Abstract Submission Deadline Extended to February 27th

The extension is to accommodate the influx of requests for slots to present at WAREN. Researchers and presenters now have until the 27th to submit their work for WAREN2026. Abstract submission is done online using the link above, using the predefined template and instructions. WAREN planning team hopes to see you at the conference.

Free & Discounted Accommodations Available

To ensure equitable access, WAREN planning committee provides:
FREE accommodations for travelers from the region.
Discounted rates (10% off) for travelers within Ghana.
Check-in starts at 11:00 AM on 22nd March.
Check-out ends at 1:00 PM on 25th March.

Please click the link above for more details on each offer and to sign up for an accommodation.

Change of Conference Venue

For more comfort, more fun, and more eye-catching scenery, the conference venue is now at the Medical Training and Simulation Center of the University of Ghana Medical Center. Click the button above for the Google Map location.

Registration Remains Open

Slots are limited for in-person attendance – 150 only, so be an early bird to secure your seat now. It is FREE – just provide your name, affiliation, and email address for further communication.

GREN Becomes WAREN!

The year 2026 is a turning point for the network, as it expands from Ghana to the broader West Africa sub-region. The transition is formalized with the joining of research integrity training fellows from Liberia and Sierra Leone, marking the network’s evolution from a Ghana Research Ethics Network into a West Africa Research Ethics Network-a truly regional platform. 

We look forward to seeing you at WAREN 2026.

Conference Brochure Available

In the brochure, you will find detailed information about the run of show, the speakers, their institutions, and the mode of attendance-either in person or online. Use the brochure to plan your networking.

Professor Amos Laar
PI-RITP
In-person

Professor Laar is a distinguished academic and researcher in public health nutrition and bioethics, and currently the Head of the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the University of Ghana School of Public Health. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator on Phase 2 of the NYU-UG Research Integrity Training Program (RITP), currently being implemented at the University of Ghana.

Professor Paulina Tindana
UG-SPH
WAREN co-chair
In-person

Professor Tindana is an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Global Health in the Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management at the University of Ghana School of Public Health, University of Ghana. Her research and teaching focus on the ethical, socio-cultural, and policy implications of biomedical research and public health systems, including genetics and genomics. As Principal Investigator, she leads the Genomics Epidemiology for Malaria Elimination Policy Engagement Project, funded by the Gates Foundation, and the H3Africa Community Engagement in Genomics and Biobanking (CEBioGen) project, supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additionally, she is the Lead for the Global Health Bioethics Network in Ghana and has served on various national and international bioethics committees.

Professor Veronica Njie-Carr
PI-GamREMTI 
WAREN co-chair
In-person 

Professor Njie-Carr is a full professor and academic nurse researcher in the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the United States. She is a clinical nurse specialist with 40 years of professional nursing experience and over 29 years of academic teaching at various universities and colleges in the U.S.  Professor Njie-Carr’s interest in mentoring future generations of scholars led to her work in building capacity in developing countries through the development, implementation, and evaluation of education and research and research ethics programs. Her global work includes working with multi-disciplinary teams, developing leadership capacity through the training of health workers to participate in research, and providing mentorship, and consultation. Professor Njie-Carr is the principal investigator of the Gambia Research Ethics and Methodology Training Initiative (GamREMTI), the founder of the Edward G. Njie Scholarship Fund, and co-founder of the Gambian Diaspora Experts Initiative (GDEI), Inc.

Professor Christopher Agulanna
SURER Project & ENRICH Program  University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria
In-person

A Professor of Philosophy with a specialization in Ethics at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria. He has over three decades of teaching and research experience, with significant scholarly contributions to moral philosophy and bioethics. He received advanced training in Ethics at Linköping University in Sweden and Utrecht University in the Netherlands. For more than twenty years, he has played a leading role in bioethics capacity-building in Nigeria and the West African sub-region, actively contributing to numerous national and international programs aimed at strengthening ethical research practices and professional integrity. He has also led training for members of institutional ethics review committees, both nationally and internationally. In 2023 and 2024, he participated in the Fogarty International Bioethics Training Programme at the National Institutes of Health in Maryland, USA. At one of the meetings, he delivered a scholarly presentation on bioethics training in Nigeria. Since 2013, Professor Agulanna has served as a Resource Person/Guest Lecturer in the West African College of Physicians’ course on Medical Ethics. Currently, he serves as Head of the Department of Bioethics and Medical Humanities at the University of Ibadan – the first academic department of its kind in Nigeria. He coordinates, with other colleagues, the Scaling Up Research Ethics and Research Integrity (SURER) Project, an NIH-funded initiative designed to build national capacity in Responsible Conduct of Research (RCR) and Research/Scientific Integrity (RSI) in Nigeria.

Professor Arthur L. Caplan
NYU Grossman School of Medicine
Online

 
Professor Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at NYU Grossman School of Medicine’s Department of Population Health in New York City. Dr. Caplan is the author or editor of 35 books and more than 880 papers in peer-reviewed journals. His books include Vaccination Ethics and Policy, with Jason Schwartz, and Getting to Good: Research Integrity in Biomedicine, with Barbara Redman. Dr. Caplan is a regular commentator on bioethics and health care issues for WebMD/Medscape, WOR Radio in New York City, Sirius Doctor Radio, and KNX-CBS Radio in Los Angeles. He appears frequently as a guest and commentator for various other national and international media outlets. The WAREN conference is delighted to have Prof. Arthur L. Caplan join WAREN 2026 as a keynote speaker.

Mercury Shitindo
Director ABN
Online

Mercury Shitindo is a bioethicist, researcher, and global ethics advocate with over two decades of experience advancing ethical standards across research, healthcare, and capacity building. She is the Founder and Executive Director of the Africa Bioethics Network (ABN), a pan-African professional network dedicated to strengthening bioethics capacity, research governance, and collaboration across the continent. She will contribute a solidarity message as part of ABN’s Strategic Partnership with WAREN 2026.

Mr. Francis Kombe
Co-founder-ARIN
In-person

Mr. Kombe is a co-founder and chairperson of the African Research Integrity Network (ARIN). He is also the current Chief Executive Officer of EthiXPERT, South Africa and a Public Health practitioner and bioethicist, with a passion in Research Integrity. He has a wealth of experience working in international health research institutions, where he has held various leadership positions. He also chairs the Ethics, Community Engagement and Patients Advocacy and Support (ECEPAS) Working Group under The Global Emerging Pathogens Treatment Consortium (GET). He is a programme committee member of the 7th World Conference on Research Integrity, a member of the Pwani University Research Ethics Committee and an expert committee member of the African Academy of Sciences’ Data And Biospecimen Governance Committee. Kombe is also a UNESCO appointed Member of the International Forum of Teachers of Bioethics Kombe holds an MSocSc (research ethics) from the University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN), South Africa; Master of Public Health (MPH) and Postgraduate Diploma in Public Health (PGDPH) from London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine-UK (LSHTM) and is currently awaiting to graduate from a Wellcome Trust funded PhD at UKZN. WAREN 2026 is delighted to host Francis Kombe, a distinguished leader in research integrity and bioethics, at the conference.

Dr. Primus Che Chi
Senior Research, Ethics and Regulations Officer, Africa CDC
Online

Primus C. Chi, MPH, PhD is a bioethicist and health systems researcher with over 14yrs of experience in leading and supporting research and capacity building programmes and projects across Africa and Europe. He currently serves as Senior Research, Ethics and Regulations Officer at the Africa CDC, where he assists and supports the process of devolving ethics review in the organization. Prior to joining the Africa CDC, he served for over 7-years as  Mid-level Social Scientist at the KEMRI-Wellcome Trust Research Programme, Kenya, where he led a portfolio of embedded social science and empirical ethics research projects on controlled human infection model studies, social and structural drivers of vaccine impact among vulnerable African populations and vaccine donations in the context of epidemics and pandemics. Prior to that he served as Postdoctoral Researcher at the WHO Collaborating Centre for Research on Health Care in Disasters at Karolinska Institute, Stockholm (Sweden) and Doctoral Researcher at the Peace Research Institute Oslo, Oslo (Norway). His research interests lie at the intersection of embedded social science and deliberative approaches, vulnerabilities to vaccine impact, and ethics and governance of new and emerging technologies. Beyond research, Primus has led and supported postgraduate training courses in ethics in research and practice. 

Professor Amos Laar is a distinguished academic and researcher in public health nutrition and bioethics, and currently the Head of the Department of Population, Family, and Reproductive Health at the University of Ghana School of Public Health. He is also the Co-Principal Investigator on Phase 2 of the NYU-UG Research Integrity Training Program (RITP), currently being implemented at the University of Ghana.

Professor Arthur L. Caplan is the Drs. William F. and Virginia Connolly Mitty Professor and founding head of the Division of Medical Ethics at New York University (NYU) Grossman School of Medicine. Professor Caplan served on several high-level advisory bodies, including the Presidential Advisory Committee on Gulf War Illnesses, the Wellcome Trust Advisory Panel on Research in Humanitarian Crises, and as Co-Director of the Joint Council of Europe/United Nations Study on Trafficking in Organs and Body Parts. Professor Caplan is also a Co-Principal Investigators on Phase 2 of NYU-UG Research Integrity Training Program (RITP).

Professor Gbenga Ogedegbe is a distinguished physician and researcher in health disparities and cardiovascular diseases. He is the inaugural and founding Director of the Institute for Excellence in Health Equity at NYU Langone Health. Professor Ogedegbe is a member of the National Academy of Medicine and the United States Preventive Services Task Force (USPSTF), and a fellow of several scientific organisations, including the American Heart Association, the American College of Physicians, and the Academy of Behavioral Medicine Research. Professor Ogedegbe is also a Co-Principal Investigator on Phase 2 of the NYU-UG Research Integrity Training Program (RITP).

Professor Paulina Tindana is an Associate Professor of Bioethics and Global Health in the Department of Health Policy, Planning and Management at the University of Ghana School of Public Health, University of Ghana. Her research and teaching focus on the ethical, socio-cultural, and policy implications of biomedical research and public health systems, including genetics and genomics. As Principal Investigator, she leads the Genomics Epidemiology for Malaria Elimination Policy Engagement Project, funded by the Gates Foundation, and the H3Africa Community Engagement in Genomics and Biobanking (CEBioGen) project, supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH). Additionally, she is the Lead for the Global Health Bioethics Network in Ghana and has served on various national and international bioethics committees.

Professor Veronica Njie-Carr
Veronica P.S. Njie-Carr, RN, ACNS-BC, PhD, FWACN is a full professor and academic nurse researcher in the School of Nursing at the University of Maryland, Baltimore in the United States. She is a clinical nurse specialist with 40 years of professional nursing experience and over 29 years of academic teaching at various universities and colleges in the U.S.  Professor Njie-Carr’s interest in mentoring future generations of scholars led to her work in building capacity in developing countries through the development, implementation, and evaluation of education and research and research ethics programs. Her global work includes working with multi-disciplinary teams, developing leadership capacity through the training of health workers to participate in research, and providing mentorship, and consultation. Professor Njie-Carr is the principal investigator of the Gambia Research Ethics and Methodology Training Initiative (GamREMTI), the founder of the Edward G. Njie Scholarship Fund, and co-founder of the Gambian Diaspora Experts Initiative (GDEI), Inc.

Reverend Emeritus Professor Seth Ayettey (in-person) has been in the medical field for over 37 years and has occupied various leadership positions, including Head of the Department of Anatomy, Vice Dean, Dean of the Medical School, and Provost of the College of Health Sciences at the University of Ghana, and also served as a Visiting Professor at Tulane University, USA, between 1986 and 1997. From 1998, he served as a member and later Chairman of the Prison Council, Chairman of the Korle Bu Management Board, and a member of the Council of the Presbyterian University College. He is also a member of the Judicial Council and of the VALCO Board. He has been a minister of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana for 29 years, served on the Boards of Child Evangelism Fellowship of Ghana and Youth for Christ Ghana (1974–1985), was a member of the Advisory Council of World Vision Ghana (1982–2010), and served on the World Vision International Board of Directors (2000–2010). He is a former project advisory member for RITP in Ghana and currently a key resource person for the RITP in Ghana, as well as a member of GREN since its inception.

Professor Samuel Asiedu Owusu (in-person) is a Senior Research Fellow and Bioethicist at the University of Cape Coast, Ghana. He specializes in bioethics, child health, mHealth, and transport. He has authored over 30 peer-reviewed papers, 25 technical reports, and 3 policy documents. Dr. Owusu holds a PhD in Population and Health, a Master’s in Bioethics, and a Certificate in Research Integrity. He has attended 90+ conferences and has held leadership roles, including UCCIRB administrator and GHAAREC member. Notably, he was the first NYU-UG Research Integrity Fellow to complete the Master’s in Bioethics.

Dr. Adolf Kofi Awua (in-person) is a multidisciplinary-trained scientist and Principal Research Scientist at the Ghana Atomic Energy Commission. He has a strong record of working in the research sector in Ghana and beyond, with expertise in statistical data analysis, epidemiology, biomedical sciences, and bioethics. His academic training includes a focus on Public Health (Epidemiology) from the University of Ghana. Dr. Awua is also an advocate for the role of nuclear technology in advancing Ghana’s “Beyond Aid” agenda.

Professor Kyle Ferguson (in-person) is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Philosophy at Hunter College, City University of New York (CUNY). His academic work focuses on ethics, bioethics, and environmental ethics. His current projects explore vaccine ethics, global health ethics, and research ethics in the contexts of public health emergencies and climate change mitigation strategies.

Selina Mantebea Tobil (in-person) is an early-career researcher at the School of Public Health, University of Ghana. She is a graduate student in Public Health and holds a degree in Nutrition. Selina has gained valuable experience working as a research assistant on major public health initiatives, including the Advocating for Health Project and the Healthier Diets for Healthier Lives Project, which mobilize evidence and multi-stakeholder action toward healthier food environments. She currently serves as the Project Coordinator for the ECOWAS Food Policies Project, where she provides leadership in coordinating regional efforts to design and implement food-based policies across West Africa. Her research interests focus on food environments and their impact on the health of children and adolescents, with particular emphasis on nutrition-related non-communicable diseases. She is passionate about advancing evidence-based advocacy and promoting healthier, more equitable diets in Africa.

Silver Nanema (in-person), PhD candidate and project coordinator for NYU-UG RITP at the University of Ghana. Silver graduated from the MSc Bioethics program at the University of Ghana in 2023 and has been leading the implementation of Project Phase 2 activities since. Silver led the first GREN conference in 2023 and has since been the key resource person in planning and executing subsequent conferences to date, including the transition to WAREN. Silver is currently a PhD student in Public Health, where he integrates bioethics perspectives and equity lenses to analyze health issues.

Professor James Abugri (in-person) is an Associate Professor and the Dean of the School of Chemical and Biochemical Sciences at C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo, Ghana. He also serves as the Team Leader of the University’s COVID-19 Technical Management Team. Prof. Abugri’s research interests include malaria immunology, HIV, and the application of biochemical and chemical techniques in microbiology and molecular biotechnology. His work has expanded to cover genomics and bioinformatics applications for in silico drug discovery aimed at innovative translational drug design. He is a member of the Ghana Science Association and the Immunology Society of Ghana.

Mr. Kwame Adjei (in-person) is a PhD student and faculty member of the Bioethics department, University of Ghana. He is a fellow of the NYU-UG Research Integrity program and also has over fifteen years of research experience working with the Ghana Health Service (GHS). He recently founded the Centre for Global Health and Bioethics Research, a consultancy firm which aims to conduct bioethics-relevant research in Ghana.

Professor James Akazili (in-person) is the Dean of the School of Public Health at C.K. Tedam University of Technology and Applied Sciences (CKT-UTAS) in Navrongo, Ghana, and formerly served as Deputy Director of the Ghana Health Service. His research interests include health care financing, equity and efficiency in health care systems, universal health coverage (UHC), and the economic evaluation of health programmes.

Baki Ibrahim (in-person) received his academic training in Nutrition and Food Science at the University of Ghana. He then served as a research assistant with the Healthier Diets for Healthy Lives (HD4HL) Project, which developed a bundle of double-duty food-based policies aimed at reshaping food environments, improving dietary practices, and reducing the double burden of malnutrition in Ghana. Baki has a strong interest in public health nutrition, particularly in food environments and their nexus with health. He is currently a Master of Public Health student at the University of Ghana School of Public Health.

Nana Ama Serwaa Osei is a Registered Nutritionist with academic training in Nutrition and Food Science and is currently pursuing an MSc in Bioethics at the University of Ghana, School of Public Health. Her work sits at the intersection of public health nutrition, food systems, and ethics. Over the years, she has been involved in research and advocacy efforts to improve school meals in Ghana and address diet-related non-communicable diseases. Her evolving academic focus in bioethics reflects her commitment to ensuring that nutrition policies and food systems interventions are not only evidence-based but also ethically sound, contextually relevant, and socially just. Through her work, she has contributed to policy discussions, research dissemination efforts, and multi-stakeholder engagements that aim to improve food systems governance and promote equitable access to healthy diets. She is also interested in the ethical challenges within public health research and clinical trials in Ghana. She is driven by a commitment to advancing food systems that protect health, uphold dignity, and prioritise fairness.