Georgina Yaa Oduro is an Associate Professor and the current Head of the Department of Sociology and Anthropology, University of Cape Coast, Ghana. She is the immediate past Director (2019 - 2023) of the Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) of the same university. She also got the chance to Head Oguaa Hall (the premier Hall of Residence for students) of the university of Cape Coast, where she was the Hall Warden in 2024. She was in charge of the welfare needs of over 1300 students (both young men and women). Prof. Yaa Oduro's academic background and interest in youth cultures makes her well cut for her engagement with young people.
She had her first degree in Sociology with Political Science from the University of Ghana- Legon, PGDE from the University of Cape Coast, Masters from the University of Westminster in London and PhD from the University of Cambridge in the UK. Prof. Oduro’s PhD focused on Gender relations, sexuality and HIV/AIDS education from a youth culture perspective. This study has informed her research interest in Gender Issues, Violence, Sexuality, Youth Cultures, Marginalized populations, and Popular Culture. She also has expertise in qualitative research methodologies. She has recently moved into the domain of race and ethnicity as well as tangible and intangible cultural heritage in ocean governance and the blue economy.
Prof. Oduro has won a number of awards and fellowships including the Takemi Fellowship in International Health (2016-2017) from the Harvard T. H. Chan School of Public Health (Harvard University, Boston, USA). She was a Martha Farrell Fellow (2020/2021) in Gender Equality and Anti-Sexual Harassment with the Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU), London and a MASHAV Fellow (2023), administered by the Israel Foreign Affairs. Gina has over 50 publications in renowned journals and international handbooks.
She served as the co-ordinator for Advocacy and Outreach at the Centre for Gender Research, Advocacy and Documentation (CEGRAD) of the University of Cape Coast from 2018 to 2019. She is also noted for delivering keynote speeches at many international and local conferences and graduation ceremonies.
Prof. Oduro has served as Lead and/or Principal Investigator (PI) on a number of local and international research projects including CODESRIA’s Meaning Making Research (MRI-2019/2020) Project on Lived Experiences of Mixed Race individuals in Ghana and Canada. She was a co-investigator on the ambitious UKRI/GCRF funded multi-country and multi-disciplinary 5-year research project on Ocean Health known as the ‘One Ocean Hub - OOH’ Research project, this project launched her into the ocean and blue economy space. She chaired the technical committee that developed Ghana's maiden national Blue Economy strategic plan. She further chaired the committee that developed the University of Cape Coast's maiden Gender Policy. Gina is a team player, an achiever and a transformational leader who brings positive change to any role that she assumes.
Prof. Yaa Oduro is PI for the multi-country Mastercard Foundation funded research project on Gender, Youth and Creatives involving Ghana and six other African countries (2024 - 2026), coordinated by the International Centre for Research on Women (ICRW). Together with her colleague, Dr. Karine Geoffrion of Laval University in Canada they are researching the experiences of women in trans-national trade (2024-2026). Prof. Oduro teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in Sociology and Blue Economy with a gender lens. She also supervises and examines graduate thesis at both the Masters and PhD levels locally and internationally. Prof. Yaa Oduro is active in governance space, she serves on a number of Boards and Committees within and outside the University of Cape Coast including Hen Mpoano Advisory Board, FAWE Ghana Board, Swesco Governing Board, member of the Technical Committee on Humanities and Social Sciences of Ghana's Maiden National Research Fund (GNRF), among others. Prof. Oduro is the African representative on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Gender Based Violence, housed by the University of Bristol, UK.
