I am Lailah Gifty Akita, Senior Lecturer at the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences, University of Ghana. I obtained a PhD in Natural Sciences from Friedrich Schiller University (FSU) and the International Max Planck Research School for Global Biogeochemical Cycles (IMPRS-gBGC), Jena, Germany. My scientific research focuses on understanding aquatic ecosystem dynamics, human impacts on coastal marine ecosystems, and reconstructing changes in aquatic ecosystems under climate change using a biochemical approach.
An alumna of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), Climate research Alumni and Postdocs in Africa (climapAfrica).
I desire to educate and train young marine scientists in benthic ecology, environmental pollution, and the reconstruction of aquatic ecosystem changes.
Realisations
Key achievements include (i) a research stay at the Max Planck Institute of Biogeochemistry (MPI-BCG), (https://www.bgc-jena.mpg.de/en), Jena, Germany, to investigate molecular approaches for understanding hydrocarbons (e.g., n-alkanes) in coastal systems ; (ii) Science communication on some results from the research stay at MPI-BCG submitted to NANO newsletters (https://nf-pogo-alumni.org/news/newsletters) for publication (ii) revision of the regional manuscript on mercury pollution in transitional coastal waters from five West African countries (Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana, Togo, Benin and Nigeria).