The Ghana Scholarly Society is mobilising global Ghanaian academics to turn research into action, bridging the gap between scholarly excellence and Africa’s real development needs.
We are the 1% of Africa’s intellectual class. If we fail now, it could take another generation to reclaim this opportunity.” It was a statement made by Dr Kweku Adams, President of the Ghana Scholarly Society (GSS), during the opening of iCAD 2025, the Society’s flagship annual conference dedicated to advancing research-led development across Africa.
But one would be mistaken to dismiss it as just an opening remark. It was far more than ceremonial. It was a sober reckoning, a challenge laced with urgency and conviction. A statement that stripped away the comfort of formality and confronted the intellectual elite with the burden of responsibility. A moral reminder that intellectual privilege, without purposeful engagement, is a betrayal of the continent’s future.
And yet, even after the applause faded, the question that still lingers is this: What happens when a nation’s greatest minds are scattered across the globe, thriving in top universities, shaping innovations, and advising world-class institutions, yet their brilliance rarely feeds into the progress of the country they once called home?
It’s a question Ghana can no longer ignore. While its intellectuals flourish abroad, back home, persistent development challenges cry out for solutions grounded in deep expertise and lived understanding. The result is a widening gap between global excellence and local impact, a disconnect that threatens to leave the nation behind in an era of rapid transformation.
It is this very gap that gave birth to the Ghana Scholarly Society (GSS), a bold, intentional
response to a silent crisis. More than a network, GSS is a collective awakening: a deliberate effort to weave together dispersed excellence into a force for national renewal. It champions the idea that Ghanaian knowledge, no matter where it resides, must have a voice and a role in shaping Ghana’s future. Through collaboration, mentorship, and research-led influence, GSS is turning individual achievement into shared purpose.
A Movement of Minds
Since its founding on July 22, 2021, GSS has grown into a vibrant intellectual ecosystem, an organic, self driven community of Ghanaian academics, researchers, and professionals bound not by geography, but by a shared responsibility to give back. Its members span continents and disciplines, from early-career doctoral students to tenured professors, policy advisors, and innovators. Yet they are united in purpose: to convert their knowledge into tools for national and continental transformation.
For many, GSS offers more than connection, it offers direction. Through peer support for PhD research, external examinations, collaborative projects, and knowledge-sharing forums, the Society has become a lifeline for Ghanaian scholars navigating both local and global academic spaces. Its mentorship model has helped ease academic isolation and fostered a spirit of intergenerational solidarity among scholars.
”The Ghana Scholarly Society is a movement to reclaim the role of African scholarship in shaping policy and society. iCAD is our flagship platform, where ideas meet action, and where African researchers lead from the front with courage, clarity, and commitment.” said Kweku Adams
And in an environment where career progression can often feel like a solitary race, GSS has created a collective journey, one where every milestone, every publication, every breakthrough feeds into something larger than the self.
GSS 2024: Laying the Groundwork
This momentum was evident long before iCAD 2025. The inaugural Ghana Scholarly Society Conference, held at the University of Bradford’s School of Management from June 19–20, 2024, laid a strong foundation. It was a defining moment for GSS as a global community. Bringing together African academics, researchers, policymakers, and business leaders from around the world, the conference focused on policy-driven conversations aimed at national and continental development.
The 2024 conference reaffirmed GSS’s mission to unite Ghanaian scholars globally and contribute to national transformation through evidence-based insights. With a multidisciplinary approach grounded in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the event tackled pressing social and economic challenges through collaborative research and actionable policy recommendations.
It also signaled a bold willingness to partner across borders and institutions. The Society expressed its readiness to work with African governments, the European Union, the World Bank, the IMF, and other global stakeholders to build a new research-policy ecosystem, one that could meaningfully tackle youth migration, mitigate brain drain, and raise the standard of living across the continent.
Beyond Academia, Into Policy and Practice
Beyond academia, the Society is actively positioning itself as a key player in shaping national development policy, institutional reform, and innovation systems. Its influence is built not on political affiliation, but on credibility, anchored in evidence, scholarship, and impact.
This non-partisan stance is not accidental; it is strategic. In an increasingly polarized policy landscape, GSS insists on the neutrality of knowledge. It collaborates with government agencies, think tanks, NGOs, private sector actors, and universities to ensure that research does not remain abstract, but is embedded in public planning, economic decision-making, education, and governance.
And that vision was on full display at iCAD 2025, which drew together voices from across academia, government, and civil society. In his address, Dr. Adams critiqued the widening gap between theory and lived African realities. He praised the inventiveness and resilience of Africa’s youth, individuals who, despite structural barriers and limited economic opportunity, continue to innovate, build, and believe.
Workshops focused on integrating academic research into national policy frameworks, fostering equitable partnerships between local and diaspora institutions, and designing interventions that reflect the complexity of African contexts.
Looking Ahead: iCAD 2026 and Beyond
With the inaugural and 2025 editions successfully completed, plans are already underway for iCAD 2026. But this next gathering won’t be a reset. It will not be another conference, it will be the next chapter in a growing movement to intellectualise, organise, and operationalise Africa’s development trajectory on African terms.
“it will connect you with a purpose-driven community. iCAD is more than a conference. iCAD is a movement,” said Kweku Adams.
The shift is clear: GSS conferences are no longer just events. They are milestones in a long-term agenda to embed research into the DNA of African governance and innovation.
The Future Is Collective
At its core, GSS is driven by the belief that no single scholar, no matter how brilliant, can shift the trajectory of a nation alone. But together, as a collective of minds, committed and connected, real change becomes possible.
“There’s no other place where doctoral students and senior professors engage so honestly. This was rare and needed.” Dr Sandra Appiah of Middlesex University
The Society has begun forging strategic partnerships with universities, funding agencies, and public sector bodies. It is championing curriculum reform, advocating for investment in research infrastructure, and supporting the next generation of scholars through hands- on mentorship and opportunity-sharing.
In doing so, it is laying the groundwork for a future where African solutions are shaped, owned, and led by African thinkers. As the momentum builds toward iCAD 2026, it may appear the window for impact is
narrow, but the moment is now.
Ghana, and indeed Africa, stands at a crossroads. With a global network of scholars willing to act, to connect, and to give back, GSS is proving that a different future is possible. One where knowledge is not a privilege to hoard, but a responsibility to honour.
