Esmeranda Manful, a Professor of Social Work, is a dedicated academic whose career spans research, teaching, and policy engagement. She brings extensive experience in macro-level social policy practice to her work, enriching her contributions to education, community development, and institutional service.

Her research primarily focuses on child and family welfare, with additional interests in gender and social protection. Driven by a commitment to expanding the limited literature on these topics in Ghana, she employs qualitative methodologies to explore challenges facing at-risk children and vulnerable populations. Her work offers practical insights for improving social work practice and informing effective policy and program implementation.

Prof. Esmeranda Manful’s research has been published in leading international peer-reviewed journals, including Child & Family Social Work, Journal of Child & Family Studies, Family Relations, Children & Youth Services Review, Research on Social Work Practice, and Children & Societies.

She currently serves as Head of the Department of Sociology and Social Work (since November 2022) and previously held the position of Vice-Dean at the International Programmes Office (January 2022 – October 2025). Her service to the university includes work on quality assurance and fostering a supportive academic environment for students.

Prior to joining KNUST in 2012, Prof. Esmeranda Manful held roles at the Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University (UK), the Northern Ireland National Assembly, and the former Ghana National Commission on Children. She is an alumna of the University of Ghana and Queen’s University, Belfast.

Prof. Esmeranda Manful has been involved in several research activities including:

1. Mapping unequal accessibility to socioeconomic and cultural opportunities in informal urban settlements across two Sub-Sahara African Cities [Project ID: EP-2021-MAC-03] Co-Investigator (Ghana)(January – December 2022)
2. Combating CODVID-19 in Ghana using socio-pedagogical methods: Educational campaign through children’s arts. DAAD (Project ID: 57448165) follow up grant EUR 19,975. Co-Principal Investigator (Ghana), [November 2020 – December 2020]
3. Comparative Analysis of Combined Effects of Transport and Urban Morphology on Public Health in Two African Capitals. (EP-2019-MAC-05) - SEK 500 000. Co-Investigator (Ghana)(January 2020 – December 2020)
4. Educational Partnership in socio-pedagogical methods in social work towards improving the lives of Ghanaian children DAAD (Project ID: 57448165) - 133, 824.17 Euro – Co-Principal Investigator (Ghana)(January 2019 – December 2021)
5. Implementation of Bio-Rural Energy Scheme for Ghana GCRF Interdisciplinary Research Award (RIS 1066908) – £75,749 - Co-Investigator (Ghana)(September 2018 – July 2019)
6. Planning for Family Business Succession: A Study of Retail Businesses in Adum, Kumasi – Co-Investigator(1^stJanuary – 30^th November 2017; Funding: 2^nd KNUST Research Fund call)
7. Victims of Sexual Abuse in Kumasi: Challenges and Coping Strategies – Principal Investigator (February 2016- January 2017; Funding: 1^stKNUST Research Fund call)