Dr Pauline Essah

Dr Pauline Essah is a change-maker who is passionate about improving people’s lives. She is the Chief Executive Officer at Education Sub Saharan Africa (ESSA) – a non-profit organisation registered in the UK and Ghana. ESSA connects decision-makers (including students, educators, policymakers, and funders) and provides them with reliable data and evidence from Africa to help improve education outcomes and the transition of the youth into dignified and fulfilling work.

Before joining ESSA, Pauline was a Senior Manager for Global Health at the UK’s National Institute for Health Research (NIHR). She oversaw the strategic use of UK Official Development Assistance funding to support equitable partnerships between health researchers in UK institutions and those in low- and middle-income countries, to help strengthen scientific capacity, advance health, and transform people’s lives.

Prior to NIHR, Pauline was instrumental in establishing and managing the flagship, multidisciplinary Cambridge-Africa Programme at the University of Cambridge from 2009 to 2018. The programme fosters mutually beneficial collaborations between Cambridge and African researchers and strengthens the capacity of African PhD and postdoctoral researchers by providing them with scholarships, training and mentorship.

Pauline is also a strategic advisor, judge, trustee, and goodwill ambassador for several initiatives and organisations in Africa and globally. She earned a BSc (Hons) degree in Agriculture from the University of Ghana, and MPhil and PhD degrees in Biological Science from the University of Cambridge, UK.