Professor Robert Kwame Nkum was born on March 13, 1954, at Agona Bobikuma in the Central Region. He attended the Bobikuma Methodist Primary School between 1961 and 1967 and the Bobikuma Local Authoriry Middle School between 1967 and 1969. He sat for and passed the Common Entrance Examination in 1969 and gained admission into the Government (now Ghana) Secondary Technical School (GSTS), Takoradi with a Cocoa Marketing Board Scholarship. He completed the General Certificate of Education (Ordinary Level) with Division 1 Distinction, in 1974. That same year, he was re-admitted into GSTS where he completed the GCE (Advanced Level) in 1976.

In 1976, Professor Robert Kwame Nkum gained admission into the then University of Science and Technology to pursue a four-year degree programme in Physics. He completed the BSc (Physics) programme in 1980 with a Second Class (Upper Division). He went on to complete the two-year MSc (Physics) programme at the University of Science and Technology in 1983. In September, 1986, he left the shores of Ghana to the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology, Haifa, to study for the Doctor of Science (DSc) degree as a Lady Davis Fellow. He completed the doctorate programme in August, 1989. During the doctorate research programme, Professor Nkum discovered and reported for the first time the observation of ferroelectricity in cadmium-zinc-telluride ternary system. Between November 1, 1990 and October 30, 1992, Professor Nkum worked with the Condensed Matter Physics group of the Department of Physics, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Fellow. During that period, Professor Nkum investigated different properties of high temperature superconductors graphite fibres.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum was appointed Assistant Lecturer in Physics in 1983. He became a Lecturer in 1984 and was promoted to the post of Senior Lecturer in 1993. In 1998, he was promoted Associate Professor and became a Full Professor in 2003.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum has served the International and Local communities in a number of capacities.  He has refereed a number of articles for publication in journals such as the Journal of the Ghana Science Association, the Ghana Journal of Science, the Journal of Science and Technology, Journal of Applied Science and Technology, Canadian Journal of Physics, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Chemistry and Physics, etc. He has also assessed a number of MSc/MPhil and PhD theses for various Universities.

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Nkum served as the Deputy Vice-Dean and Vice-Dean of the then Faculty of Science (now College of Science), Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate Studies, and Head of the Department of Computer Science. He was a member of the Executive of the University, a member of the Academic Board and the Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences. He was the Second Provost of the College of Science. He served as the Representative of the University on the West African Examination Council on the Ghana National Committee, Ghana Examinations Committee, and the International Examinations Committee.

Professor Nkum, during his Sabbatical Leave, served as the Rector of the then Cape Coast Polytechnic (now Cape Coast Technical University) from 2007 to 2010. He was a member of the National Accreditation Board while at Cape Coast.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum is a member of the Ghana Institute of Physics, a member of the Ghana Science Association, a member of Materials Society of Ghana, a member of West Africa Materials Society, a Chattered Physicist and a Member of the Institute of Physics (UK). He is also a Senior Associate of the Abdus Salam International Centre of Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.  

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum has been invoved in research in the following areas: Dielectric and ferroelectric properties of materials, Superconducting and normal state properties of bismuth-based systems, Transport properties of amorphous and crystalline semiconductors, and Magnetic properties of materials. His publications are found in International Journals including Physical Review Letters, the Physical Review, Physica C, Solid State Communications, Thin Solid Films, Acta Materiala, Materials Chamistry and Physics, Superconductor Sciene and Technology, Journal of Materials Science, Materials Engineering B, Journal of Applied Physics, Discovery and Innovation, etc.