Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang
Keynote: Strategic Approaches to Building and Maintaining Partnerships in Education
Professor Jane Naana Opoku-Agyemang is the immediate former President of FAWE Africa and Chairperson of its Board. She is a former Minister for Education, Ghana, and first woman to be nominated to the position of Running Mate to a major political party.
Prof. Opoku-Agyemang was appointed the Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast in 2008, the first female Vice-Chancellor of a public University in Ghana. She was also the Academic Director of the African Diaspora Studies program of School for International Training Study Abroad and is currently a Member of the World Learning Global Advisory Board. She has served on UNESCO’s Executive Board since 2009.
In recognition of her outstanding contribution to the development and promotion of quality education in Ghana, the Council of Komenda Traditional Area in the Central Region of Ghana honored her with the State Sword of the State, while The Order of the Volta (the highest award Ghana confers on her citizens) and the Ghana Women of Excellence Award were conferred her.
She is a member of the University Teachers Association of Ghana; English Studies Association; African Studies Association, USA; African Literature Association, USA; and the International Fulbright Scholars Association; Board member, Association of African Universities, North America; Adam Matthew Digital, UK; Canada Initiative, Canada; Harriet Tubman Series, York University, Canada; among others.
She is the recipient of four honorary doctoral degrees, the Global Leadership Award, many national and international awards, she serves on several councils, boards, and committees and has published many books and articles. She is also a two-time Fulbright scholar, a Fellow of Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and a Fellow of the Commonwealth of Learning (COL).
Professor Mario Novelli
Keynote: Politics, Power and Partnerships: The Imperial Past and Present of International Education and Development
Professor Mario Novelli is the current President of the British Association for International and Comparative Education (BAICE). He is Professor in the Political Economy of Education at the University of Sussex and former Director of the Centre for International Education. He has previously worked at the Universities of Amsterdam and Bristol, working across the disciplines of Education, International Development, Geography and Politics. He is interested in issues related to the relationship between education/conflict/war and peace and is currently working on research related to the Political Economy of Education in Conflict Contexts and Learning and Knowledge Production in Radical Social Movements in the Global South.
Mario is Co-Editor in Chief of the journal of Globalisation,Education & Societies. He has published widely and is the co-author of Globalization, Knowledge and Labour: Education for Solidarity within Space of Resistance. London: Routledge (2010) and Global Education Policy and International Development: New Agendas, Issues and Policies. London: Bloomsbury (2018).