Dr. Kwasi Gyau Baffour Awuah

Current positions

Academic – Teaching, Research & Consultancy

Biography

Dr Kwasi Gyau Baffour Awuah is an academic and a practitioner with extensive level of experience spanning over 21 years in international real estate projects and urban development processes. Kwasi has a strong focus on teaching, research and consultancy. Prior to joining University of Salford, he worked in industry in several capacities. He has been an assistant lands’ officer/ lands officer/senior lands officer at the Ghana’s Lands Commission, chair of the sub-technical planning committee of the Ga East Municipal Assembly, Accra-Ghana and worked with the Corporate Estates of the Volta River Authority (VRA), Ghana. He was part of the team that worked on the 2009 fee fixing resolution for Ghana’s Lands Commission and represented the same institution at the inter-agency statistical group – Ghana Statistical Service for devising strategies to capture data. He was involved in the implementation of multi-donor agency (ies) – World Bank, DFID, GTZ etc. built environment projects, such as the Accra Bus Rapid Transit Project and Ghana’s Land Administration Project. He worked in collaboration with the Greater Accra Second-Hand Spare Parts Dears Association (GASSDA) and the BUSAC Fund in 2006 towards the relocation of the second hard spare parts dealers at Kokompe to Anyaa Light Industrial Area in Accra. Between 2002 -2009, Dr Baffour Awuah worked with firms, such as Property Investment Consultancy (PIC), Haldrup Consultancy and Valuation & Investment Associates all in Accra on projects such as asset valuations of National Investment Bank (Ghana Ltd.), Agricultural Development Bank (Ghana Ltd.) and Central Bank of Ghana. He also consulted for Aryton Drugs Co. Ltd, Accra and was the coordinator and team leader for the inventory and appraisal of Ghana low cost houses’ project in the Eastern Region of the country in 2008. He served on the continuous professional development (CPD) committee of the Valuation and Estate Surveying Division of the GhIS between 2002 and 2009, and was the secretary of the Young Surveyors Association of the GhIS between 2006 and 2008.

Furthermore, he has been a research assistant and teaching fellow at the University of Wolverhampton and research/senior research fellow at the University of the West of England, Bristol where he taught and supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate students including PhD candidates. Kwasi successfully supervised fifteen master’s students, one PhD candidate and was involved in the supervision of four other PhD candidates. Currently, he is the module leader for six real estate related modules and supervisor of two PhD candidates.

Kwasi is an astute researcher recognised within the UK Research Excellence Framework (REF). He has several won grants from institutions, such as the RICS and UK’s Department for International Department (DFID). He was a key member of the international research team that implemented the €6million European Union (EU) funded cradle-to-cradle (C2C) urban project in North-Western Europe; component of C2C BIZZ Project and part of the Interreg IVB NEW Programme. This project comprised eight distinct partners from North-Western Europe – UK, France, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg.  He was the Principal Investigator (PI) and lead researcher for the “Urban land, planning, management and governance of informal urban developments in Nigeria. This was part of the £3million DFID funded urbanisation and infrastructure research and evaluation manager research programme in Nigeria, which involved six major partner institutions namely ICF International London, Development Planning Unit (University College, London), Benue State University (Markurdi, Nigeria) and City Institute at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, South Africa. Further, he was the PI and lead researcher for the RICS funded “Evaluation of property valuation practice in Sub-Saharan Africa” research project, and the Leveraging rising urban land values to finance urban infrastructure development in Ghana research projects. These were also collaborative projects, which involved institutions, such as the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science &Technology, Kumasi, Commonwealth Association of Surveying and Land Economy (CASLE), GhIS and Ghana Local Government Service.

Kwasi has published widely in several peer-reviewed journals including Journal of Property Research, Geoforum, Habitat International and Property Management, and delivered a number of research papers at international research conferences. He is also author of several book chapters. He reviews for several Journals and conferences, such as International Development Planning Review and Development in Practice, Journal of Planning Education, International Journal of Housing Market and Analysis, Water Journal and RICS-COBRA. He also reviews for Bentham Science Publishers. He has been a session chair, panellist, discussant and member of Scientific Review Committees for various international conferences. Dr Baffour Awuah is a member of the International Land Measurement Standard Coalition (ILMS) and its Standard Setting Committee, and serves on the RICS Global Land and Resource Board.

Dr Baffour Awuah has, thus, built a notable teaching, research and consultancy experience with network of renowned researchers and research institutions - government, industry, academia, and civic and community groups both national and international. Kwasi’s key strengths include:

• Knowledge and experience in the use of quantitative and qualitative research methods;
• Ability to conceptualise, design and implement high quality projects;
• Development of predictive research frameworks and models for urban policies particularly on urban infrastructure, land use planning, governance, housing and real estate;
• In-depth knowledge in devising bespoke methodologies to calibrate economic impact of urban policies;
• Experience in interdisciplinary and collaborative research projects; and
• Knowledge and experience in stakeholder and community engagement.

He also has in-depth knowledge and experience in bids development, submission, budget management, and tools and software packages for projects and grants related management.

Areas of research

Urban Development, Land and Real Estate, Planning, Infrastructure, Sustainability and Environment