By Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Kumasi, Sept. 18, GNA – The Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) is set to commission a new Photonics and Optics Laboratory (GPOL) to strengthen research and innovation in light-based technologies for health, agriculture, industry and environmental safety.
A press release made available to the Ghana News Agency (GNA) in Accra on Thursday said the laboratory, which will be hosted by the Department of Physics, will be commissioned on Tuesday, September 22, 2026, at the Amonoo-Neizer IDL Conference Centre in Kumasi.
The facility is being established by KNUST researchers led by Dr Akyana Britwum, Principal Investigator and Scientific Lead, and Dr Michael Kweku Edem Donkor, Technical Lead and Co-Principal Investigator, with support from international partners.
Photonics, the science and application of light to measure, image and detect has potential applications in addressing several public health and environmental challenges, including the detection of substandard and falsified medicines, disease screening and the identification of heavy metals in soil and water.
The laboratory is expected to provide a platform for researchers and students to build, operate and improve photonic instruments locally, reducing dependence on imported technologies and strengthening local expertise in their maintenance and development.
The release said the commissioning will form part of the inaugural NYANSAPƆ Photonics School for Health and Safety, a six-day programme bringing together 38 emerging scientists from Ghana and five other African countries, alongside 17 leading photonics researchers from Africa, Europe and North America.
The school will combine classroom instruction with practical laboratory sessions, enabling participants to learn the science behind photonic instruments and conduct experiments using technologies applied in medical imaging, tissue and blood-flow measurement and chemical analysis.
Dr Akyana Britwum, Principal Investigator and Scientific Lead, said Ghana had the potential to become a major contributor to photonics research and should not remain dependent on technologies developed elsewhere.
“Photonics is one of the defining technologies of this century, and there is no reason Ghana should be on the sidelines,” she said.
He said commissioning GPOL at KNUST would ensure that the equipment, knowledge and skills developed through the programme remained in Ghana beyond the school.
The inaugural cohort comprises students from more than 10 institutions across Ghana, Côte d’Ivoire, Togo, Kenya, Rwanda and Zimbabwe.
Prof Francis Kofi Ampong, Head of the Department of Physics at KNUST, said the initiative would further strengthen the university’s growing capacity in photonics.
“Hosting the NYANSAPƆ school places our student’sshoulder to shoulder with leading researchers from around the world,” he said.
He said the school will also include a community outreach programme at Hwiremoase, where participants will introduce hundreds of schoolchildren to photonics, science and innovation.
The NYANSAPƆ Photonics School and GPOL are supported by SPIE, a multi technical service provider, as title sponsor, with additional support from Optica, and Menlo Systems.
The other sponsor are Thorlabs and the Institute for Quantum Computing, through KNUST’s partnership with the Pan-African Initiative for Research at the University of Waterloo, in partnership with ICFO.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Linda Naa Deide Aryeetey
Email: [email protected]