2022-23 ASCU Executive Committee
Alice Amegah
President
Alice is a Government of Ghana scholar pursuing a PhD in Education at the University of Cambridge. Her PhD research focuses on young women's participation in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) in technical institutes in Ghana. As an emerging expert, she combines the power of research, advocacy, policy and practice in TVET to reconceptualise skills development. Alice is enthused about making the Univerisity of Cambridge a thriving home to the proud and brilliant population of African youth studying various programmes and working together for African’s development and prosperity.
Frederick Abu-Bonsrah General Secretary
Frederick (or Bonsrah, as he prefers to be called) is a Ghanaian lawyer pursuing the Master of Law (LLM) programme at the University of Cambridge. He is a Commonwealth and Cambridge Trust scholar with academic interests in international commercial law, particularly the protection of insurance consumers and the potential impacts of the implementation of the AfCFTA on micro-, small- and medium-scale enterprises. Bonsrah loves teaching and is passionate about the provision of quality education, the kind that instils a sense of leadership, initiative, and innovation in students and prepares the African youth with the skillsets needed to solve the problems of the future. He is the co-founder and Vice President of Lex Evolve, a non-profit that focuses on assisting law students to navigate their academic journeys and prepare for the world of work. He loves movies, books, photography, and sitcoms – in that order.
Martin Wagah
Communications Chair & Chair, ASCU Home Outreach Initiative
Martin is a PhD student of Genomics at the Sanger Institute. He recently completed an MPhil in Genomics at the same institute, and he also has a Postgraduate Diploma in Health Research Methods and a BSc in Microbiology and Biotechnology, both which he completed in his home country, Kenya. Martin has formerly been the chair of the Natural Science committee of the UNESCO Youth forum (Kenya), and he is a cofounder, moderator and panellist for the Freethinkers Initiative Kenya (FIKA), which champions for rationality, reason and freethinking through its 17,000+ members across the world. Martin always warms up to any interesting debates, and he is incapable of turning down an offer for a game of chess.
2021-22 ASCU Executive Committee
Dean George Wanjala
Chair, Africa Over Coffee
Dean is an Advocate of the High Court of Kenya currently pursuing the Master of Corporate Law course at the University of Cambridge. He is on sabbatical leave from Dentons Hamilton Harrison & Mathews, one of the oldest and largest law firms in Kenya. As an associate in the corporate and commercial department, he specialises in mergers and acquisitions, corporate advisory work as well as data protection and privacy.
When he is not attending to his corporate clients and “hoping his emails finds them well”, Dean also takes part in community development projects. In late 2020, he co-founded the Roaming Book Club, an organisation that seeks to realise the right to education by supporting the cognitive and learning abilities of children from under-served communities through sharing books and reading resources. He has also previously worked with the International Justice Mission (IJM) on various pro-bono projects as well as the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for The Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
As the chair of Africa over Coffee, Dean hopes to facilitate conversations to discuss solutions to the various issues facing the continent such as the lack of financial inclusion. He is also confident that ASCU is a key platform that will enable him to gain knowledge in contemporary issues in the world of African development as well as the infinite networking opportunities that will arise from interacting with like-minded Pan-Africanists.
Matipa Mukondiwa
Chair, ASCU Mentorship Programme
Matipa is currently doing her PhD research on Zimbabwean secondary schools and how these spaces socialise students, teachers and school labourers in certain ways through knowledge production, transmission as well as histories of labour and land dispossession. Prior to coming to Cambridge, she attended the University of Manchester and the University of Oxford where she studied Politics and International Relations and African Studies respectively. Matipa is interested in learning more about how to create sustainable systems of care within communities.
Aisha Yusuf
Welfare Officer
Aisha is a third-year PhD student at the Medical Research Council - Cancer unit and a Gates Cambridge scholar from Nigeria. Her research focuses on the early detection of oesophageal cancer. Aisha is passionate about cancer research as well as medicine and hopes to combine both specialities in the future. She is also enthusiastic about representation/accessibility in academic institutions. Aisha started a YouTube channel called "practice makes pipette" where she vlogs her PhD journey in Cambridge. By documenting her journey, she hopes to contribute to improving access to Cambridge university and that others (like or not like her) are inspired to pursue their dreams.
2021-22 ASCU Executive Committee
Lundi-Anne Omam Ngo Bibaa
Fundraising Officer
Lundi-Anne Omam is a PhD candidate in Public Health and Primary Care with a research interest in primary health care delivery models in conflict-affected settings of Cameroon and Nigeria. She is a Public Health expert with over a decade of experience developing, managing and coordinating public health interventions in hard-to-reach, post-conflict and conflict-affected communities. During the first year of Lund-Anne’s PhD studies, she served as the General Counsel for Cambridge Development Initiative.
Prior to starting her PhD program in Cambridge, she served as the Assistant Executive Director of Reach Out Cameroon and also served as the Vice President of the oversight committee for programs funded by the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria in her country. She is also Chevening Alumni from the Queen Mary University of London where she holds a Master's degree in Global Health Systems, Theory and Policy.
Jemima Kugblenu
Treasurer
Jemima is an Emily Booth Scholar and a Master of Accounting candidate at Cambridge Judges Business School. She is a Chartered Accountant and Tax Consultant with extensive experience in delivering audit and assurance services to both UK and international financial organisations. Prior to obtaining her Master’s degree, she worked as a Finance Manager and an Experienced Assistant Manager at Niche Cocoa and PricewaterhouseCoopers, respectively. She is particularly enthusiastic about projects that promote innovation and long-term sustainability in the disciplines of professional accounting, finance, policy, and other relevant fields.
Daniel Hawkins Iddrisu
Social Chair
Daniel is an MPhil Candidate reading Education, Globalisation and International Development. As a CSC and Cambridge scholar, Daniel's thesis focuses on COVID-19 effect on students with disabilities. He aims at exploring Comparative International policies and Development with a special interest in students with disability, inclusion and inequality across the Global South.
Daniel is a passionate researcher with a lot of experience in research during his undergraduate studies in Education (with Sociology) and Research and Teaching Assistants at the University of Ghana. Thinking about change and development, he plans on becoming an expert working with the UN, World Bank and USAID to spearhead policies and advocacy for minorities in the developing world.
2021-22 ASCU Executive Committee
Christopher Ndegwa Legal Officer
Christopher is a Kenyan qualified corporate and tax lawyer currently pursuing a Masters in Corporate Law at the University of Cambridge. He has been involved in a number of high-value mergers and acquisitions that involved corporate structuring from a legal and tax perspective in industries such as financial services, telecommunication, infrastructure development, social impact and fin-tech.
Over and above assisting clients to navigate complex legal and commercial issues, Christopher is passionate about using his legal and tax experience to assist high growth businesses to achieve long-term capital growth, particularly those in emerging economies. Outside his role as a legal and commercial advisor, Christopher would likely be found in the gym or on the rugby field trying to relive his younger days. late.
Nana Arthur
Undergraduate Officer
I am Nana, a first-year student studying Philosophy at Trinity College. I intend to specialise in Africana philosophy as this encapsulates my biggest interests in the vast field of philosophy. I hope to become a lecturer and the type of teacher that inspires and motivates their students through a genuine passion for what they do. I am passionate about the importance of valuable education and aspire to work in the educational sector in Ghana. Outside of academics, I have an interest in the beauty industry and the representation of black women within it concerning matters such as colourism.
Kudzai Chivenga
Academic Officer
My name is Kudzai, and I am a first-year undergraduate student at Hughes Hall College reading Land Economy. I am passionate about how law and the economy influence the distribution and management of land, especially in Sub-Saharan Africa. Eventually, I aspire to become a specialist in financial institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa and collaborate with local governments to strengthen economies in the region. In addition to my academic pursuits, I am an officer cadet in the British Army Reserves and a keen tennis player. Additionally, I am concerned with the financial literacy of young adults particularly those within the black community.
2021-22 Africa Together Committee
Kenechukwu Nwagbo
Logistics Chair
Kene is a first-year PhD candidate in Education and International Development at the Faculty of Education. Her research examines the economic theories underlying global education policy with a focus on public-private partnerships. Prior to her PhD, she worked as the engagement officer at the Southern Voice think tank network where she managed global research partnerships between leading think tanks across the ‘Global South’ and prominent development institutions around the world.
Most notably, she was the technical coordinator of a USAID-funded education intervention covering 200,000 children in north-eastern Nigeria. Kene earned her MPhil in Education, Globalisation and International Development from the University of Cambridge in 2018, and a BA in International and Comparative Politics from the American University of Nigeria in 2015. She is excited to build and maintain a global community of scholars dedicated to improving the African continent and looks forward to overseeing the smooth running of the Africa Together Conference in the summer.
Jesse Cheruiyot-Rop
Fundraising and Partnerships Chair
Jesse is a second-year PhD student at the Sanger Institute studying gene expression dynamics in malaria parasites at single-cell resolution. Prior to this, he worked as a research officer in Kenya, investigating how human genetics affects the risk of viral diarrheal disease. He also has an MSc in Human Molecular Genetics from Imperial College London and a BSc in Biochemistry from Egerton University. Outside work he enjoys dancing and swimming.
His experience in winning the Wellcome International Masters grant fellowship and organizing several international conferences in roles including website design and speaker and sponsor recruitment make him a good fit for the role. He looks forward to working with other committee members to establish strong partnerships and secure sufficient funding for a successful Africa Together Conference 2022.
What the ASCU logo means
The logo is an Adinkra symbol from the Akan people of Ghana. The Siamese Crocodiles symbolize democracy and unity. The crocodiles share one stomach, yet they fight over food. Like Siamese crocodiles, our survival depends on our ability to share and peacefully co-exist or continue on the path of self-annihilation because of short sighted greed and selfishness