Professor Joseph Mensah Appointed Visiting Scholar at CMS

The University of Ghana has appointed Professor Joseph Mensah of York University, Canada, as a Visiting Scholar at the Centre for Migration Studies (CMS) for the 2026/2027 and 2027/2028 academic years. His appointment is expected to strengthen the Centre’s teaching, research and postgraduate training, while deepening its international academic collaborations.

Professor Mensah is a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change at York University, Toronto. His research focuses on migration, transnationalism, return migration, identity formation and African development. His interdisciplinary scholarship examines the experiences of African migrants and the relationships between migration, identity, belonging and social transformation.

His association with CMS dates back several years. During the 2016/2017 academic year, he spent a year at the Centre under a CODESRIA Diaspora Visiting Fellowship, teaching, conducting research and supervising students. He has since maintained academic links with the Centre through migration research and scholarly collaboration. He is also a founding member of the University of Ghana’s Pan-African Doctoral Academy, which supports doctoral training and research capacity development across Africa.

Professor Mensah also serves on the Advisory Board of the IDRC Research Chair on Forced Displacement in Anglophone West Africa, hosted at CMS. His engagement with the initiative reflects his commitment to advancing migration scholarship and supporting research on displacement in the region.

During his appointment, Professor Mensah is expected to contribute to teaching, research and postgraduate supervision at CMS. His engagement will support student mentorship, scholarly writing, collaborative research and the development of research initiatives. His experience is also expected to strengthen the Centre’s efforts to build international partnerships and promote research that informs migration policy and practice.

His appointment forms part of the University of Ghana’s continued support for the Centre’s academic work and CMS’s efforts to strengthen its research capacity and expand its contribution to migration studies. Through his continued involvement, the Centre anticipates further opportunities for collaboration between scholars and institutions in Ghana and Canada, alongside support for the next generation of migration researchers.