Philip Antwi-Agyei

Faculty Biography

Prof. Philip Antwi-Agyei is a Professor of Climate Change and Sustainability Science, and the Provost of the College of Science, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. He previously served as the Director of the Office of Grants and Research, KNUST from 2021 to 2025. Philip is a former Commonwealth Scholar, who obtained his PhD from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom in July 2013. He also holds MSc degree from the University of Hull, United Kingdom and a BSc degree from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana. Philip is an interdisciplinary climate change scientist, whose research involves developing innovative multi-scale approaches for assessing vulnerability to climate change (especially in the form of drought sensitivity) for dryland African farming systems. Specifically, his research uses spatial databases, ecological studies and field-based participatory approaches within the broader understanding of how climate change affects food production and rural livelihoods from a developing country perspective. Another strand of his research explores how smallholder farmers in “vulnerability hotspots" in dryland farming systems are adapting to climate change and variability.As a distinguished interdisciplinary climate change scientist, Prof. Antwi-Agyei was selected in July 2025 as a Coordinating Lead Author for the Seventh Assessment Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He also served as a Lead Author for the IPCC Special Report on the Impacts of Global Warming of 1.5 0C above pre-industrial levels, and as a Contributing Author for the Sixth Assessment Report of the IPCC. Additionally, Prof. Antwi-Agyei was appointed to the United Nations High Level Panel of Experts on Building Resilient Food Systems Report of the World Committee on Food Security in September 2024. Prof. Antwi-Agyei is a multiple award-winning scholar, having won several prestigious international awards and grants including the International Foundation for Science (2010–2013), Climate Impacts Research Capacity and Leadership Enhancement Fellowship (CIRCLE) (2015 - 2016) funded by the UK's Department for International Development and the African Academy of Sciences, Innovation Grants from the London School of Economics and University of Leeds, UK (2016 - 2018), and Science for Weather Information and Forecasting Techniques (Africa SWIFT) (2016 - 2021) funded by the Global Challenge Research Fund.Philip has also won grants under the Climate Research for Development (CR4D) (2019 - 2021), an initiative of the African Climate Policy Centre in partnership with the United Kingdom's Department for International Development (DfID) Weather and Climate Information Services for Africa (WISER) and implemented by the African Academy of Sciences. Philip was a Fellow under the prestigious Future Leaders - Africa Independent Research (FLAIR) (2020 - 2023) and FLAIR Collaboration Grants (2021 - 2022).In his professional capacity, he has provided consultancy services for leading international and national organisations including the United Nations Development Programme, the International Institute for Sustainable Development, Canada, Ministry of Environment, Science, Technology and Innovation, and Environmental Protection Agency, to mention but a few.He has played a pivotal role in influencing policy for climate change adaptation in Ghana including leading the development of the National Adaptation Plan Framework and National Adaptation Strategy and Action Plan for the Infrastructure Sector. Philip was the consultant on adaptation issues for the development of the Revised Nationally Determined Contribution for Ghana under the Paris Climate Agreement. Prof. Antwi-Agyei has also led the assessment of district-specific climate change risks and vulnerability in several districts and municipalities across the country.He has over 20 years of university teaching, research and administrative experiences and has published extensively on climate change issues in top-tier peer reviewed international journals. Prof. Antwi-Agyei has presented has research in several international conferences and workshops.Philip is a Visiting Research Associate at the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford, United Kingdom. Philip has also been a Visiting Researcher at the Centre for Climate Change Economics and Policy, University of Leeds, United Kingdom.