Justina Onumah is a Senior Research Scientist and an Agricultural Development Economist at the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute (STEPRI) of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Ghana. She is also a Doctoral Fellow at the University of Ghana, researching on welfare dynamics of innovations and innovation system interactions. Justina has strong organizational, communication, and public engagement skills and has played diverse facilitating roles. Her research interests are in the fields of impact assessment, innovation systems, research-policy-industry linkages, productivity and efficiency analysis, rural development, food security, poverty/welfare analysis, technology transfer, and policy analysis.

She has rich research experience in these fields through involvement in multiple donor-funded projects, consulting for reputable organisations such as the United Nations Center for Trade and Development (UNCTAD), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), Solidaridad West Africa (SWA), UK Department for International Development (DFID), among others. Justina holds certification in Evidence and Policy from the European Commission Joint Research Centre and in Science Diplomacy from The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). She is currently the Next Einstein Forum Ambassador for Ghana, an initiative aimed at promoting science in Africa. She also has a special interest in mentoring young girls in the areas of personal development and in the pursuit of programmes in sciences.

Justina has also been recently selected as part of the mentoring team for the Ghana Science and Technology Explorer Prize, an initiative of the Meltwater Entrepreneurial School of Technology in Ghana aimed at igniting the innovative capacity of young boys and girls. She also serves as a mentor for the Karpowership Ghana Girl Power Programme in Ghana. Her passion is to see more action put in science through mentorship, advocacy, engagements, and stronger research-industry-policy linkages.