Profile of Professor (Mrs.) Ibok E. Nsa Oduro, FGA

Professor Ibok E. Nsa Oduro, FGA, is a distinguished food scientist, postharvest technologist, educator, mentor, and transformational leader. Her career has been devoted to reclaiming Africa’s indigenous food resources through science?driven research, innovation, entrepreneurship, mentorship, and leadership. She is Professor of Food Science and Postharvest Technology in the Department of Food Science and Technology at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi.

She earned her B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Chemistry from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and completed her Ph.D. in Postharvest Technology at Silsoe College, Cranfield University, United Kingdom, under the prestigious British Chevening Scholarship. Her professional journey has included roles at the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture, the Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, and KNUST, where she rose through the ranks to become Professor and later Provost of the College of Science. 

Prof. Oduro is currently a Co-Principal Investigator of the KNUST Nutrition and Sustainable Agri-food Collaborative (Nkabom) Project in partnership with Mastercard Foundation.

With over three decades of academic, research, and administrative experience, Professor Oduro has made significant contributions to postharvest technology, food product development, food safety, nutrition?sensitive innovation, and the sustainable use of indigenous African crops. Her research has focused on cassava, yam, sweetpotato, cocoyam, breadfruit, moringa, plantain, legumes, cereals, and okra. She has pioneered innovations such as high?quality cassava flour for bakery products, yam storage and processing techniques, and orange?fleshed sweetpotato products for improved nutrition. She has collaborated with national and international partners including IITA, IFAD, McGill University, the International Potato Center, HarvestPlus, AFORNET, UNIDO and DANIDA. Her scholarly record includes more than 240 publications, book chapters, and technical reports.

She has also participated in several professional workshops and trainings including the Executive Leadership Development  in KNUST, Executive Programme in Entrepreneurial University Transformation at Maastricht University, Netherlands; AWARD Women’s Leadership and Management Course in Nairobi, Kenya and Novartis Scientific Exchange Fellowship Program by the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research and Seeding Labs, USA and was a recipient of Seeding Labs Instrumental Access Transfer Grant. She was also a guest lecturer at the Hungarian University of Agriculture and Life Sciences. 

Professor Oduro is renowned for her dedication to teaching and mentorship. Since joining KNUST in 1996, she has supervised over 210 undergraduate projects, more than 72 MSc/MPhil theses, and co?supervised 20 PhD dissertations. Her mentorship has shaped scientists, academics, innovators, and professionals across academia, industry, government, and development organizations.

Her leadership at KNUST has been exemplary. She served as Provost of the College of Science from 2016 to 2019, becoming one of the foremost female academic leaders in the University’s history to occupy that position, Dean of the Faculty of Biosciences, Head of the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, and Department of Food Science and Technology, Vice Dean, and chair or member of several strategic committees. Beyond the University, she co?founded Women in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics Ghana (WiSTEMGh) and serves as Board Chair and certified facilitator of the International Leadership Foundation Ghana, advancing STEM mentorship, ethical leadership, and youth empowerment. She served as Imminent Council Member of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana. 

Her contributions have earned her numerous honours, including the Outstanding Individual in Academics and Research Award (Women in Chemical Sciences Excellence Awards), Africa Role Model in Leadership Excellence and Youth Mentoring Award, SME Researchers’ Award, and the Excellence and Innovation in Sweetpotato Award.

Professor Oduro’s career reflects a lifelong commitment to using science for societal transformation. She was elected and inducted as a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2024.

Links to my online professional accounts

Google Scholar: ?Ibok Oduro? - ?Google Scholar?

ResearchGate: http://www.researchgate.net/profile/Ibok-Oduro

ORCiD: Ibok Oduro (0000-0003-3731-2684) - ORCID

LinkedIn: https://gh.linkedin.com/in/ibok-oduro-b34b7637

Personal website: Ibok N. Oduro (ioduro.com)