Prof. Nkum affirms collaborative research as a solution for researchers

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum, a Professor in Physics has emphasized that collaborative research is the way to go if researchers want their findings to have the desired impact on society. He opined that collaborative research brings on board diverse expertise and experience that enrich the end results.  He has therefore encouraged Research Institutions to move in that direction to help find a panacea for the world’s numerous challenges. He also commented on how using his own research to teach has made him a better teacher.

In an interview with the Office of Grants and Research, Professor Nkum stated that the stiffer competition for research grants makes it imperative for researchers to re-orient themselves and learn the rudiments of the game in order to attract research funds.  He remarked that lack of equipment and other resources to conduct research in our part of the world has remained one of the challenges facing researchers.  He praised KNUST’s initiative of establishing the Office of Grants and Research to coordinate research and urge the office to foster research collaboration with other institutions whilst working to get grants that support post-graduate research.

Professor Nkum had his secondary education in the Ghana Secondary Technical School where he completed the Ordinary and Advance Level Certificate of Education in 1974 and 1976 respectively.  In that same year, he gained admission into the then University of Science and Technology to pursue a four-year degree programme in physics after which he pursued his master’s degree also in Physics. He had his Doctor of Science (DSC) degree in Technion – Isreal Institute of Technology in 1989.  During the doctorate research programme, he discovered and reported for the first time, the observation of ferroelectricity in cadmium-zinc-telluride ternary system. Professor Nkum worked with the Condensed Matter Physics group of the Department of Physics, McMaster University, Hamiton, Ontario, Canada, as a Postdoctoral Fellow.

His quest for academic laurels and tenancy of purpose has propelled him through the ranks to a full professor with specialty in Solid State Physics. Prof. Nkum is a professor of international repute. He has served the international and local communities in a number of capacities including the National Committee on the Information and Communication Technology Policy for Ghana, the National Accreditation Board, and the West African Examinations Council.

At the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Professor Nkum has served as the Deputy Vice-Dean and Vice-Dean of the then Faculty of Science (now College of Science), Vice-Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Head of the Department of Computer Science. He was the Foundation Dean of the Faculty of Physical Sciences and a past Provost of the College of Science.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum is a member of the Ghana Institute of Physics, Ghana Science Association, Materials Research Society of Ghana and West Africa Materials Society.  He is a chartered Physicist, a Member of the Institute of Physics (UK) and a Senior Associate of the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste, Italy.

Professor Robert Kwame Nkum has over fifty (50) publications to his credit.