Pan Africa Chemistry Network Congress 2024

Robert Mokaya received his B.Sc. in Chemistry from the University of Nairobi in 1988 and was awarded his PhD from the University of Cambridge in 1992. Following a Research Fellowship at Trinity College, Cambridge, he was awarded an EPSRC Advanced Fellowship in 1996. Mokaya joined the School of Chemistry at the University of Nottingham as a lecturer in Materials Chemistry in 2000 and progressed to Professor of Materials Chemistry (2008) and Pro-Vice-Chancellor Global Engagement (2019 - 2024). He recently started the role of Provost and Deputy Vice-Chancellor at the University of Sheffield.
Robert is President-Elect of the Royal Society of Chemistry for the period 2024 – 2026 and will be President in 2026 to 2028. He is a Royal Society Wolfson Research Merit Award holder (2017- 2022), was appointed OBE in 2022 for services to the Chemical Sciences and was elected Fellow of the Royal Society (FRS) in 2023.
His research interests are on the design, synthesis and characterisation of new forms of sustainable porous materials and the study of their structure-property relations. The research involves exploring fundamentally new synthesis methods that are simpler, cheaper, and more efficient and offer valorisation routes to materials with optimised properties for targeted sustainable energy applications.

Prof. Clare P. Grey is a Royal Society Research Professor, Geoffrey Moorhouse-Gibson Professor of Chemistry at Cambridge University and a Fellow of Pembroke College Cambridge. She received a BA and D. Phil. (1991) in Chemistry from the University of Oxford. She joined the faculty at Stony Brook University (SBU) as an Assistant (1994), Associate (1997) and then Full Professor (2001-2015).  She moved to Cambridge in 2009, maintaining an adjunct position at SBU.  She was Director of the Northeastern Chemical Energy Storage Centre, a US Department of Energy, Energy Frontier Research Centre, (2009-2010) and then Associate Director (2011-2014). She is currently Director of the EPSRC Centre for Advanced Materials for Integrated Energy Systems (CAM-IES). She is Co-founder of Nyobolt, a battery fast charging company. Her current research interests include the use of solid-state NMR and diffraction-based methods to determine structure-function relationships in materials for energy storage, conversion and carbon capture.  Recent honours and awards include the Hughes Medal, Royal Society (2020), the Körber European Science Prize (2021) and the ACS Central Science Disruptors & Innovators Prize (2022).

Prof. Abiy Yenesew is a professor of Natural Products Chemistry at the University of Nairobi, Kenya. He has extensive experience in teaching of Organic Chemistry and conducting research in the field of natural products chemistry at Addis Ababa University and the University of Nairobi. His research interest is about investigating Eastern African plants for bioactive natural products. He has co-authored over 110 articles in peer reviewed journals and three books on medicinal plants of East Africa. He has served as a reviewer for several journals. He is a subject editor of Phytochemistry Letters; an Editorial Board member of the Journal of Natural Products and also the Journal of Ethnopharmacology. He has established wide collaborative partnerships. To date, he has supervised 22 PhD and 42 MSc students; and he is currently supervising five PhD and five MSc students. He served as the Programme Officer and later as the Assistant Secretary of the Natural Product Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA). He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and member of the Royal Society of Chemistry.

Susan Bourne is the Professor of Physical Chemistry at the University of Cape Town, and an Associate Editor of CrystEngComm. Her PhD, obtained at the University of Cape Town, was a study of organic inclusion compounds undertaken under the supervision of Luigi Nassimbeni. After a postdoctoral period in Texas, USA, she joined the Chemistry Department at the University of Cape Town and rose through the ranks to become full Professor in 2008. Her research interests include the application of physicochemical methods to inclusion compounds and crystal engineering of metal-organic materials, all with the aim of correlating solid state structure with physical properties and reactivity. She has served as Head of Department, Deputy Dean, and as interim Dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Cape Town. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences. In 2019 she was the recipient of the IUPAC Distinguished Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering award. In 2023 she was elected to the executive committee of the International Union of Crystallography.

Professor of Inorganic Chemistry and Director of the Molecular Nanotechnology Lab. President of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) from 2022-23.
Member of the World Economic Forum. Since 2012, Prof García-Martínez has contributed to the identification of the World Economic Forum's Top Ten Emerging Technologies and its annual report, which is presented to government and global business leaders in Davos.
His contributions to nanotechnology have unlocked the potential of heterogeneous catalysts for the conversion of bulky molecules by introducing controlled intracrystalline mesopositivity. This technology is now widely used in academic laboratories and chemical companies around the world, saving hundreds of thousands of tonnes of CO2 per year by reducing the amount of waste and coke that would otherwise be burned to produce green gas emissions in key industrial processes ranging from biomass conversion to catalytic cracking. He is also a renowned entrepreneur. As founder of Rive Technology, the company that commercialises his catalysts, he started, grew, and recently sold this business to Grace, the largest catalyst manufacturer.
His contributions to catalysis, energy, and chemistry have been recognised with some of the most prestigious awards, including 1) Young Global Leader, 2009 - World Economic Forum, 2) Innovator of the Year, 2007 - MIT, 3) Member of the Round Table of Top Entrepreneurs, 2008 - European Commission, 4) Emerging Researcher Award, 2015 and Kathryn C. Hach Award for Entrepreneurial Success, 2018 - American Chemical Society, 5) Premio Rey Jaime I, 2014, 6) Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, 2024 and Fellow of the American Chemical Society, 2021, and the International Science Council 2023, and 7) Member of the Council of Emerging Technologies - World Economic Forum, 8) National Research Award, 2023.

Francis Kemausuor is a Professor at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. Francis’ research interest is in Renewable Energy, Rural Energy Systems, Energy Planning and Energy Policy. Francis currently serves as Dean of the Faculty of Mechanical and Chemical Engineering at KNUST. He previously served as Director of The Brew-Hammond Energy Centre at KNUST, and Head of the Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. He is a Professional Engineer and a member of the Ghana Institution of Engineering.

Prof. Kaine Okorosaye-Orubite is a distinguished professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria. She holds a B.Sc. in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Benin and both an M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Analytical and Industrial Chemistry from the University of Port Harcourt. Prof. Okorosaye-Orubite has made significant contributions to the field of chemistry, particularly in chemical safety and security, and is a co-author of the book entitled ‘Modernity in Health and Disease Diagnosis: the account from STEM women’ put together by the OWSD University of Port Harcourt branch and published by Springer Nature. She actively participates in various professional organizations, including the Institute of Chartered Chemists of Nigeria (ICCON), Chemical Society of Nigeria (CSN), and Women In Chemistry (WIC). In 2016, she chaired the Local Organizing Committee for the 36th International Conference in Port Harcourt. Currently, she serves as the Head of the Department of Pure and Industrial Chemistry at the University of Port Harcourt.

Professor Habibi holds a dual Ph.D. in Organic and Polymer Chemistry from Joseph Fourier University (Grenoble, France) and the University of Cadi Ayyad (Marrakech, Morocco). After an international career (US, Belgium and Luxembourg), he joined the University Mohammed VI Polytechnic (UM6P) in Morocco to take up a Chair in Sustainable Materials. He is a member of the American Chemical Society (ACS), a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (RSC), and a Fellow of the International Association of Advanced Materials (IAAM). Prof. Habibi works across many branches of the development of sustainable materials through green chemical processes and his research interests encompass the design of new bio-derived polymers and (nano)fillers, the development of biomaterials and high-performance nanocomposites from lignocellulosic materials, biomass conversion and recycling technologies, and the application of novel analytical tools to biomass. He is the author of over 120 peer-reviewed articles and has been included in the Global Highly Cited Researchers (Clarivate Analytics) over the past four years.  He also authored over 20 book chapters and edited one book. 

Elke is a circular economy expert who has a strong ambition to find circular solutions for Africa. Living and working in East Africa for multiple years, she acknowledges the great potential for circular economy practices in Africa to unlock the potential for business, youth, and the green planet. She specialized herself in applying her expertise and circular economy knowledge through consultancy work, project management & research in the East African region.  
As part of her current role as the ACEN project coordinator, Elke leads, on behalf of the African Circular Economy Network, the team to support 20 SMEs in the Rwandan food system to become circular. An exciting programme that is testing, adopting and accelerating Circular Food Systems for Rwanda among SMEs throughout Rwanda.
Elke is a real circular economy pioneer by leading the first-ever academic research topic focusing on Africa for the circular economy, “Accelerating the Circular Economy Transition: Innovations and Development from Africa”, formulating the circular economy research & development agenda for Africa, launching the partnership between Ministry of Environment on the implementation of the National Action Plan for the Circular Economy and leading the circular economy research programme at ALU with 11 research projects in currently 4 different African countries.
Elke is the founder of Circular Africa, which is a consulting, training and information portal that seeks to unlock the potential of a circular economy for businesses, youth, food security and Circular Africa.

Prof. Rufus Sha’Ato is a Professor of Chemistry at Joseph Sarwuan Tarka University (formerly Federal University of Agriculture), Makurdi, Nigeria. He holds a B.Sc. from Ahmadu Bello University, as well as an M.Sc. and Ph.D. from the University of Ibadan. Prof. Sha’Ato's expertise spans analytical and environmental chemistry, with a focus on the fate and transport of chemical pollutants, waste management, and sustainable environmental practices. His extensive research includes the physical chemistry of pollutant transformation and adsorption, solid waste management, and low-tech water treatment systems. Prof. Sha’Ato leads a team in developing green agrochemical technologies, such as slow-release formulations of herbicides using nanomaterials. His work aims to protect soil and water resources and assess human exposure risks, contributing to environmental sustainability and public health. Prof. Sha’Ato has supervised over 30 Ph.D. and 40 M.Sc. students, and has published more than 130 peer-reviewed articles. He is an active executive member and the current President of the Chemical Society of Nigeria. Additionally, he coordinates the African Network for the Chemical Analysis of Pesticides. Prof. Sha’Ato’s dedication to chemistry and environmental management, coupled with his involvement in public relations and curriculum development, highlights his multifaceted contributions to science and education.