Spotlight · STEM Research Fellowship
Meet the Inaugural YARA Fellows and the Research They Are Pursuing
The Young Africans Research Academy was established to identify promising African researchers early and give them the training, mentorship and time required to pursue original research.
The STEM Research Fellowship is YARA’s year-long programme for undergraduate researchers. Fellows build research skills through structured training, work with experienced mentors and develop an original project from question and proposal through analysis and presentation.
The inaugural cohort brings together ten researchers working across artificial intelligence, climate and public health. Their projects begin with different problems, but the Fellowship gives each researcher the same basic task: define a question carefully, choose a sound method, work with evidence and develop the project through sustained research.
Meet the inaugural YARA Fellows and the research they are pursuing.
Artificial Intelligence
Benjamin Ekow Attabra
Sequential Credit Risk Modelling for Data Constrained-Environments
Benjamin’s research explores whether mobile financial-service transaction histories can support better credit-risk modelling in settings where conventional credit information is limited. His work compares sequential deep-learning approaches with more conventional models and examines the possibilities and limitations of using alternative financial data for credit assessment.
Artificial Intelligence
Essel-Biney Nana Benyin Eboe Nyamekye
A Comparative Analysis of Few-Shot Learning Models for Text-Based Diagnosis of Crop Pests and Diseases in Ghana
Nana is investigating how artificial intelligence can support crop-disease and pest diagnosis when large labelled datasets are unavailable. His research focuses on maize, tomato and cassava and compares different machine-learning approaches for building useful diagnostic systems in data-constrained agricultural settings.
Artificial Intelligence
McGovern Twumasi Owusu-Bekoe
OnEdge-Net: A Priority-Based Edge-Efficient AI System for Pneumonia Detection in Chest X-Rays for Low-Resource Clinical Settings
McGovern’s project examines how pneumonia-detection AI can operate in health facilities with limited connectivity and computing capacity. He is developing a lightweight system designed to analyse chest X-rays locally while considering the safety and reliability questions that arise when clinical AI is deployed on smaller devices.
Artificial Intelligence
Ruth Biney Senior
Ampe Movement Dataset (Ampe-DB): A Paired Rhythmic Interaction Dataset for Traditional African Gameplay
Ruth’s research uses the Ghanaian game Ampe as the basis for studying paired human movement computationally. The project documents gameplay through video, audio, pose information and annotations, creating data that can support research into movement, rhythm, interaction and culturally grounded computing.
Climate
Solomon Tuah
Projected Consecutive Dry Days over Ghana and Implications for Food and Water Security
Solomon’s research examines how the duration and distribution of dry periods across Ghana may change under future climate conditions. The work considers what these changes could mean for agriculture, water availability and climate adaptation planning.
Climate
Lord Selase Nukporfe
Sea Surface Temperature Trends and Variability in Ghana’s EEZ and Implications for Marine Fisheries
Lord is studying long-term changes in sea-surface temperature across Ghana’s Exclusive Economic Zone. His research examines how warming varies across seasons and coastal zones and what changing ocean conditions could mean for marine environments and fisheries.
Public Health
Brianna Ama Nyarkowaa Donkoh
Lead Poisoning: Identifying High-Risk Groups Using Secondary Data to Support Targeted Interventions
Brianna’s research examines patterns of lead exposure and the groups that may face greater risk. By analysing existing data, the project aims to strengthen the evidence available for more focused prevention, surveillance and public-health intervention.
Public Health
Linda Akosua Essilfie
Assessing the Impact of Maternal Depression, Anxiety, and Early Caregiving on Child Behavioural Development in Ghana
Linda’s research examines the relationship between maternal mental health, caregiving responsiveness and child behavioural development. Her project considers how depression, anxiety and the quality of early caregiving may be connected to children’s emotional and developmental outcomes in Ghana.
Public Health
Character Dzorgbenyuie Aku Forfoe
Strengthening Integrated HIV-TB Care in Ghana: A Pathway to Equitable and Sustainable Health Systems
Character’s research focuses on the integration of HIV and tuberculosis services in Ghana. The project examines how service coordination can affect diagnosis, treatment adherence and patient outcomes, while also looking at the health-system constraints that can make integrated care difficult to deliver.
Public Health
Samuel Larbi
Ageing, Obesity and Related Risk Factors among Ghanaian Adults
Samuel is investigating the relationship between ageing, obesity and associated risk factors among Ghanaian adults. His work sits within the wider challenge of understanding how demographic change and non-communicable disease are shaping public-health needs in Ghana.
The Fellowship
Over the course of the Fellowship, each researcher develops their project through training, mentorship, independent research and review. The programme is designed to give Fellows experience carrying an original question through a serious research process and to prepare them for further research, graduate study, publication and other routes their work may take.
Explore the STEM Research Fellowship