We are deeply saddened to share the tragic passing of our colleague and friend Dr Franklin Adorsu-Djentuh.
Franklin was a much loved member of the GDI community who spent time with us as both a PhD researcher and colleague. He completed his PhD in 2018 looking at the role of local actors in the implementation of environmental sanitation policies in Ghana. As part of his PhD, Franklin attended the General Debate of the 73rd session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York. During his studies, Franklin worked as a Teaching Assistant and rejoined us earlier this year as a Senior Tutor teaching on a number of our courses.
He will be greatly missed by all of us. Our thoughts are with his family and friends at this difficult time.
Franklin’s PhD supervisors Dr Farhad Hossain and Dr Chris Rees share some memories of Franklin:
Franklin was raised in the Volta Region of Ghana. On completion of his Master of Public Administration from the prestigious University of Ghana Business School and having experience in NGO-led community development and Bank of Africa, Franklin secured a highly competitive scholarship from Ghana Education Trust Fund to pursue his PhD in Development Policy and Management with us at IDPM/GDI.
He brought a positive spirit and contributed greatly to our PGR community during his PhD years. GDI and Manchester meant a lot to Franklin – most of the highlights of his life took place during his years in Manchester. He started his PhD, trained and worked as GTA, got married, his son was born, completed his PhD, started his academic career at GDI as Senior Tutor – all these remarkable things happened during the time he spent in Manchester. Sadly he died in his early career also in Manchester.
Though his life was short, we all shall continue to treasure the good value he added to our PGR and PGT communities at SEED. Findings of his PhD research shall continue to contribute to the understanding of the implementation of environmental sanitation policies to the coming generation of academics and practitioners in Ghana, Africa and beyond. We shall continue to miss Franklin – especially, his vocal support for Manchester United Football Club, United Nations and the National Democratic Congress (NDC) Party in Ghana.
During his studies at GDI, Franklin was filmed for a video outlining our PhD courses, below he discusses his passion for his research and its potential impact in Ghana.
If you would like to share your memories of Franklin, please email us and we will add them to this page.