Esmeranda Manful is an Associate Professor in Social Work with the Department of Sociology and Social Work. Her research interest, while primarily focusing on child and family welfare, spans gender and social protection issues.  She has vast experience in macro-level social policy practice which she brings to bear in her teaching, research, community development and policy engagement. 

Her goal in the promotion of knowledge is to contribute to the limited literature on child and family welfare, and social protection issues in Ghana and Africa. Using mainly qualitative methods, her research highlights amongst others, challenges to best outcomes for at risk children and other vulnerable groups in Ghana and suggests solutions for effective social work practice, social policy and programme implementation.

Exposing students to different cultures and practices internationally has been some of her community activities.  She has been involved in facilitating KNUST staff and student exchanges to several Universities in the United States and Europe; and does same for other nationals who wish to be exposed to the Ghanaian academic culture from different parts of the world.  

Esmeranda is involved in several research activities including the project ‘Educational partnership in socio-pedagogical methods in social work towards improving the lives of Ghanaian children’ supported by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) with funding from the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development, Germany (BMZ) (January 2019 - December 2021); where she is a Co-Principal Investigator.  Her research outputs are published in leading international peer reviewed journals.  She is also one of the International Editorial Advisors for the journal Social Policy and Society.

Prior to joining KNUST in 2012 as lecturer, she has held positions with the Centre for Research in Social Policy, Loughborough University, UK; Northern Ireland National Assembly and the then Ghana National Commission on Children.  She is a product of the University of Ghana and Queen's University, Belfast.