Professor Mariama Awumbila holds a PhD in Geography from Newcastle University, UK, and teaches at the Department of Geography and Resource Development as well as at the Centre for Migration Studies, both at the University of Ghana.

From 2006 to 2013, as founding Director, she nurtured the establishment of the Centre for Migration Studies into a fully fledged university centre, undertaking extensive migration research, teaching and capacity building, and extension services. She has provided consultancy and extension services for several international and national agencies and civil society organisations. She was the Ghana Director of the DFID-funded Migrating out of Poverty Research Programme Consortium from 2010 to 2019 and Lead Consultant for the development of a national migration policy for Ghana among others. She has served on several professional and national governing boards, including the IUSSP Scientific Panel on International Migration and, at the national level, the Ghana Inter-Ministerial Steering Committee on Migration, the Ghana Statistical Service Board, the National Council for Tertiary Education and the World Vision Ghana Advisory Board among others. She currently chairs the national working group for the establishment of the Ghana National Migration Commission.