I was deeply honoured to receive a Canada Graduate Research Scholarship–Doctoral (CGRS‑D) from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC). The timing is especially meaningful because my doctoral research is ready to move into community-based fieldwork.
Before graduate school, I worked as a Land Administration Officer at Ghana’s Lands Commission. During site inspections, I saw firsthand how illegal small-scale gold mining, locally known as galamsey, was changing the environment. Rivers ran brown with sediment, while concerns about water safety and its implications for health, livelihoods, and daily life were growing in surrounding communities.
Those observations followed me into my doctoral studies in Geography at the University of Waterloo. My research examines how the environmental degradation and water insecurity associated with galamsey affects women’s psychosocial health and wellbeing in Ghana. Water insecurity is deeply gendered. Women often bear much of the responsibility for finding water, protecting family health, and managing care when water becomes unsafe or scarce. Yet my analysis of Ghanaian media coverage and the official records of Ghana’s parliamentary debates suggest that women’s voices remain largely absent from public debate about the galamsey crisis and its consequences.
This research will centre women’s own accounts of how the galamsey crisis shapes their daily lives, how they respond, and what change they want to see. Through oral histories, deliberative dialogues, and other participatory methods, I will explore its effects on women’s wellbeing, as well as the ways they cope, adapt, and support one another.
The funding gives me the time and resources to undertake this next stage of fieldwork. Listening carefully to women across mining-affected communities requires travel, patience to build trust, collaboration with local stakeholders, and a commitment to return findings in forms that communities and decision-makers can actually use. The scholarship makes that possible.
GoHelP has been a central part of making this work a reality. Under the supervision of Professor Elliott, I have learned to connect questions of health with questions of power, gender, place, and environmental justice. Through Women RISE and other GoHelP-related collaborations, I have gained practical experience conducting community-engaged research across sub-Saharan Africa, facilitating deliberative dialogues, and translating research into accessible and useful forms. The lab has also connected me with colleagues and community research partners whose questions, encouragement, and different perspectives have strengthened my work.
I am grateful to Professor Elliott, my GoHelP colleagues, collaborators, and research partners across sub-Saharan Africa, and to the women and community stakeholders whose knowledge and priorities have shaped this research from the outset. With this support, I am committed to producing evidence that brings women’s experiences into public debate and informs community-led responses.