Francis Boafo Effah received his BSc Electrical & Electronic Engineering degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, in 2001. From 2001 to 2002, he served as a teaching assistant at KNUST's Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering. At the end of his National Service, he traveled to the United Kingdom (UK) on a working holiday. He returned to Ghana in 2003 to take up an appointment as an electronic engineer with Hospital Engineering Ltd (HEL), Accra.

In 2005, he was appointed Senior Electronic Engineer and Branch Manager responsible for HEL's workshop at the Korle Bu Teaching Hospital (KBTH), where he oversaw the establishment of a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) at the KBTH's maternity block. In 2008, he traveled to the UK again for postgraduate studies, where he obtained his MSc in Electrical Engineering and PhD in Electrical and Electronic Engineering from the University of Nottingham in 2009 and 2014, respectively.

From January 2014 to July 2015, he was a Research Fellow at the Power Electronics Machines and Controls (PEMC) Research Group of the University of Nottingham, UK, where he worked on solid-state and hybrid HVDC circuit breaker concepts for Alstom Grid, UK. He also worked on a back-to-back NPC converter motor drive for Bowden and Francis, UK, and solid-state AC circuit breaker concepts for Techna UK. From July 2015 to December 2016, he worked as a lecturer at the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the University of Mines and Technology, Tarkwa.

Dr. Effah joined KNUST as a lecturer in 2016 and was promoted to the rank of senior lecturer in 2021 and associate professor in 2025. He was the head of the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at KNUST from November 2023 to October 2025.

He facilitates courses in power electronics, electrical machines, electric drives, circuit theory, applied electricity, and the application of power electronics in power systems. He is a professional member of the Ghana Institution of Engineering (PE-GhIE), a senior member of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (SMIEEE), and a certified Sustainable Energy Audit Professional (SEAP). His research interests include control and modulation strategies for power converters; power electronic converter topologies, including Z-source and matrix converters; power converters in power systems; variable speed drive systems; and electrical technologies for sustainable and renewable energy systems.