Who we are

Ghana Youth Research Program is born out of a strong belief in the saying, "as a twig is bent, so grows the tree". We aim for a paradigm shift where younger students participating in research is common place in Africa. Working with local universities, we want to pique the youth's minds with an interest in tackling some of the most challenging problems on the African continent, while grooming them professionally.

What we do

By 2050, Africa is estimated to have an added 1.3 billion people, accounting for more than half the world population growth from now. It is therefore extremely necessary for us to capitalize on our human resource power. The Ghana Youth Research Program takes a first principles approach at developing talent by introducing extremely brilliant university students to research. We aim to train our participants to create homegrown solutions that can intricately be tied with entrepreneurship (Research and Development mentality). The program works with labs in the Ghanaian Universities to provide research opportunities to participants. These students will go on to solve some of the most pressing issues the African continent faces, ranging from agriculture to climate issues to education and more.

About the program

This program is meant to be a longer term commitment for our core participants, who will get the opportunity to work as part time research assistants during the semester and will participate in research internships over breaks. Our honorary participants will only get to join our month long research training sessions. Starting from January after they begin their first year till the end of their third year, students will get mentorship from graduate students and faculty members from the Ghanaian Universities as well as from graduate students in U.S. universities. Throughout the course of the program, we will introduce participants to a wide variety of topics that we deem useful for research. These will include reading and writing research proposals and papers. Students will be introduced to research methods, which they will apply in the lab under the mentorship of faculty and graduate students from the participating school. By the end of the program, students will be equipped with the skills to be effective research assistants (and of course be able to construct and verify hypotheses) as well as learn to take initiative in investigating new research topics. The participants will also be better prepared to execute their final year project and will be more ready for graduate education.

Mission & Vision

Our mission is to empower African students to create academic and research opportunities that provide attainable solutions for issues facing their communities and the African continent.

Our vision is to build a self-reliant Africa to bridge the gap in education, economy, and innovation between the continent and developed countries.

Apply

Become a part of our 2023 cohort. The mentee application form for January 2023 is now closed.