Rural Development; Resource Economics; Community Wealth Building; Resilience Thinking; Rural Entrepreneurship; Food Security

Dr Francis Zana Naab is a Research Fellow at the Rural Policy Centre of Scotland's Rural College, where he is involved in research focused on rural and island communities under two Scottish Government strategic programmes: Novel Insights on Scotland's Rural and Island Economies (NISRIE) and Reimagined Policy Futures. His work applies quantitative analysis of panel, cross-sectional survey data and Census data to questions of resilience and economic peripherality. Francis’ research interests include rural development, resource economics, rural entrepreneurship, resilience thinking and food security.

Francis holds a PhD in Agriculture, Food and Rural Development from the Centre for Rural Economy, Newcastle University, where his doctoral research evaluated the impact of Ghana's Livelihood Empowerment Against Poverty (LEAP) cash transfer programme on household resilience to food insecurity in rural areas. He also has an MSc in Environment and Development from the London School of Economics and a BSc in Land Economy from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana. Before joining SRUC, he was a Research Associate at the Perivoli Africa Research Centre, University of Bristol, leading research on the care economy across sub-Saharan Africa with partners including the African Union, UNFPA, UNECA, UN Women, WHO and the World Bank. He brings more than a decade of applied research, evaluation and policy experience across the UK and West Africa. Francis has published in outlets including Land Use Policy, Climate Services, International Journal of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, among others.

Researcher: Rural and Agricultural Development: maximising potential in the islands of Orkney, Shetland and the Outer Hebrides. Commissioned by the Scottish Government, 2023–2024

Principal Investigator: Agriculture and Health Policy Nexus in the context of rural planning and policy delivery. Commissioned by the World Health Organisation, 2024

Researcher: Rural resilience and digital connectivity of village halls. UK-wide mapping with a North-East England focus, needs assessment and survey of village halls in rural Northumberland, and exemplar case studies for post-Covid rural resilience. Undertaken through the Centre for Rural Economy, Newcastle University, for Northumberland County Council, Community Action Northumberland, the Woodland Trust and partner charities, 2020-2021

Consultant: (via Endogenous Development Services (EDS) Ghana) Action research on socio-cultural and economic barriers to Complementary Basic Education (CBE), Upper West, Volta and Northern Regions. Commissioned by Plan Ghana, 2016

Consultant: (via EDS Ghana) Endline evaluation of the Community Benefit Health (CBH) project, Upper West Region, Ghana. Commissioned by John Snow Research and Training Institute, USA, 2016

Consultant: (via EDS Ghana) Action research on socio-cultural and economic barriers to Complementary Basic Education (CBE), Upper West, Volta and Northern Regions. Commissioned by Plan Ghana, 2016

Consultant (via EDS Ghana): Socioeconomic data collection and critical analysis for the Out-of-School Programme across three regions of Ghana. Commissioned by Plan International, 2016

Research Associate: Perivoli Africa Research Centre (PARC), University of Bristol, UK. June 2021 – August 2023

Research Fellow (Monitoring, Evaluation, Accountability & Learning): Action Against Stunting Hub (AASH), London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, UK. January 2021 – June 2022

Research Associate, Village Halls Project: Centre for Rural Economy (CRE), Newcastle University, UK. October 2020 – January 2021

Research Associate, SOILCARE Project (Horizon 2020): Centre for Rural Economy (CRE), Newcastle University, UK. May 2020 – October 2020

Research Associate, FARMZERO Project: Newcastle University, UK. September 2019 – June 2020

Research Associate, Genome Canada Research: Centre for Rural Economy (CRE), Newcastle University, UK. August 2018 – March 2019

Research and Policy Consultant: Endogenous Development Service Ghana (EDS), Accra, Ghana. January 2016 – January 2018

Programmes Officer: Community Land Development Foundation, Accra, Ghana. August 2013 – September 2014

Teaching and Research Assistant: Department of Land Economy, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana, August 2012 – July 2013

PhD, Agriculture, Food and Rural Development, Centre for Rural Economy, School of Natural and Environmental Sciences, Newcastle University, UK. September 2017 – May 2020.

PhD Thesis: Households' resilience to food insecurity in Sub-Saharan Africa: empirical evidence from a social cash transfer programme in Ghana

MSc, Environment and Development, London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE), London, UK. September 2014 – December 2015

BSc, Land Economy,  Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Kumasi, Ghana. August 2008 – May 2012

Emma Margaret Currie: Addressing workforce shortages in the care economy in rural and island areas of Scotland (Ongoing)

Researcher, Novel Insights on Scotland's Rural and Island Economies (NISRIE). Funded by the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme, 2022–2027 (role from August 2023). Leads quantitative analysis of panel, cross-sectional survey data and Census data on the functionality and resilience of Scotland's rural and island economies, applying an economic peripherality lens.

Researcher, Reimagined Policy Futures: Shaping Sustainable, Inclusive, and Just Rural and Island Communities in Scotland. Funded by the Scottish Government Strategic Research Programme, 2022–2027 (role from August 2023). Contributes research on rural policy across a range of topics including demographic change, housing, rural transport, rural businesses, among others

PI, Agriculture and Health Policy Nexus in the context of rural planning and policy delivery — commissioned by the World Health Organisation, 2024. Led a rapid evidence review for WHO on integrating agriculture, health equity and climate considerations within rural development planning and policy delivery.