Our Team

Professor Cosmas Worlanyo Kofi Mereku is a Ghanaian scholar, curriculum specialist, composer, educational leader, and researcher whose contributions to music education, curriculum development, higher education, and creative arts scholarship have influenced educational policy, professional practice, and academic discourse in Ghana and across Africa for more than four decades. He is the Co-Founder, President, and Chief Research Fellow of the Mereku Institute for Policy and Educational Research (MIPER), where he provides strategic leadership for research, policy engagement, educational innovation, and institutional development.

Professor Mereku has played a leading role in the development of music and creative arts education in Ghana through scholarship, curriculum reform, professional service, and academic leadership. He served as Team Lead for Creative Arts Curriculum Development under the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), contributing to the design of Ghana's Standards-Based Curriculum for Creative Arts. He also served as a Team Lead within the Transforming Teacher Education and Learning (T-TEL) programme, contributing to national reforms aimed at improving teacher preparation, curriculum delivery, and learning outcomes.

At the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Mereku held several senior academic and administrative appointments, including Head of the Department of Music, Dean of Student Affairs, Deputy Director of Gender Mainstreaming, and Director of the Centre for Research, Culture and Creative Arts (CeRCCA). Through these roles, he contributed to institutional development, research advancement, academic quality assurance, and student welfare within one of Ghana's leading teacher education universities.

Professor Mereku has also distinguished himself through service to professional and scholarly associations. He served as General Secretary of the Ghana Music Teachers' Association (GMTA), now the Performing Arts Teachers' Association of Ghana (PATAG), where he supported initiatives to strengthen music and performing arts education nationwide. At the continental level, he served as First Vice President of the West African Chapter of the Pan African Society of Musical Arts Education (PASMAE), promoting collaboration, scholarship, and professional development among music educators across Africa. He is a member of the National Music Committee of Ghana of the International Music Council (UNESCO) and a member of the Incorporated Society of Musicians (ISM), United Kingdom.

A respected scholar and mentor, Professor Mereku has supervised and examined numerous Master's and Doctoral candidates and has contributed to the training of generations of educators, researchers, performers, and creative arts professionals. He has served as an accreditation evaluator, curriculum consultant, WAEC examiner, conference organizer, external examiner, and adjudicator, providing expert guidance on matters relating to education, curriculum development, music, and the arts.

His scholarly work has contributed significantly to the growth of music education research and creative arts scholarship in Ghana and beyond. Through publications, conference presentations, curriculum projects, and professional engagements, he has contributed to the advancement of teaching, learning, research, and policy discussions within the fields of music education, composition, culture, and arts development. He is also the composer of the University of Education, Winneba Anthem, a lasting contribution to one of Ghana's foremost institutions of higher learning.

Professor Mereku's contributions to education, scholarship, music, and academic leadership have earned national and international recognition. He is a Fulbright Scholar and recipient of several distinguished honours, including the Overseas Research Studentship (ORS) Award, the Tetley & Lupton Scholarship, the Sir Michael Tippett Musical Award, the Harrogate International Festival Honour, and the University of Education, Winneba Special Congregation Award, conferred in recognition of his outstanding contributions to education, research, leadership, and national development.

Through MIPER and his continuing professional engagements, Professor Mereku remains actively involved in research, policy dialogue, curriculum innovation, scholarly mentorship, and institutional development. His work continues to promote evidence-based educational reform, strengthen research culture, advance creative arts scholarship, and support the development of future generations of educators, researchers, and leaders.

Professor Mereku holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Ghana, a Master of Music degree from the University of Michigan, USA, and a PhD in Musical Composition from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom. He pursued his doctoral studies with the support of the prestigious Overseas Research Studentship (ORS) Award and the Tetley & Lupton Scholarship.

Professor Cosmas W. K. Mereku is widely regarded as one of Ghana's most influential scholars in music education and creative arts education, with a legacy defined by scholarship, curriculum leadership, professional service, mentorship, and institution building.

Professor Damian Kofi Mereku is a Ghanaian mathematics educator, curriculum specialist, assessment expert, and researcher whose contributions to mathematics education, curriculum development, teacher education, and educational assessment have shaped national policy and professional practice in Ghana for more than three decades. He is the Co-Founder and Executive Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mereku Institute for Policy and Educational Research (MIPER), where he leads governance, strategic oversight, and institutional development.

Professor Mereku has played a defining role in the development of Ghana's mathematics curriculum. He served as Mathematics Curriculum Expert and Panel Lead at the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment (NaCCA), where he designed the Standards-Based Curriculum and accompanying resource materials for teaching mathematics from KG1 to JHS3. In 2017 he authored the proposal establishing the need for a pre-tertiary education curriculum framework for NaCCA, which was accepted and became the guiding document for the writing of the Standards-Based Curriculum. He had earlier led reviews of the national basic school mathematics syllabuses for the Curriculum Research and Development Division of the Ghana Education Service, developing the accompanying training manuals and training teachers nationwide.

As Mathematics Curriculum Expert and Panel Lead on the Ministry of Education and DFID Transforming Teaching and Learning (T-TEL) programme, he contributed to the design of the National Teacher Education Curriculum Framework and the numeracy strand of the new Bachelor of Education programmes for pre-service teachers. He has served as Chief Examiner for Mathematics for the Ghana Teacher Licensure Examination since 2018, and was Co-Chair of the Minister's committee that reviewed basic school science and mathematics education in Ghana.

At the University of Education, Winneba (UEW), Professor Mereku held a succession of senior academic and administrative appointments, including Dean of the Faculty of Science Education, Head of the Centre for Continuing Education, and Head of the Department of Mathematics Education. Through these roles he contributed to institutional development, academic leadership, programme design, and the expansion of continuing and distance education. He continued to serve the University as Professor of Mathematics Education on post-retirement contract.

Professor Mereku has contributed extensively to national and international assessment and evaluation work. He has served as Mathematics Curriculum Expert and Panel Lead on assignments for USAID, the World Bank, DFID, and the University of Chicago, designing instruments for the Early Grade Mathematics Assessment (EGMA) and the National Education Assessment, training teachers in their use, developing kindergarten numeracy materials, and evaluating the USAID-funded Textbooks and Learning Materials Program. He has also analysed Ghana's participation in the Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), producing influential studies on the contexts shaping national performance.

He has given sustained service to professional and scholarly associations. He is Managing Editor of the African Journal of Educational Studies in Mathematics and Sciences, published online through African Journals Online (AJOL), and has served as Vice Chairman of the Mathematical Association of Ghana (MAG) and Deputy National Organizer of the Ghana Chapter of the Educational Research Network for West and Central Africa (ERNWACA). He was for several years a member of the British Society for Research into Learning Mathematics (BSRLM).

Professor Mereku's scholarship spans curriculum history, comparative education, assessment, ethnomathematics, and teacher education. His work includes the Springer volume chapter "Modern Mathematics Curriculum Reforms in Ghana: UK and USA Influences," studies on opportunity to learn and its effect on achievement, analyses of five decades of school mathematics in Ghana and sixty years of Ghanaian teacher education, and a collaborative study with Professor Cosmas W. K. Mereku on Ghanaian singing games in ethnomathematics published by the UNESCO Institute for African Culture. He is also co-author of the Junior Secondary Mathematics pupil's and teacher's book series and of national training manuals for Senior High School mathematics teachers.

His leadership has attracted competitive research and development funding, including a Teaching and Learning Innovation Fund (TALIF) grant of US$196,500 for the Training and Continuing Professional Education of Tertiary Educators (TCPETE) project, through which he designed training programmes for university lecturers without a pedagogical background.

Through MIPER and his continuing professional engagements, Professor Mereku remains actively involved in curriculum policy, assessment reform, research supervision, and institutional governance. His work continues to strengthen evidence-based educational reform, improve the quality of mathematics teaching and learning, and support the development of future generations of teachers, researchers, and education leaders.

Professor Mereku holds a PhD in Mathematics Education and a Master of Education degree in Mathematics Education, both from the University of Leeds, United Kingdom, and undertook post-doctoral research at the University of Manchester.

Professor Damian Kofi Mereku is widely regarded as one of Ghana's foremost authorities on mathematics education and curriculum reform, with a legacy defined by national curriculum leadership, assessment expertise, scholarly editorship, mentorship, and institution building.