Professor George Meyiri Bob-Milliar of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) has become the first Ghanaian and only the second African to receive a prestigious European Research Council (ERC) Synergy Grant. This award supports research teams working on some of the world’s most complex scientific challenges.
The ERC, established by the European Union in 2007, is Europe’s leading institution for funding frontier research. Projects supported under this scheme receive an average of €10.3 million, enabling ambitious scientific work across disciplines.
Professor Bob-Milliar joins a team of four researchers conducting an extensive study on political parties and democracy in Africa. Other selected Synergy Grant projects examine issues such as lung cancer metastasis, fire safety in space missions, and socio-ecological adaptation in East African mountain regions. The Synergy Grant programme encourages collaboration among exceptional researchers who combine expertise and resources to advance scientific discovery.
EU Ambassador to Ghana, Rune Skinnebach, highlighted the importance of scientific collaboration, noting that the award reflects the EU’s commitment to fostering research partnerships beyond Europe and supporting African experts in addressing global challenges. He congratulated Professor Bob-Milliar for this significant achievement.
Professor Bob-Milliar emphasized that the project represents the largest empirical study ever conducted on the role of political parties in democracy across Africa. He noted that the research will generate new theoretical contributions and policy-relevant insights that could reshape understanding of democratic systems.
He is among 239 scientists, organized into 66 research teams, who will receive part of the €684 million allocated under the latest round of ERC Synergy Grants.
