By Solomon Gumah
Accra, Oct. 17, GNA – Dr Gordon Akon Yamga, a Research Scientist at the Science and Technology Policy Research Institute of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (SARI-CSIR), has called on government to increase investment in open science infrastructure to make scientific research more accessible.
He said although Ghana had made progress towards making scientific knowledge available to the public, more efforts were needed to ensure that research findings, data, methodologies and software developed by scientists as well as specialised human resources were readily available and could be used to address societal challenges.
Dr Yamga made the call in an interview with the 2026 United Kingdom Media Excellence in Emerging Technologies (UK MEET) Fellows on the sidelines of the CSIR National Scientific Conference in Accra.
The engagement formed part of the Fellows’ Researcher Scavenger Hunt, an initiative designed to strengthen their story-pitching skills and deepen their understanding of the role of science, technology, and innovation in addressing development challenges.
The 2026 UK MEET Fellowship brought together selected 30 journalists and content creators in Ghana for a weeklong residential training to strengthen their capacity to report on emerging technologies and explore how science, technology and innovation can contribute to national development.
Dr Yamga explained that research outputs often remained inaccessible to the people who needed them, despite their potential to inform public policy, improve livelihoods, and support national development.
Dr Yamga explained that open science was about making scientific knowledge and research outputs available to the wider public, including the underlying data, methodologies, and software used in conducting studies.
He said such an approach would enable researchers, policymakers, journalists, civil society organisations, businesses, and members of the public to access and use scientific evidence to inform decisions and develop solutions to pressing challenges.
Dr Yamga said establishing open science infrastructure alone would not be sufficient, since its effective operation required people with the appropriate technical knowledge and specialised skills.
He called for investment in both the physical and digital systems needed to store, manage, preserve, and disseminate research outputs, alongside training programmes to develop the human resources required to operate them.
He emphasized that making research findings available in accessible formats would help bridge the gap between scientific knowledge and its practical application in society.
He indicated that, “For Ghana, improved access to scientific evidence could support evidence-based policymaking, strengthen public understanding of emerging technologies and help communities and institutions respond more effectively to development challenges”.
GNA
Edited by Linda Asante Agyei
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