Eric Yirenkyi Danquah is a professor of plant genetics at the University of Ghana’s College of Basic and Applied Sciences. Dr. Danquah also serves as the director of the Biotechnology Centre at University of Ghana and is the founding director of the West Africa Centre for Crop Improvement, which was established at the university in 2007 to train a new generation of plant breeders to develop improved varieties of staple crops.

He is a board member at the UK-based Planet Earth Institute and a former chairman of the Governing Council of the University of Mines and Technology in Tarkwa, Ghana.

Dr. Danquah recently led the WACCI hybrid maize development project, which has released three high-yielding hybrid maize varieties currently being commercialized for nationwide cultivation in Ghana. His WACCI-led project has evolved into one of the largest plant breeding PhD programs in the world.

Dr. Danquah holds a BS degree in agriculture (crop science) from the University of Ghana, a MPhil degree in plant breeding and a PhD in genetics from the University of Cambridge, UK.