS), University of Ghana (UG). He obtained his General Certificate of Education, Ordinary Level, from the Suhum Secondary Technical School in 1986, the Advanced Level from the Swedru Secondary School in 1988, and Bachelor of Arts (Hons) degree in Geography and Resource Development and Study of Religions in 1989. After graduation, he was selected as one of the top students at the Department of Geography and Resource Development to undertake his national service and he continued briefly as a Research Assistant with the Population Impact Project (PIP), an outreach programme of UG.
During his time at PIP, he engaged in several advocacy, sensitisation and dissemination activities on family planning, adolescent reproductive health, harmful traditional practices including widowhood rites, child servitude (Trokosi), and child marriages. These activities were targeted at Cabinet Ministers, Members of Parliament, Officials of Government Ministries, Departments and Agencies, Metropolitan, Municipal and District Chief Executives, Religious Organisations, Traditional Leaders and other community and opinion leaders, civil society organisations, etc. He also assisted greatly in activities leading to the eventual revision of the 1969 Ghana Population Policy in 1994, and the establishment of the National Population Council Secretariat in the same year.
Prof. Codjoe was subsequently admitted to the University of Oslo, Norway in 1994 for his Master of Philosophy degree in Human Geography and he successfully completed in 1998. He returned to Ghana and worked with PIP as a Senior Research Officer from 1999 to 2000, after which he obtained a full scholarship on the GLOWA-Volta Project to study for his PhD at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, University of Bonn, Germany. He graduated with a PhD degree in Geography (Major) and Soil Science (Minor) in February 2004. He also holds Post-graduate Certificates in the following areas: (i) Administration and Management – Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration (GIMPA); (ii) Natural Resource Management and Land Use Planning – International Institute of Geo-Information Science and Earth Observation – (ITC), Netherlands; (iii) Regional Climate Modelling for West Africa using PRECIS – Institute for Mathematical Sciences, Accra; (iv) Principles and Applications of Remote Sensing and Geographical Information Systems (GIS) – ITC, Netherlands; (v) Modelling, Simulation and Optimisation – National Centre for Mathematical Sciences, Accra; (vi) Econometric Analysis – Centre for Development Research (ZEF), Germany; (vii) Interdisciplinary Concepts and Theories of Development – ZEF, Germany; (viii) Ecology, Land use and Development – ZEF, Germany; (ix) Communication Population and Health Research to Policymakers – East West Centre, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, USA and (x) Doctoral Supervision – Stellenbosch University, South Africa.
Prof. Codjoe returned to PIP after his PhD to continue as a Senior Research Officer until he was appointed a Lecturer at RIPS, UG in November 2004. He was promoted to the rank of Senior Lecturer in 2008, Associate Professor in 2011, and Professor in 2015. He served as Deputy Director of RIPS in 2011-2012, and Director from 2012 to 2018. He also served in the capacity of Acting Director of RIPS (August 2018 – September 2018). In addition, Prof. Codjoe has served on almost all the statutory committees of UG including the Business and Executive Committee, Academic Board, ORID Board, RIPS and LECIAD Management Committees, Research Board for College of Humanities, Appointments/Promotions Review Committee for Faculty of Social Sciences, Academic Curriculum, Quality and Staff Development Committee, Finance Committee of RIPS, and Admissions and Examinations Committee of RIPS. Furthermore, he has served in the following capacities: (i) Chair, Graduate Committee, RIPS; (ii) Member, Departmental Teaching Assessment Committee, LECIAD; (iii) Member, Vice-Chancellor’s Committee for Independent Power Supply; (iv) Member, University Basic Schools Board; (v) Member, University of Ghana Internationalization Committee; (vi) Member, University of Ghana Structure Reform Committee for College of Humanities and (vii) Member, Editorial Board, Ghana Social Science Journal. Furthermore, Prof. Codjoe has served as the Chair, College of Humanities International Conference Planning Committee (2016); Chair, Provost Award Committee, College of Humanities (2015), and Chair, University of Ghana Faculty of Social Sciences Awards Committee (2014).
He has served as Principal Investigator and Co-Investigator of 21 major funded international and national projects which have attracted a total of about USD 37 million in research funding. He has mentored and supervised the following - 3 Research Fellows; 9 Post-Doctoral Candidates; 23 PhDs; 7 Experiential Learners; 15 MPhil candidates; and over 40 MA students. His mentees are working as Lecturers and Senior Scientists in leading global institutions including UG, KNUST, Crops Research Institute, FAO, the Green Climate Fund, United Nations University, etc. Four of his mentees are currently faculty members at RIPS.
In addition, Prof. Codjoe has provided scholarships for Masters and Doctoral training, research and post-doctoral fellows as well as staff development at the University of Ghana, and provided seed grants for research, international conference travel for students and faculty. He has also promoted competitive scientific writing amongst staff and students through special reward schemes, and increased and expanded institutional networks locally, regionally, and internationally in the area of academic excellence and contributions to policy and community practice. Furthermore, Prof. Codjoe has increased the number of non-degree training through short courses and capacity building workshops based on highly competitive selection processes at RIPS and introduced the RIPS Colloquia Series (e.g., with His Excellency Ex-President John A. Kufour – UN Special Envoy on Climate Change). He has also been a Co-convener of the Climate Change and Population Conference in Africa held on 7 occasions between 2012 and 2019 and was instrumental in establishing the Climate Change Resource Centre at RIPS.
He has co-authored publications with scientists from various disciplinary backgrounds in the following areas: (i) Population Health; (ii) Urbanisation; (iii) Nutrition; (iv) Population and Environment; (v) Population and Land Use/Land Cover; and (vi) Climate Change. These publications are visible on major citation databases including Google Scholar, Research Gate, Scopus, Web of Science, etc. In addition, because of his expertise in trans-disciplinary research, he was appointed Acting Convener of the Climate Change Working Group, one of the four research teams of the University of Ghana in February 2015.
Regarding his community outreach services, he was a member of a Technical Group that produced the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (iNDCs) of Enhance Adaptation to Climate Change for the UN Paris Climate Agreement. He also contributed to the publication of national, regional and district reports of the 2010 Population and Housing Census. In addition, he was part of Ghana’s delegation to the 49th Session of the United Nations Commission on Population and Development in New York and represented the Republic of Ghana at the African Regional Conference on Population and Development, organised by the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, Addis Ababa. Prof Codjoe also led a team of experts to produce two policy briefs on the impact of climate change on malaria and fisheries in Ghana.
As part of intervention programmes for his African Research Centre of Excellence Project, sponsored by the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) of Canada, two fish smoking facilities to improve fish preservation in Ussher Town, Accra, were constructed, and waste disposal equipment (dump trucks, tricycles), and waste bins for organic and inorganic waste separation in about eight hundred households in James Town, Accra, towards managing climate change and health challenges were provided. The Project also constructed a 144-metre drain in Agbogbloshie, Accra, to ease the perennial floods experienced in the community, flood risks and associated health outcomes. Finally, he has established community-based climate change clubs towards increased community awareness and commitment to maintaining clean surroundings.
Prof. Codjoe has had an extensive teaching career both at UG and internationally. At UG, he teaches and supervises students at the Masters and Doctoral levels at RIPS, Centre for Migration Studies, Centre for Social Policy Studies, Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research, Department of Geography and Resource Development, and Legon Centre for International Affairs and Diplomacy. Internationally, he has held Guest Lecturer positions at the Institut Superieur des Sciences de la Population, University of Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, and the Sociology Department, Brown University, Providence, USA. In addition, he is a Lecturer on an Online Course on Urban Health in Crisis organised by the School of Nursing and Health Studies, Department of International Health, Georgetown University, USA.
Prof. Codjoe has organised several training programmes and short courses on Climate Change Adaptation and Modelling and organised scientific and grant proposal writing workshops for selected participants from UG and other institutions in Ghana and beyond. Furthermore, he chaired a panel of assessors to reaccredit the BA/MA/M.Phil/PhD Population and Health Programme of the University of Cape Coast for the National Accreditation Board, and serves as an internal and external examiner for the following institutions: (i) University of Botswana, Botswana; (ii) University of Technology, Australia; (iii) University of Witwatersrand, South Africa; (iv) Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana; (v) University of Cape Coast, Ghana; (vi) University of Southampton, UK; and (vii) University of Ghana. He is also an internal assessor for the Appointments and Promotions Committees of the College of Education and College of Basic and Applied Sciences and a Reviewer of Grant Applications for several organisations including the Office of Research, Innovation and Development, UG.
Prof. Codjoe is an Eminent Member of the Africa Scientific Advisory Committee of the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) Programme, under the auspices of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, and a Member of the Technical Advisory Group of the Africa Climate Mobility Initiative. In addition, he is a Member of the Strategic Advisory Board for the Climate, Heat and Maternal and Neonatal Health in Africa (CHAMNHA) Project based in the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, UK, a Member of the Scientific Committee of the Population and Environment Research Network and an Editorial Board Member of the PLOS ONE CLIMATE Journal, and Associate Editor of Frontiers in Climate – Climate Mobility Section.
He has also held honorary positions as Vice President for the Union for African Population Studies (UAPS) from 2011 to 2015, and President of UAPS from 2015 to 2019. During his tenures as Vice-President and President of UAPS, he led the UAPS Council to raise about USD 10 million from funders to host the 7th and 8th African Population Conferences, held in 2015 in Johannesburg, South Africa and in 2019 in Entebbe, Uganda, respectively. He also attracted funding to sponsor over 300 young scholars and senior academics on the African continent and beyond to the 7th and 8th African Population Conferences. Furthermore, he established the UAPS Award for the Overall Best Graduating Student in Population Studies at the University of Ghana in 2016. Prof. Codjoe was awarded the Best Researcher for the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ghana in the 2010/2011 academic year, and recognised by the Makerere University for exemplary leadership in hosting the 8th African Population Conference in Entebbe, Uganda in November 2019.
Prof. Codjoe is a Fellow of Legon Hall, a life member of the UG Alumni Association and Member of the Union for African Population Studies (UAPS), Population Association of America (PAA), and the International Union for the Scientific Study of Population (IUSSP). He is a Member and Marriage Counsellor of the Living Streams Baptist Church (Atomic) of the Ghana Baptist Convention and married to Mrs. Gertrude Addai-Codjoe for the past 29 years, and they are blessed with five children, Marilyn Adjoa, Carl Nii Sersah, Kelvin Nii Ardey, Brian Nii Baah and Kaitlin Naa Ayikuorkor. His hobbies are football, tennis, and motorcar racing.