PROF. PAUL PINNOCK BOSU APPOINTED DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF CSIR
The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) has appointed Professor Paul Pinnock Bosu as its new Director General (DG) for the next five (5) years. The position of DG became vacant after the out-going DG, Prof. Victor Kwame Agyeman successfully completed his tenure of office in February, 2022. Prof. Bosu, until his appointment, had served as the Deputy Director-General (DDG) of CSIR from January 2019 to April 2022 as well as the Deputy Director of the CSIR-Forestry Research Institute of Ghana (CSIR-FORIG) in Kumasi.
As DDG, he was responsible for the development and execution of the Research and Development (R&D) activities of all the thirteen (13) research Institutes of the Council, mobilizing funds for R&D activities, overseeing the transfer of the results of research in Science and Technology to relevant institutions and agencies and co-ordinating the commercialization activities of corporate CSIR.
At his inauguration on Friday, 11th May, 2022, Prof. Bosu promised to aggressively pursue the CSIR’s four-point agenda outlined in its Strategic Plan. “We will significantly improve research delivery and transfer of all CSIR technologies and aggressively pursue financial resource mobilization to make resources available for research”, he indicated. He stressed the need for the CSIR to improve the commercialization of its research results as well as increase its proposal writing efforts.
Prof. Bosu further bemoaned the on-going encroachment of CSIR research lands by private individuals. “As I speak, our lands at the CSIR-Animal Research Institute in Accra are under siege by land guards and miscreants. This poses a huge threat to our research activities”, he lamented. He entreated the Government of Ghana and all stakeholders to help address this very pertinent issue by expediting action to immediately save all CSIR lands. The Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) is one of the leading scientific and technology research, development and implementation organizations in Africa. The Council undertakes directed and multidisciplinary research, technological innovation as well as industrial and scientific development to improve the quality of life of the country’s people. The mission of the CSIR is to become the force for accelerated social and economic development of Ghana through examining, exploring and creating Science and Technology catalysts for public and private wealth creation. From its Head Office in Accra, the CSIR oversees and coordinates the activities of thirteen (13) research institutes spread throughout the country.
PROFILE OF PROFESSOR PAUL PINNOCK BOSU
Prof. Paul P. Bosu joined the CSIR as a national service person in November, 1994, and was given full time appointment as Assistant Research Scientist in October 1995. Through hard work and dedication to duty, he rose through the ranks to the grade of Chief Research Scientist in January 2018. In addition to being a full time Research Scientist, Prof. Bosu spends considerable amount of his time and energy teaching part-time and training undergraduate and postgraduate students in Universities in Ghana and overseas.
In 2017, the Board of the CSIR College of Science and Technology (CCST), which is affiliated to the University of Cape Coast, awarded him an Associate Professor in Entomology. He also served in various positions at CSIR-FORIG, where he spent most of his active research career, including Head of Entomology Section; Head of Biology and Forest Health Division; Head of Ecosystem Science and Climate Division; Head of Biodiversity and Ecosystem Science Unit; and Head of Training and Consultancy Section. Prof. Bosu was also the Editor-In-Chief of the Ghana Journal of Forestry and the Chair of the CSIR-FORIG Staff (Provident) Fund. Prior to his appointment as Director General, he served as Deputy Director-General for CSIR from January 2019 to April 2022.
Away from CSIR, Prof. Bosu currently serves on several national committees and boards. Among others, he is a member of the Executive Committee of the Modernising Agriculture in Ghana (MAG) programme, a member of the Advisory Board of the College of Basic and Applied Sciences (CBAS), of the University of Ghana (Legon), and a member of the Board of the Centre for Plant Medicine Research (CPMR), Mampong Akwapim.
Prof. Bosu serves as the Deputy Coordinator of the International Union of Forest Research Organisations’ Working Party on Diseases and Pests of Tropical Forests. He is a Founding Member, as well as Executive Committee Member, of the Forest Invasive Species Network for Africa (FISNA). His most recent assignment was the delivery of the keynote address at the XV World Forestry Congress on “The Role of Forest Genetic Resources and Integrated Pest Management for Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation” in Seoul, South Korea on 5th May ,2022.
Prof. Paul Bosu has authored/ co-authored over 100 scientific publications, which include referred journal articles, technical reports, books and book chapters. He has attracted hundreds of thousands of dollars in research funds to CSIR-FORIG through grants for Research and Development (R&D) programmes. In the last five years, he has been actively involved in the training and extension of snail farming and beekeeping technologies to the public and has trained over two thousand Ghanaians. His efforts to promote R&D have been widely recognized both nationally and internationally.
In 2018, the Northern Arizona University School of Forestry recognized his work with the Distinguished Alumnus Award of the School (the First International Student to receive the Award). In November 2014, the International Tropical Timber Council (ITTC) also acknowledged his contributions to the Council’s Fellowship programme with a Special Invitation to deliver “His Success Story” at the Opening of the 50th Anniversary Session of the Council, in Yokohama, Japan. In December 2007, he was also awarded the National Best Agricultural Researcher Award at the
National Farmers’ Day celebration.
Prof. Paul Bosu is an alumnus of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) where he obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hons) and Master of Philosophy (MPhil) degrees in Biological Sciences, in 1994 and 1999, respectively. He is also an alumnus of the Northern Arizona University (NAU) in Flagstaff, USA where he obtained a PhD in Forest Entomology, specializing in mechanisms of plant resistance to insect pests (in 2003). Prof. Bosu is an “Old Boy” of Adisadel College in Cape Coast.
Paul is married to Dinah, and together they have three children, Maame Efua Tsetsewah, Jojo Appiah and Maame Ekua Sasah.
List of Contributors: Bernard Sakyiamah, Enoch Osei-Tutu, Peter Amankwah, Augustine Ofosu, Enoch Bobie Agyemang.
