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Dr. Pius Siakwah

Position: 
Senior Research Fellow
Email: 
psiakwah@ug.edu.gh
Office: 
IAS oldsite
Section: 
Societies and Cultures
Profile

Pius Siakwah (PhD) is a development geographer with a special interest in extractives and development geographies, natural resources governance, network and assemblages, energy geographies, sustainable development, climate change, agriculture, and tourism development. Currently, Pius is a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies (IAS). Before joining IAS, he was a Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of Johannesburg, South Africa. Over the period, he has peer-reviewed for some of the leading journals in his area of expertise. I have also published several articles and books in some of the leading global publication outlets. As part of his research activities, Pius has presented globally at several conferences. At the University of Ghana, Pius teaches various undergraduate and graduate courses, including Research Methods, Ethnography of Conflicts, Resources and Development. Additionally, other engagements over the years included, an IASH-SSPS Research Fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH), University of Edinburgh (January-March 2025), Consultant for ILO on Precarious Work in 2019, Guest Lecturer, Trinity College Dublin, Geography Department, March 2015, STETS Summer School, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, on emerging pathways on sustainable development in May 2015. Pius received several distinguished awards – Postdoctoral Fellowship, University of Johannesburg (2016–2018), Trinity College Graduate Studentship Award (2013–2016), Brock University Graduate and International Fellowship (2010–2011), and Quota Scholarship, University of Oslo, Norway, 2008–2010.

Education

Ph.D., Geography, Trinity College Dublin (TCD), 2013–2016.

MA., Geography, Brock University, Canada, 2010–2011.

MPhil., Development Geography, University of Oslo, Norway, 2008–2010.

B.A., Geography and Resources Development, University of Ghana, 2003–2007.

Research Interests and Projects

Research Interests:

  • Extractives and resources geographies
  • Natural resources governance
  • Energy geographies
  • Network theories and development
  • Climate change, agriculture and development.
  • Globalisation and development in Africa.
  • Tourism governance and development.
  • Qualitative research methods

 

Current Research Projects:

  • Mapping energy geographies and livelihoods and energy transition in Ghana, 2020 to date
  • Transregional research on the changing nature of precarious work in Africa and the Arab region funded by Carnegie Corporation of New York, 2020 – 2022
  • Future DAMS funded by the University of Manchester and the UK Government, 2018 - 2020
  • Domestic Security Implications of UN Peacekeeping (D-SIP), funded by the Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs, 2019 - 2023
Teaching & Supervision

Teaching:

Undergraduate Courses:

  • UGRC220: Appropriate Technologies for Development in Africa.

Graduate Courses:

  • AFST601: Research Methods
  • AFST602: Advanced Research Methods
  • AFST722: Ethnography of Community Conflicts in Ghana: The Case of Northern Ghana
  • AFST727: Topics in Research Methods
Publications

Journals

  • Harris, D., Jaw, S. M., Siakwah, P., & Vittorini, S. (2025). Neo-colonialist, perennial underdog, or smart influencer: India in The Gambia and Ghana. Commonwealth & Comparative Politics, 1–25. https://doi.org/10.1080/14662043.2025.2567088.
  • Ablo, A. D., Zaami, M., Siakwah, P., Sheburah Essien, R., & Yaro, J. A. (2025). Compounding the Peasant Struggles: the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Ghanaian Farmers’ Adaptation to Climate Change. The Journal of Modern African Studies, 1–24. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0022278X25100980.
  • Siakwah, P., Ablo, A. D., Sheburah-Essien, R., Zaami, M., & Yaro, J. A. (2025). Adapting to Climate Change Amidst Innovation Diffusion and Declining Indigenous Agricultural Knowledge and Practices in Ghana. African Journal of Science, Technology, Innovation and Development, 17(2), 217–228. https://doi.org/10.1080/20421338.2025.2459355.
  • Yaro, J. A., Sheburah Essien, R., Ablo, A. D., Siakwah, P., & Zaami, M. (2025). Female Farmers’ Struggles and Responses to COVID-19 in Ghana. African Geographical Review, 44(2), 235-248, https://doi.org/10.1080/19376812.2024.2370865.
  • Musavengane, R.., Siakwah, P. & Leonard, L. (2025) Tourism politics and mobilities: re-imagining equality and inclusion in Southern and West Africa’s urban tourism governance. International Journal of Tourism Policy, 15(3) 252 – 274, https://doi.org/10.1504/IJTP.2025.147447.
  • Lawer, E. T., Siakwah, P., Mba, C. C., & Asante, K. T. (2024). The political economy of natural resource conflicts in Ghana: The case of the Songor. World Development Perspectives, 36, 100641, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.wdp.2024.100641.
  • Siakwah, P., Ermolaeva, Y., Ermolaeva, P., & Agyekum, B. (2023). Sustainable Energy Transition in Russia and Ghana Within a Multi-Level Perspective. Changing Societies & Personalities, 7(3), 165–185. doi:10.15826/csp.2023.7.3.246, https://doi.org/10.15826/csp.2023.7.3.246.
  • Siakwah, P., & Torto, O. (2022). Analysis of the Complexities in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Ghana's Bui Dam Experience. Frontiers in Sustainable Food Systems, 6, 734675, https://doi.org/10.3389/fsufs.2022.734675.
  • ​Agyekum, B., Siakwah, P. & Boateng, J.K. (2021): Immigration, education, sense of community and mental well-being: the case of visible minority immigrants in Canada, Journal of Urbanism: International Research on Placemaking and Urban Sustainability, DOI: 10.1080/17549175.2020.1801488.
  • Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P. & Leonard, L. (2020). The nexus between tourism and urban risk: towards inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable outdoor tourism in African cities. Journal of Outdoor Recreation and Tourism 29 (2020) 100254, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jort.2019.100254.
  • Siakwah, P., Musavengane, R., & Leonard, L. (2020). Tourism Governance and Attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals in Africa. Tourism Planning & Development, 17(4), 355–383. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568316.2019.1600160.
  • Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P. & Leonard, L. (2019). "Does the poor matter” in pro-poor driven sub-Saharan African cities? towards progressive and inclusive pro-poor tourism. International Journal of Tourism Cities, https://doi.org/10.1108/IJTC-05-2019-0057.
  • Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P. (2019). Challenging formal accountability processes in community natural resource management in Sub-Saharan Africa. GeoJournal, https://doi.org/10.1007/s10708-019-10040-2.
  • Siakwah, P. (2018). Tourism geographies and spatial distribution of tourist sites in Ghana. African Journal of Hospitality, Tourism and Leisure, 7, 1: 1–19, 2018.
  • Siakwah, P. (2018). Actors, networks, and globalised assemblages: rethinking oil, the environment and conflict in Ghana. Energy Research & Social Science 38: 68–76, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.erss.2018.01.021.
  • Siakwah, P. (2017). Are natural resource windfalls a blessing or a curse in democratic settings? Globalised assemblages and the problematic impacts of oil on Ghana's development. Resources Policy 52: 122–133, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.resourpol.2017.02.008.
  • Siakwah, P. (2017). Actor network theory, globalised assemblages and the impact of oil on agriculture and industry in Ghana. The Extractive Industries and Society, 4: 462–472, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2017.04.007.
  • Siakwah, P. (2017). Political Economy of the Resource Curse in Africa Revisited: The Curse as a Product and a Function of Globalised Hydrocarbon Assemblage. Development and Society, 46(1), 83–112, http://www.jstor.org/stable/90011213.
  • Siakwah, P. (2014). Sustainable development: reflections on poverty-environment dilemma in Africa. Sacha Journal of Environmental Studies 4, 1: 8–24, http://www.sachajournals.com/user/image/sjes2012013siakwah002.pdf.

 

Books/monographs

  • Ermolaeva, Y., Brears, R. C., Minakova, A., Siakwah, P., & Torto, O. (2025). Rethinking Water and Energy for a Sustainable Future. Springer Nature.
  • Andrews, N. & Siakwah, P. (2021). Oil and development in Ghana: Beyond the resource curse. Routledge, London.
  • Leonard, L., Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P. (2021) (eds). Challenges of Sustainable Urban Tourism in Sub Saharan Africa: Urban Risk and Resilience. Routledge, London.
  • Siakwah, P. (2010). The dilemma of microcredit, empowerment and poverty reduction, VDM, Verlag, Monograph, Saarbrucken, Germany.

 

Book Chapter(s)

  • Siakwah, P., Torto, O. (2025). Modern Theoretical Approaches and Methodology for Water and Hydro Energy Systems. In: Rethinking Water and Energy for a Sustainable Future (pp. 13-35). Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04485-3_2.

  • Torto, O., Siakwah, P. (2025). Exploring the Complex Interdependence Nature of Marine Renewable Energy Sector: A Developing Country Perspective. In: Rethinking Water and Energy for a Sustainable Future (pp. 153-172). Palgrave Studies in Climate Resilient Societies. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-032-04485-3_7.

  • Siakwah, P. (2024). Extractive Industries in Africa. In Handbook of African Economic Development (pp. 199-217). Edward Elgar Publishing, https://doi.org/10.4337/9781800885806.00023.

  • Siakwah, P., & Lawer, E. T. (2024). Global Pressures in Policymaking: Insights from the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative and Ghana’s Petroleum Industry. In Public Policy in Ghana: Conceptual and Practical Insights (pp. 181-199). Cham: Springer International Publishing.

  • Agyekum, B., Siakwah, P. and Biney, I.K. (2022). Oil production, dispossession, and community development in Africa: A development education perspective. In, Reimaging development education in Africa, Kwapong, O.A.T.F., Addae, D. and John Kwame Boateng, J.K. (eds), Springer, p. 171 – 190.

  • Siakwah, P. (2021). The political economy of unplanned urban sprawling, waste, and Ghana's tourism development. In, Challenges of Sustainable Urban Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Urban Risk and Resilience, Leonard, L., Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P (eds.), Routledge, London, p. 47–58.

  • Leonard, L., Musavengane, R. and Siakwah, P. (2021).Urban risk and tourism in Africa. In, Challenges of Sustainable Urban Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Urban Risk and Resilience, Leonard, L., Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P (eds.), Routledge, London, p. 1–14.

  • Musavengane, R.., Leonard, L. and Siakwah, P. (2021). Conclusion: Navigating urban tourism amidst environmental, political and social risks. In, Challenges of Sustainable Urban Tourism in Sub-Saharan Africa: Urban Risk and Resilience, Leonard, L., Musavengane., R. & Siakwah, P (eds.), Routledge, London, p. 247–256.

  • Siakwah, P. and Musavengane, R. (2021). Re-Imagining community-based tourism in rural Africa through networks and management innovation. In, New Frontiers in Hospitality and Tourism Management in Africa, Michael Z. Ngoasong, Ogechi Adeola, Albert N. Kimbu, Robert E. Hinson (eds.), Tourism, Hospitality & Event Management Series, Springer, London, p. 227–244.

  • Siakwah, P. (2018). Political economy to globalized assemblages: actor network theory, hydrocarbon assemblages, and problematizing the resource curse thesis. In, Network Theory and Analysis, Jorgensen, A., (ed.), Nova, New York, 2018.

 

Conferences and Workshops

Conferences:

  • Oceanic extractivism (Pannel), ‘Extractivism: Towards a Gendered and Transdisciplinary Approach at the Threshold between Land and Sea’ Conference, Institute for African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, Legon, 14-18 July 2025 [Pius Siakwah, presenter].
  • Exploring the economic-security nexus and galamsey: The case of Tarkwa-Nsuaem Municipality – Ghana, Natural Resources Management and conflicts in Africa, DIIS, Copenhagen, Denmark, June 26–28, 2023 [Pius Siakwah, and Richard Asante].
  • Neo-colonialist, Perennial Underdog, or Smart Influencer: India in The Gambia and Ghana, ECAS9, African Futures, University of Cologne, May 31–June 3, 2023, [Simona Vittorini, David Harris, Pius Siakwah, Sait Matty Jaw].
  • Land governance and conflicts in West Africa, University of Ghana, Legon August 17–18, 2022, [Pius Siakwah, Participant].
  • Life after the MA in Geography: How four alumni are using their degree. MA in Geography Speakers Series, Brock University, Canada. Webinar, November 20, 2020, [Pius Siakwah].
  • The ‘Lost Child’: A possible environmental curse? International Studies Association (ISA) Conference, Hawaii, US. March 2020, [Pius Siakwah & Nathan Andrew].
  • Does the poor matter’ in pro-poor driven African cities? toward progressive, inclusive and sustainable pro-poor tourism. Sustainability and Development Conference, The University of Michigan, Michigan, US, November 9-11, 2018, [Siakwah., P. Musavengane., R. & Leonard, L.].
  • ‘Are natural resources a blessing or curse in a democratic setting, Ghana’, Conference of Iris Geographers, May 2016.
  • ‘Neoliberalism, property relations and production of marginalization and exclusion in public spaces’, Brock University Speakers Series, October 11, 2011.
  • ‘Oil and reconfiguration of the urban space in Sekondi-Takoradi’, Geography Department Postgraduate Seminar, Trinity College, Dublin, April 28, 2015.

 

Workshops and seminars:

  • University of Ghana Day of Scientific Renaissance of Africa Seminar ‘Indigenous Knowledge and Innovation: African Solutions for Climate Resilience and Socio-Economic Transformation’, June 12, 2025, IAS Legon [Presenter: Contentious urban energy transition, Accra – Pius Siakwah].
  • University of Edinburgh, Institute of Advanced Studies in the Humanities (IASH) Seminar, February 12, 2025, Edinburgh. [Presentation: Lithium in Ghana: Same Mistakes or Imaginaries of green developmentalism? – Pius Siakwah].
  • From International Peacekeeping to Policing Local Resource Conflicts: What Lessons for Ghana's Security Services? Institute of African Studies (IAS), Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS), and Kofi Annan International Peacekeeping Training Centre (KAIPTC) Conference, Best Western Accra, June 4 & 5, 2024. [Presentation: From Securitisation to Alternative Livelihoods? Confronting the Challenges of Galamsey in Ghana – Pius Siakwah & Richard Asante].
  • Green Jobs and Youth Employment Project, ISSER, University of Ghana, Legon, March 27, 2024. [Participant – Pius Siakwah].
  • End of Precarity Project Workshop, Alisa Hotel Accra, Ghana, December 12 – 14, 2023. [Presentation: Changing character of formal public sector work in Ghana: nursing and precarity – Pius Siakwah].
  • UG–TUFS Joint Seminar on State and Rural Resource Management in Africa, University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies, March 6&7, 2023. [Presentation: ‘Mediators or kingpins? Chieftaincy and illegal mining in Ghana’ – Pius Siakwah and Richard Asante].
  • POINT SUD International Workshop ‘Reframing Youth Politics and Citizenship in the “COVID-19” Era in Global Africa’, University of Ghana, Accra, Dec 14–17, 2022. [Presentation: “Formal informality among youth: nurses, precarity and digital space in Ghana – Pius Siakwah].
  • The University of Ghana Precarity Project, National Stakeholders Workshop, Fiesta Royale Accra, Ghana, October 28, 2022. Presentation: Statistical analysis of precarity in Ghana [Pius Siakwah & Peter Narh].
  • Domination of transnational oil companies through science and technology: Questioning the relevance of Africa’s scientific renaissance without visible African players, the University of Ghana, Seminar Series, June 24, 2022, [Presenters: Dr. Osman Alhasan; Prof. Samuel A. Ntewusu; Dr. Pius Siakwah].
  • Transregional research on the changing nature of precarious work in Africa and the Arab region, Red Sea Resort of El Gouna, Egypt. June 13 – 15, 2022.
  • Ghana Development Studies Hub Project (Environment and Development Studies in Ghana and West Africa), University of Development Studies (UDS), Tamale, February 28, 2022.
  • The Impacts of Oil and Gas on Sekondi-Takoradi and Atuabo Enclave: Economy and Livelihood Dimension, Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, Seminar Series, November 18, 2021 (via Zoom).
  • Theorizing African Political & Social Thought for Knowledge Production, Mellon Foundation Sponsored Programme. Institute of African Studies (IAS), University of Ghana, 21st & 22nd November 2019.
  • Decolonisation Reading Group, Mellon Funded Project. IAS, University of Ghana, Nov. & Dec, 2019.
  • Sustainable HRM in Tourism in Africa, University of Johannesburg, Johannesburg, 25th–30th September 2017.
  • STEPS Summer School, 2015, Institute of Development Studies (IDS), University of Sussex, UK May 11–22, 2015.
Extension services
  • IAS, Institutional Vetting Committee (IVC), Member. We are responsible for scrutinising all institutional and individual proposals for collaborations with IAS and making recommendations to management, October 2019 to date.
  • IAS, Academic Resources Committee, Member
  • All Africa Peoples’ Conference (AAPC), Publicity Committee Member, Dec, 5–8 2018.
  • Occasional Guest on Institute of African Studies (IAS) Radio Universe Community Outreach Program – Interrogating Africa 2018 - date.