The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School In Nigeria and Ghana is an international collaboration aimed at building capacity in oceanographic and environmental sciences in Ghana and Nigeria.  A long-term goal of the school is to increase the presence of African scientists at international science meetings.  Summer schools have been held in-person in Ghana every year from 2015 to 2019, and have been held virtually, in response to COVID-19, in 2020 and 2021. In 2022, COESSING was held for the first time in Nigeria as a hybrid in-person/online event. Funding has been secured for a 2023 school in Ghana and a 2024 school in Nigeria. Pending successful funding efforts, we will continue to hold the summer schools far into the future.  We have built links with institutions in Ghana, Nigeria, and other African countries, and have incorporated research partnerships into the summer school, alongside lectures, labs, field trips, panels, and tutorials.

BACKGROUND AND HISTORY:

The Coastal Ocean Environment Summer School In Nigeria and Ghana began with an exploratory “scouting trip” made in August 2014 by Professor Brian K. Arbic  and Research Scientist Dr. Joseph Ansong of the University of Michigan to the University of Ghana (UG), Regional Maritime University (RMU), the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences in the University of Cape Coast (UCC), and several departments at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST).  Together with our Ghanaian and Nigerian colleagues, we have held summer schools every year since 2015.

The first summer school was held from 24-27 August 2015 at Regional Maritime University in Accra.  The Ghanaian organizers were Vice Chancellor Elvis Nyarko and Provost Augustus Addy-Lamptey.

The 2016 summer school was held from 1-5 August on the University of Ghana campus in Accra.  The 2016 summer school was hosted by the Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences.  The Ghanaian organizers were Dr. Edem Mahu and Dr. Kwasi Appeaning Addo.

The 2017 summer school was held from 31 July-August 4 at Regional Maritime University in Accra.  The Ghanaian organizers were Senam Tsei and Captain Johnson Adjetey.

The 2018 summer school was held from 30 July-August 4, again hosted by the UG Department of Marine and Fisheries Sciences.  The Ghanaian organizers were Dr. Edem Mahu and Dr. Kwasi Appeaning Addo.

From 2016 to 2018, significant organization on the US side was done by Emily Shroyer, Aline Cotel, Drew Lucas, and Adam Simon.

The 2019 summer school was held from August 5 – August 10 at Regional Maritime University in Accra.  The Ghanaian organizer was Captain Johnson Adjetey.

In response to COVID-19, virtual schools were held from August 3 – August 8, 2020, January 4 – January 9, 2021, and July 26 – August 6, 2021. The Ghanaian organizers were Dr. Edem Mahu  and Captain Johnson Adjetey.

From 2019 to 2021, the US-based organizers were Paige Martin, Winn Johnson, Maddie Foster-Martinez, and Madelyn Cook.

In 2022, the school took place from August 1 – 5 at the University of Lagos (UNILAG) and the Nigerian Institute For Oceanography And Marine Research (NIOMR) in Nigeria. Nigerian organizers were: Ngozi Oguguah, Nubi Olubunmi, Temitope Sogbanmu, Olawale Awe, Rachel Toyosi Idowu, Isa Elegbede, Lawal-Are Aderonke, Mosunmola Akinwunmi, Wakil Saba, and Wahab Elegbeleye. US organizers were Tashiana Osborne, Paige Martin, Winn Johnson, and Brian Arbic.

Arbic was a US Peace Corps Volunteer Secondary Math and Physics Teacher at Damongo Secondary School from 1990-1992.  Ansong was a student in Arbic’s Damongo classroom and worked as a postdoc in Arbic’s lab at University of Michigan from 2011-2017.  Ansong returned to Ghana, as a faculty member in the UG Department of Mathematics, in 2017.  Some background on Arbic and Ansong’s time together in Ghana in the 1990s and 2010s can be found here.  Another participating US professor, Emily Shroyer of Oregon State University, was also a Peace Corps Volunteer Teacher in Ghana (Half Assini Secondary School, 2001-2003).

FUNDING: 

The 2014 exploratory trip and the 2015 summer school were supported by a US National Science Foundation Grant (OCE-1351837) to University of Michigan Professor Brian Arbic.

The 2016-2018 summer schools were funded from a variety of sources, including several sources at the University of Michigan (MCubed, African Studies Center (ASC), ASC STEM Initiative, Michigan Sustainability Cases of the School of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Office of Global and Engaged Education), and several sources within Ghana (Ghana Ministry of Petroleum, Ghana Shippers Authority, Ghana Ports and Harbours Authority,  Ghana Ministry of Fisheries and Aquaculture Development, and Global Cargo and Freight Forwarding Ltd.).

In 2017 we also received funding for the summer school from the hosting institution, Regional Maritime University (RMU).

In 2018 we received additional funding from the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, and from a supplement to Arbic’s National Science Foundation grant OCE-1351837.

The 2019 school was funded primarily by Arbic’s National Science Foundation grant OCE-1851164. Additional funding came from the host institution Regional Maritime University (RMU) and the Office of Global and Engaged Education at the University of Michigan.

The only funding for 2021 was from the Gordon and Betty Moore Foundation for the 2i2c maintained JupyterHub.

The 2022 school was funded by Arbic’s National Science Foundation grant OCE-1851164 as well as Arbic’s Office of Naval Research Grant #N00014-22-1-2570. We received internal funding from UniLag and NIOMR. The 2i2c-run JupyterHub was supported by funding from the NSF Earthcube initiative.

We also wish to acknowledge several instructors who used some of their own individual funding to travel to the school.

PARTICIPANT INITIATIVES

Plastic Punch – started by Richmond Kennedy Quarcoo (COESSING participant 2015-2019): an international team of dedicated professionals aimed at protecting the environment from plastic waste, providing better waste management solutions, while improving people’s living conditions. Plastic Punch is a non profit organization launched in January 2018 in Accra, Ghana.

• Website: http://plasticpunch.org
• Twitter: @PlasticPunchGH
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plasticpunch/
• Instagram: @plastic_punch

SELECT COESSING SUCCESSES

• Senam Tsai, a co-organizer of the 2017 summer school, is now a graduate student studying with Stephan Howden at University of Southern Mississippi.
• Patrick Dwomfuor, a graduate student at the University of Ghana, is conducting PhD studies with COESSING instructors Joseph Ansong, Dimitris Menemenlis, and Brian Arbic.  Patrick traveled to the 2018 PORSEC and 2019 ECCO summer school meetings.
• Jennifer Moskel wrote an MS thesis (link to thesis) at Oregon State University on the impacts of our summer school on participants from the US, Europe, and Africa.
• The Python workshops that have been held at COESSING since 2018, have been a large success, introducing participants to the basics of Python computing. Several participants have used their Python knowledge to further their careers.
• Several past participants have returned to help run the school, including Oladipo Mumin and Daniel Quaye who were Python instructors in 2022, Richmond Kennedy Quarcoo as an instructor and organizer from 2019-2022, and Roland Ovbiebo as an organizer of the lightning talks in 2022.

Follow this link to find out more.