RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah

{{Short description|Ghanaian fisteries scientist and aquatic ecologist}}

{{Infobox scientist

| name = RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah

| image =

| alt =

| caption =

| birth_name = RoseEmma Mamaa Croffie

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1959|09|24|df=y}}

| birth_place = Tamale, Dominion of Ghana

| death_date =

| death_place =

| nationality =

| fields = Fisheries science, freshwater aquatic ecology

| workplaces = University of Education, Winneba
Council for Scientific and Industrial Research – Ghana

| alma_mater = University of Cape Coast
University of Ghana

| other_names = M. Entsua-Mensah, Mamaa Entsua-Mensah, R. E. M. Entsua-Mensah

| known_for =

| children = 3

| notable_works =

}}

RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah (née Croffie; born 24 September 1959) is a Ghanaian fisheries scientist and freshwater aquatic ecologist. She was the chief research scientist and deputy director general of the country's Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) from 2008 to 2019. She then became the director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at the CSIR College of Science and Technology. She holds a Bachelor of Science in zoology and a Master of Science in marine biology from the University of Cape Coast, as well as a PhD in fisheries science from the University of Ghana and a post-graduate certificate in aquatic resource management from the University of Hull. Her work has focused on documenting fish species in freshwater ecosystems and evaluating environmental impacts on their environments. She has also written about the roles of women in science education and research. She is a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Early life, education, and family

RoseEmma Mamaa Croffie was born on 24 September 1959 in Tamale, Dominion of Ghana, to Emma Norma and Solomon Richmond Richard Croffie. Both her parents were educationists and the family included a brother and a sister. Croffie attended Wesley Girls' Senior High School in Cape Coast, completing her O-levels in 1977 and her A-levels in 1979. She was a recipient of The Duke of Edinburgh's Gold Award{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} (known as the Head of State Scheme in Ghana){{sfn|Walker|2019}} in 1978. She earned a Bachelor of Science in zoology, a diploma of education, and then a Master of Science in marine biology from the University of Cape Coast. Croffie married Clement Entsua-Mensah,{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} a librarian at the University of Cape Coast,{{sfn|Kwafoa|Entsua-Mensah|2021|p=48}} with whom she had three children: Nanakua, Maame Adwoa, and Kobby. In 1994, Entusua-Mensah was awarded a Tonolli Memorial Fellowship from the International Society of Limnology to assist with her PhD studies.{{sfn|Wetzel|1998|p=2471}} She completed her PhD in fisheries science at the University of Ghana,{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} in 1998 with a thesis titled, Comparative Studies of the Dynamics and Management of Fish Populations in an Open and Closed Lagoon in Ghana.{{sfn|Sawyerr|Quartey|Ntiamoa-Baidu|2022|p=21}} She later earned a certificate in aquatic resource management at the University of Hull, in Kingston upon Hull, England, and a post-graduate certificate from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration in business administration.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} In 2001, she was admitted as a member of the International Society of Limnology.{{sfn|Verhandlungen|2001|p=4255}}{{sfn|Verhandlungen|2002|p=1991}}

Career

=Teaching (2001–2009)=

Entusua-Mensah started her career teaching in 2001 at the University of Education in Winneba.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} Simultaneously, she conducted research for the Water Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).{{sfn|Entusua-Mensah|2002|p=49}} Between 2004 and 2005, she worked on the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment,{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} an international, multi-disciplinary project designed to create a baseline for global ecosystems and a framework to evaluate how such systems could be better managed for the well-being of people and environments.{{sfn|Reid|Mooney|2016|pp=40–41}} After completing work on the project, she taught as a visiting scholar at the University of Tennessee, in Knoxville, before returning to Ghana in 2006 to teach at the University of Cape Coast until 2009.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}}

=Research scientist and administrator (2008–2019)=

In 2008, Entusua-Mensah was appointed chief research scientist and deputy director general of the CSIR.{{sfn|College of Science and Technology|2022}} Her appointment marked the first time that a woman was appointed as deputy director general.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} Entusua-Mensah's primary focus was on researching freshwater ecosystems and lagoons throughout Ghana and West Africa. She documented various fish species and their management systems and conducted research on coastal ecology and waterfalls in Ghana.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} She warned of the damages caused to the environment by illegal mining, salt winning, and improper sewage disposal, noting in particular that the destruction of mangroves impacted fish and wildlife as well as human development.{{sfn|Ashon|2017}} She wrote and collaborated in over a hundred research publications.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}}{{sfn|Ashon|2017}} Entusua-Mensah was honoured for her work in fish farming by the South African NGO, Creating Excellence, in 2013 as Africa's Most Influential Woman in Agricultural Research and was inducted as a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2015.{{sfn|Ashon|2017}}

Entusua-Mensah also conducted gender studies which evaluated the roles of women involved in science education and policy and women who worked in sanitation and water management.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} In 2008, she was appointed to serve until 2012 on the inaugural steering committee of the African Women's Forum on Science and Technology (AWFST).{{sfn|AWFST|2009|pp=4, 7}} The forum was an initiative created by the African Technology Policy Studies Network to promote women's involvement in policymaking, publishing, and development in science and technology.{{sfn|AWFST|2009|pp=1, 5}} The first steering committee had representatives from the diaspora, as well as members such as Afaf Marei and Manal Samra (Egypt), Peggy Oti-Boateng (Ghana), Norah Olembo and Agnes Wakesho Mwang'ombe (Kenya), Mamolise Falatsa and Deepa Pullanikkatil (Lesotho), Ogugua Rita Eboh and Obioma Nwaorgu (Nigeria), Bitrina Diyamett (Tanzania) and Noah Matovu (Uganda), who were considered to be experts in their fields.{{sfn|AWFST|2009|pp=6–7}} The Ghanaian Ministry of Women and Children's Affairs recognised her work with the Excellence Award for Scientific Research in 2012.{{sfn|Ashon|2017}} To further the development of women scientists, Entusua-Mensah pressed for policies that would overcome systemic biases against women in science and research. With other senior women scientists at the CSIR, a mentorship directory was developed in 2016 to encourage women to pursue careers in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields, to give women networking opportunities with other scientists, and to facilitate the recruitment of talent.{{sfn|Adams|2016}}

Entusua-Mensah's administrative responsibilities included assisting the director general in establishing research priorities of the CSIR. She was directly responsible for monitoring and evaluating research results to maintain government standards of quality, overseeing agricultural research and coordination between researchers and farming extension services throughout the country. Among the projects she coordinated were the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme I (2008–2013), the agricultural research grants programmes for the National Agricultural Research System (2008–2017), the Food and Budgetary Support research (2010–2012) with partners from the World Bank and the Canadian International Development Agency, and the West African Agricultural Productivity Programme II (2013–2017). She also coordinated agricultural modernisation programmes funded by the Canadian International Development Agency, the Korea-Africa Food & Agriculture Cooperation Initiative, and the Korea Programme for International Cooperation in Agricultural Technology.{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}} She retired from the CSIR administration 2018, and from the CSIR in September 2019.{{sfn|College of Science and Technology|2022}}{{sfn|Gadese-Mensah|2019}}

=College of Science and Technology (2019–present)=

Along with other academics, Entusua-Mensah was one of the leaders in pressing the CSIR to found the College of Science and Technology (CCST),{{sfn|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}}{{sfn|Ashon|2017}} with the goals of teaching natural resource management and climate science to create sustainable growth and address the impact of environmental change and implementation of new technologies. Created in 2017,{{sfn|Owusu-Mensah|2017}} the CCST offers courses on instruction in agriculture, clean air and water, entrepreneurship, health and medicine, natural resource conservation, sanitation management, sustainable energy, and transportation.{{sfn|College of Science and Technology|2020}}{{sfn|GhanaWeb|2020}} The college was affiliated with the University of Cape Coast and graduated its first class in 2020.{{sfn|College of Science and Technology|2020}} Upon leaving the CSIR, Entusua-Mensah became the director of the Centre for Innovation and Entrepreneurship at CCST{{sfn|College of Science and Technology|2022}}{{sfn|Ghanaian Times|2022}} and in 2022 was appointed as one of the 13 members of the governing board of the CCST.{{sfn|Ghanaian Times|2022}}

Selected works

{{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Entsua-Mensah |first1=M. |title=Length-Weight Relationships of Fishes From Tributaries of the Volta River, Ghana Part 1: Analysis of Pooled Data |journal=Naga: The ICLARM Quarterly |date=January 1995 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=36–38 |url=https://digitalarchive.worldfishcenter.org/bitstream/handle/20.500.12348/2797/na_1448.pdf?sequence1= |publisher=International Center for Living Aquatic Resources Management |location=Manila, the Philippines |issn=0116-290X |oclc=647653377}}
{{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Koranteng |first1=K.A. |last2=Ofori-Danson |first2=P.K. |last3=Entsua-Mensah |first3=M. |title=Fish and Fisheries of the Muni Lagoon in Ghana, West Africa |journal=Biodiversity & Conservation |date=April 2000 |volume=9 |issue=4 |pages=487–499 |doi=10.1023/A:1008903813222 |publisher=Springer Science+Business Media |location=Berlin, Germany |bibcode=2000BiCon...9..487K |issn=0960-3115 |oclc=5649327737}}
{{cite conference |last=Entusua-Mensah |first=Mamaa |editor1-last=Castelein |editor1-first=S. |editor2-last=Otte |editor2-first=S. |title=Traditional Management of Water Resources in West Africa |url=https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000128073 |year=2002 |conference=International Water History Association's Conference on the Role of Water in History and Development, Bergen, Norway 10–12 August 2001 |volume=62 |book-title=Conflict and Cooperation Related to International Water Resources: Historical Perspectives |publisher=UNESCO |location=Paris, France |pages=49–57 |oclc=897440589 |id=Report #SC-2002/WS/53}}
{{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Nixon |first1=Scott W. |author1-link=Scott W. Nixon |last2=Buckley |first2=Betty A. |last3=Granger |first3=S. L. |last4=Entsua-Mensah |first4=M. |title=Anthropogenic Enrichment and Nutrients in Some Tropical Lagoons of Ghana, West Africa |journal=Ecological Applications |date=July 2007 |volume=17 |issue=Sp. 5 |pages=S144–S164 |doi=10.1890/05-0684.1 |publisher=Ecological Society of America |location=Columbus, Ohio |issn=1051-0761 |oclc=9981871056}}
{{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Abdul-Razak |first1=A. |last2=Asiedu |first2=A. B. |last3=Entsua-Mensah |first3=R. E. M. |last4=deGraft-Johnson |first4=K. A. A. |title=Assessment of the Water Quality of the Oti River in Ghana |journal=West African Journal of Applied Ecology |date=June 2009 |volume=15 |issue=1 |pages=1–12 |doi=10.4314/wajae.v15i1.49427 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/wajae/article/view/49427 |publisher=University of Ghana Ecological Laboratory |location=Accra, Ghana |issn=0855-4307 |oclc=813714658|doi-access=free }}
{{cite journal |ref=none |last1=Lorenzen |first1=K. |last2=Cowx |first2=Ian G. |last3=Entsua-Mensah |first3=R. E. M. |last4=Lester |first4=N. P. |title=Stock Assessment in Inland Fisheries: A Foundation for Sustainable Use and Conservation |journal=Reviews in Fish Biology and Fisheries |date=June 2016 |volume=26 |issue=1 |pages=405–440 |doi=10.1007/s11160-016-9435-0 |publisher=Kluwer Academic Publishers |location=London, UK |bibcode=2016RFBF...26..405L |issn=0960-3166 |oclc=6763541076}}

References

=Citations=

===Bibliography===

{{cite news |last1=Adams |first1=Claude Nyarko |title=CSIR Assists Women to Embrace Science |url=http://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/139049/CSIR-assists-women-to-embrace-science |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=BusinessGhana |agency=Ghanaian Times |date=16 December 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225190507/http://www.businessghana.com/site/news/general/139049/CSIR-assists-women-to-embrace-science |archive-date=25 February 2024 |location=Accra, Ghana |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |last1=Ashon |first1=Enimil |title=The Woman Who Saw Tomorrow |url=https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/features/the-woman-who-saw-tomorrow.html |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=The Graphic |date=10 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225190415/https://www.graphic.com.gh/features/features/the-woman-who-saw-tomorrow.html |archive-date=25 February 2024 |location=Accra, Ghana |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|GhanaWeb|2020}}|author= |title=CCST Envisages Training Scientists and Innovators for Ghana's Growth |url=https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/CCST-envisages-training-scientists-and-innovators-for-Ghana-s-growth-1017040 |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=GhanaWeb |agency=Ghana News Agency |date=26 July 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809080047/https://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/NewsArchive/CCST-envisages-training-scientists-and-innovators-for-Ghana-s-growth-1017040 |archive-date=9 August 2022 |location=Accra, Ghana |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |ref={{harvid|Ghanaian Times|2022}}|author= |title=CCST Gets 13-Member Governing Board |url=https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/ccst-gets-13-member-governing-board/ |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=Ghanaian Times |date=27 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225222854/https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/ccst-gets-13-member-governing-board/ |archive-date=25 February 2024 |location=Accra, Ghana |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|College of Science and Technology|2020}}|author= |title=CSIR College of Science and Technology Has Graduated Its Pioneer Students |url=https://www.ccst.edu.gh/index.php/2020/09/17/csir-college-of-science-and-technology-has-graduated-its-pioneer-students/ |website=College of Science and Technology |access-date=26 February 2024 |publisher=Council for Scientific and Industrial Research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230923011441/https://www.ccst.edu.gh/index.php/2020/09/17/csir-college-of-science-and-technology-has-graduated-its-pioneer-students/ |archive-date=23 September 2023 |location=Accra, Ghana |date=17 September 2020 |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |last1=Gadese-Mensah |first1=Frederick |title=Ghana's Ecology Under Threat – Prof. Entsua-Mensah |url=https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/ghanas-ecology-under-threat-prof-entsua-mensah/ |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=Ghanaian Times |date=14 October 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240225222853/https://www.ghanaiantimes.com.gh/ghanas-ecology-under-threat-prof-entsua-mensah/ |archive-date=25 February 2024 |location=Accra, Ghana |url-status=live}}
{{cite journal |last1=Kwafoa |first1=Paulina Nana Yaa |last2=Entsua-Mensah |first2=Clement |title=An Assessment of ICT Infrastructure, Deployment and Applications in the Science and Technology (S&T) Research Institutions in Ghana |journal=International Journal of Knowledge Content Development & Technology |date=March 2021 |volume=11 |issue=1 |pages=29–48 |doi=10.5865/IJKCT.2021.11.1.029 |url=http://ijkcdt.net/xml/28318/28318.pdf |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=Korean Institute of Science and Technology Information |location=Daejeon, South Korea |issn=2234-0068 |oclc=8992467005}}
{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Verhandlungen|2001}}|author= |title=Membership List Arranged by Countries |journal=Verhandlungen – Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie |date=2001 |volume=27 |issue=7 |pages=4247–4268 |doi=10.1080/03680770.1998.11901768 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03680770.1998.11901768 |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=International Society of Limnology |location=Stuttgart, Germany |bibcode=2001SILP...27.4247. |issn=0368-0770}}{{subscription required|via=Taylor & Francis}}
{{cite journal |ref={{harvid|Verhandlungen|2002}}|author= |title=Ordinary Members |journal=Verhandlungen – Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie |date=2002 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=1972–2059 |doi=10.1080/03680770.2001.11901965 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03680770.2001.11901965 |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=International Society of Limnology |location=Stuttgart, Germany |bibcode=2002SILP...28.1972. |issn=0368-0770}}{{subscription required|via=Taylor & Francis}}
{{cite news |last1=Owusu-Mensah |first1=Kwabia |title=CCST Leads Effort to Deal with Threat of Climate Change |url=https://www.modernghana.com/news/761824/ccst-leads-effort-to-deal-with-threat-of-climate-change.html |access-date=27 February 2024 |work=ModernGhana |agency=Ghana News Agency |date=15 March 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220704002903/https://www.modernghana.com/news/761824/ccst-leads-effort-to-deal-with-threat-of-climate-change.html |archive-date=4 July 2022 |location=Amsterdam, Netherlands |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|College of Science and Technology|2022}}|author=|title=Prof. RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah |url=https://www.ccst.edu.gh/index.php/prof-roseemma-mamaa-entsua-mensah/ |website=College of Science and Technology |access-date=26 February 2024 |publisher=Council for Scientific and Industrial Research |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240226175841/https://www.ccst.edu.gh/index.php/prof-roseemma-mamaa-entsua-mensah/ |archive-date=26 February 2024 |location=Accra, Ghana |date=2022 |url-status=live}}
{{cite web |ref={{harvid|Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences|2022}}|author=|title=Prof. RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah |url=https://gaas-gh.org/2022/10/12/prof-roseemma-mamaa-entsua-mensah/ |website=GAAS |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230601115927/https://gaas-gh.org/2022/10/12/prof-roseemma-mamaa-entsua-mensah/ |archive-date=1 June 2023 |location=Accra, Ghana |date=12 October 2022 |url-status=live}}
{{cite journal |last1=Reid |first1=Walter V. |last2=Mooney |first2=Harold A. |author2-link=Harold A. Mooney |title=The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment: Testing the Limits of Interdisciplinary and Multi-Scale Science |journal=Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability |date=April 2016 |volume=19 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.1016/j.cosust.2015.11.009 |bibcode=2016COES...19...40R }}
{{cite report |ref={{harvid|AWFST|2009}}|author= |title=Report of the 1st Interim Committee Meeting |url=https://atpsnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/wecan_launch.pdf |publisher=African Women's Forum on Science and Technology |access-date=24 February 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230630032631/https://atpsnet.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/wecan_launch.pdf |archive-date=30 June 2023 |location=Nairobi, Kenya |date=July 2009 |url-status=live}}
{{cite journal |last1=Sawyerr |first1=L. M. |last2=Quartey |first2=J. K. |last3=Ntiamoa-Baidu |first3=Y. |title=Impact of Indigenous Natural Resources Regulatory Systems of Fishing on the Fisheries of a Small Coastal Lagoon in Ghana |journal=West African Journal of Applied Ecology |date=2022 |volume=30 |issue=2 |pages=13–23 |url=https://www.ajol.info/index.php/wajae/article/view/238849/225733 |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=University of Ghana Ecological Laboratory |location=Legon, Ghana |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240216070830/https://www.ajol.info/index.php/wajae/article/download/238849/225733 |archive-date=16 February 2024 |issn=0855-4307 |url-status=live}}
{{cite news |last1=Walker |first1=Iain |title=Duke of Edinburgh's International Award Scheme |url=https://www.africanews.com/2018/10/30/duke-of-edinburghs-international-award-scheme-by-iain-walker// |access-date=26 February 2024 |work=Africanews |date=9 December 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211019090331/https://www.africanews.com/2018/10/30/duke-of-edinburghs-international-award-scheme-by-iain-walker// |archive-date=19 October 2021 |location=Lyon, France |url-status=live}}
{{cite journal |last1=Wetzel |first1=Robert G. |author-link=Robert G. Wetzel |title=Societas Internationalis Limnologiae: Twenty-Sixth Congress, São Paulo, Brazil, 1995 |journal=Verhandlungen – Internationale Vereinigung für Theoretische und Angewandte Limnologie |date=June 1998 |volume=26 |issue=5 |pages=2452–2489 |doi=10.1080/03680770.1995.11901195 |url=https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/03680770.1995.11901195 |access-date=25 February 2024 |publisher=International Society of Limnology |location=Stuttgart, Germany |issn=0368-0770}}{{subscription required|via=Taylor & Francis}}