Prof. Bruce Kofi Banoeng-Yakubo
Professor Bruce Kofi Banoeng-Yakubo is a Professor of Geology at the Department of Earth Science, College of Basic and Applied Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon. He is also the Occupant of the GNPC Research Chair at the Department of Earth Science. He was the Chief Director of the Ministry of Lands and Natural Resources from 2011 to 2017, the Chairman of the University of Mines and Technology Council from 2009 to 2014, a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Nevada System, and a Researcher at the Desert Research Institute, both at Reno USA, from 1995-1996.
He holds a BSc (Hons), MPhil, and PhD degrees in Geology from the University of Ghana, and an MSc in Applied Geology degree from the University of Ife (now Obafemi Awolowo University). He was appointed Lecturer at the Department of Geology, University of Ghana, in 1990, promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2001, Associate Professor in 2006, and Professor in 2009.
He teaches courses in the area of Hydrogeology, Earth Resources, Structural Geology, and Remote Sensing, both at the undergraduate and graduate levels. You have supervised eight (8) MPhil students and thirteen (13) PhD students to graduation. His research focus is on the hydrogeology of sedimentary and crystalline rocks of Ghana, and the Geology of Ghana. You have published widely in the area of geology and hydrogeology and currently have over sixty (60) peer-reviewed scientific publications and fifteen (15) technical papers. Within the administrative system at the University of Ghana, you were a Senior Tutor of Commonwealth Hall from 2000 to 2005, and Dean of Students from 2005 to 2010.
He is a very active member of the University of Ghana community and was a member of many University committees, including Chairman of the Water Augmentation Committee, a committee set up by the Vice-Chancellor with a responsibility to find other sources of water supply to the University which had very serious water problems at the time.
He has also served on many other boards and committees of the University. He has served as the Co-ordinator of the DANIDA-ENRECA HYDROGEOLOGICAL Project, the Co-ordinator of the UNEP/UNESCO-HABITAT project on the Assessment of Pollution and Groundwater Vulnerability Status of the Keta basin, and Chairman. The DANIDA-ENRECA HYDROGEOLOGICAL Project run for 12 years, with a total financial support of US$2.4 million from DANIDA. The project produced 11 PhDs and several MPhils. He was part of a team of researchers in groundwater invited by UNEP/UNESCO to assess the pollution status and vulnerability of groundwater to pollution in some African cities including Abidjan, Lusaka, Niamey, and the Keta Basin of Ghana from 2002 to 2006.
He was the Head of the Delegation of the Technical Team which successfully defended Ghana’s application to the United Nations Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf, to extend Ghana’s Continental Shelf beyond 200M. He was also the Chief Negotiator for Ghana during negotiations with Ivory Coast to delimit both countries’ common Maritime Boundaries from 2012 to 2015. During his tenure of Office in the Civil Service, he provided vehicles, scientific equipment, scholarship for the training of graduate students in core Geology, and funds for Phase 2 and 3 of the UG Department of Earth Science Extension Building, all totalling an amount of about GHC 10.5 million. You are a Fellow of the Ghana Institution of Geoscientists. He is also a member of the Society for Petroleum Engineers, Ghana Science Association, Geological Society of Africa, and International Association of Hydrogeologists.
Professor Bruce Kofi Banoeng-Yakubo on account of his industry and contribution to Academic scholarship, research capacity expansion in your field and resource expansion to support postgraduate training at the University and national development was elected to Fellowship of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences on 20 October 2022.
