•  Prof Ernest Aryeetey:



Ernest Aryeetey is the foundation Secretary-General of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA), a network of 16 of Africa’s flagship universities. He is a Professor of Economics and former Vice Chancellor of University of Ghana (2010-2016). He was also previously Director of the Institute of Statistical, Social and Economic Research (ISSER) at University of Ghana and the first Director of the Africa Growth Initiative of Brookings Institution, Washington D.C. Professor Ernest Aryeetey is a recipient of two Honorary degrees from University of Sussex (2017) and Lund University (2020).
He has held academic appointments at the School of Oriental and African Studies (London), Yale University and Swarthmore College in the U.S. at various points in time. Ernest Aryeetey was a member of the Governing Council of the United Nations University (May 2016 – May 2019) and was previously Chair of the Governing Board of UNU-World Institute for Development Economics Research (Helsinki). He was also a member of the Governing Board of the Centre for Development Research at University of Bonn until September 2020. He served as Resource Person and member of the Programme Committee of the African Economic Research Consortium (AERC Nairobi) for many years. He is currently Board Chair of AERC. He is a member of the Board of Trustees of the Institute of Development Studies (IDS), Sussex, and also of the SCOR Board of the UK Collaborative on Development Research (UKCDR). Until December 2021, he was Board Chair of Stanbic bank Ghana Limited.
Ernest Aryeetey’s research focuses on the economics of development with interest in institutions and their role in development, regional integration, economic reforms, financial systems in support of development and small enterprise development. He is very well known for his work on informal finance and microfinance in Africa. Among his many publications are Financial Integration and Development in Sub-Saharan Africa (Routledge 1998) and Economic Reforms in Ghana: The Miracle and The Mirage (James Currey 2000). His publication with Ravi Kanbur on The Economy of Ghana Sixty Years after Independence (Oxford University Press 2017) is one of his best-known works.
One of Aryeetey’s strategic priorities as Vice Chancellor at University of Ghana was to develop the University into a research-intensive institution that supports structural transformation in Ghana and in Africa.  He led his colleagues to engage in building many new research and graduate programmes that aim to both advance knowledge and to promote scientific and national development.

•  Dr Phil Clare:

Dr Phil Clare is CEO of Queen Mary Innovation Ltd, the technology transfer company of Queen Mary University of London.  QMI work to commercialise innovations developed by staff and students at QMUL through licensing and company creation.

Phil worked at the University of Oxford until 2022 as Director of Innovation and Engagement, and previously at the Universities of Bath and Bournemouth in a variety of roles related to Research Management and Commercialisation.

He was a board member of PraxisAuril, the association of Knowledge Exchange Professionals, for 15 years and has previously been on the board of the Association of Research Managers and Administrators (ARMA). He is a registered technology transfer professional (RTTP) and a Member of the Institute of Directors (MIoD).

He has degrees from Kings College London (BSc), the University of Bath (PhD), Bournemouth University (MA) and Oxford University (MBA), representing a very broad range of university experience both as a student and as a staff member.

•  Prof Cheryl de la Rey:

Professor Cheryl de la Rey is the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, a position she took up after having served as the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Pretoria, South Africa for nine years. After moving through the academic ranks within the university sector, she held a range of leadership roles in higher education including Executive Director of South Africa’s National Research Foundation, Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Cape Town and CEO of the Council on Higher Education.

Her academic background is Psychology with a PhD in Social Psychology. She has published many chapters, edited books and journal articles on issues of intergroup relations, gender and leadership.  She has served on many national and international boards and is currently the Chairperson of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, Deputy Chairperson of Universities New Zealand and she serves on the boards of the New Zealand Qualifications Authority and Academic Quality Agency.

Professor Cheryl de la Rey has a reputation for visionary, strategic thinking accompanied by strong management ability. She has considerable experience in research strategy and research management and was an invited speaker at the INORMS Internationalisation of Research Congress in Brisbane, Australia and in 2021 she was the Conference Chairperson for the AESIS Impact of Science Conference on the Transformative Power of Research.

•  Prof Catherine Kyobutungi



Kyobutungi is the Executive Director at the African Population and Health Research Center (APHRC).  She was formerly the Director of Research and has served APHRC in several leadership roles over the past decade, having joined as a Post-doctoral Fellow in May, 2006.

Catherine is an Alumnus of the University of Heidelberg having completed her doctoral studies in Epidemiology in the then Department of Tropical Hygiene and Public Health, under the auspices of the Graduertienkolleg 793 in April 2006. She also obtained a Master of Science degree in Community Health and Health Management in 2002 from the same department. Prior to her graduate studies, Catherine studied Medicine at Makerere University, Kampala after which she worked as a medical officer at Rushere hospital, a rural health facility in Western Uganda for three years. Before and during her graduate studies, she was an Assistant Lecturer and later a Lecturer in the Department of Community Health at the Mbarara University of Science and Technology.

Catherine has served on numerous boards, panels, and expert groups, including the INDEPTH Network Board of Directors and the Advisory Council of the Carnegie African Diaspora Program at the Institute of International Education. She was the inaugural Chairperson of the Kenya Epidemiological Association. Her research interests include migrant health, community participation in health, and the epidemiology of non-communicable diseases.

Catherine is driven by the belief that Africa has the potential to solve its own problems and she tries to make her own contribution, however small.