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Winner of award for women in science in the developing world discusses growing up in a family of eight in Ghana and ‘feeling like Christmas’ when she is on a podium
Marian Asantewah Nkansah is associate professor of chemistry at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana. She was one of five winners in the 2021 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, which recognise recipients’ research along with their commitment to leading and mentoring young scientists, as well as to improving quality of life in their communities. Her degrees include a PhD in environmental chemistry from the University of Bergen, while her work focuses on determining levels of pollutants such as heavy metals in the environment – which she has found in unexpected places such as spices, lipstick and classroom dust – and raising public awareness of risks.
When and where were you born?
Ghana, August 1979, to Joseph Nkansah and Mary Nkansah.
How has this shaped who you are?
Born to parents who are both educators, my siblings and I were surrounded by books and that inculcated in us an interest in reading, writing and learning very early. Growing up in a family of eight taught me the need for peaceful coexistence, free sharing of my gifts, caring for younger siblings and benefiting from the care of older siblings. Also growing up in the early 1980s, when Ghana experienced serious economic decline, I learned gratitude for what I have, judicious use of resources and the need to give back to society, especially the underserved. These tenets that I picked from my family’s value system have been part of me throughout my teen years up to today. I currently run a non-governmental organisation called the Gaudete Institute, which I co-founded with my two sisters, with key goals of lending a helping hand to the underserved, including educational guidance and counselling for...