Dr. Mensah Adinkrah, a Ghanaian Associate Professor at the Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work at the Central Michigan University, has been awarded a Fulbright Scholar grant to conduct research in Ghana during the 2003-2004 academic year.

A statement from the United States Department of State and the J. William Fulbright Foreign Scholarship Board said Dr Adinkrah's research would focus on " Female Homicide Victimization in Africa: A Ghana Case Study".

Dr Adinkrah, a former student of Saint Peter's Secondary School, Nkwatia-Kwahu (1970-77), is expected in the country next month to undertake the study, and would be affiliated with the Department of Sociology, University of Ghana, Legon.

The statement said for the past five years, Dr Adinkrah had conducted scholarly research on lethal and non-lethal violence and made efforts that had culminated in two published books and over a dozen peer-review articles.

Dr Adinkrah is one of the 800 United States faculty and professionals who will travel to 140 countries for the 2003-2004 academic year through the Fulbright Scholar Programme.

The programme was established in 1946 under legislation introduced by the late Senator J. William Fulbright of Arkansas to build mutual understanding between the people of the United States and other countries.

The US Department of State, Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs sponsored the programme, which was America's flagship international education exchange activity.

For the past 57 years that it had been in existence, thousands of their counterparts from other countries have engaged in similar activities in the US. They are among more than 250,000 American and foreign university students.

Recipients of Fulbright Scholar awards are selected on the basis of academic or professional achievement and because they have demonstrated extraordinary leadership potential in their respective fields.