Professor Ama De-Graft Aikins

Professor Ama de-Graft Aikins is a professor of social psychology at the Regional Institute for Population Studies, University of Ghana and a visiting professor at the Department of Methodology, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She received her PhD in social psychology from the LSE, completed postdoctoral training at the University of Cambridge and has held teaching and research positions at the LSE, University of Cambridge, University College London, and University of Ghana. In July 2023, she completed a four-year tenure as a British Academy Global Professor at the Institute of Advanced Studies, University College London.

Professor de-Graft Aikins’s research focuses on the social psychology of chronic illness, and on the psychosocial drivers of the chronic non-communicable disease (NCD) burden in continental and diaspora African settings. She also has a strong interest in arts-in-health, the history of psychology in Africa and how both fields intersect with critical theory and African Studies. Her research draws on critical psychology principles, applies qualitative and arts-based methods in community settings, and is often embedded in interdisciplinary transnational projects on chronic disease risk, experiences and care. She is strongly committed to capacity building in graduate research and has taught, supervised, mentored and examined graduate students based in African, European, North American and Australian universities on the social science aspects of Africa’s NCD burden.

Professor de-Graft Aikins is currently principal investigator for the British Academy seed-funded Chronicity and Care in African Contexts Project. The project examines how social and creative responses to chronic conditions can shape public engagement and chronic care interventions in continental and diaspora African communities. She served on the Nubuke Foundation board for ten years and is an international member of the US National Academy of Medicine.