This workshop was held for early- and mid-career post-doctoral female academics who are affiliated in the Social Sciences and Humanities with universities or research institutes in Africa. Participants came from a broad range of disciplines, and work on one or more of MIASA’s main research themes (https://www.ug.edu.gh/mias-africa/research-profile).

It was the sixth edition of MIASA’s Female Academic Careers in Africa workshop series. Like in 2022, the workshop was organized in collaboration with the German Historical Institute Paris (GHIP) and the Centre for Gender Studies and Advocacy (CEGENSA) at the University of Ghana (UG).

It offered the time and space to discuss the challenges and opportunities for women in academia in African contexts. Participants from Ghana and other African countries were accompanied by a professional coach through different modules that address the issues of (i) how to build up efficient teams, (ii) how to deal with university hierarchies, (iii) how to address conflicts at the workplace, and (iv) how to proceed an academic career with multiple time constraints. The workshop furter explored professional relationships in academic practice.

The coaching aims at assisting participants to define their own working and leadership style, but also to consider how to adapt oneself to different contexts and challenges. The overarching purpose is to encourage early- and mid-career female academics in Ghana and other African countries to further build up their careers, to develop strategies for keeping a work-life-balance that allows for prospering in one’s research and academic work, and to become ready for taking up leadership positions and/or seizing other professional opportunities.

The workshop is run in English

Organising team:

Dr. Susann Baller (MIASA Director Germany)

Dr. Grace Diabah (MIASA Director Ghana)

Prof. Charlotte Wrigley-Asante (Head of Department of Geography and Resource Development, former MIASA Director Ghana)

Dr. Deborah Atobrah, Director (CEGENSA)