Dr Chei Bukari joined the National Resources Institute (NRI) at the University of Greenwich in August 2026 as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow and Impact Officer in the Livelihoods and Institutions Department.    As part of the Peace and Prosperity Pathway project, he conducts high-quality research on solutions aligned with the Sustainable Development Goals that promote peace and prosperity in fragile settings.

His research spans development, environmental, public and energy economics, with a strong focus on applied microeconometrics. He is particularly interested in poverty, inequality, corruption, health, finance and climate change in the Global South, especially in sub-Saharan Africa. His work addresses policy-relevant questions using large household, firm, survey and census datasets. His methods include cross-sectional and panel data analysis, causal inference and estimation techniques robust to endogeneity.

Chei holds a PhD in Economics from the University of Leed (2024) as well as an MPhil in Economics (2018) and a B.Ed. in Economics and Geography with First Class Honours (2015) from the University of Cape Coast. His PhD thesis received the Outstanding Academic Performance Prize for a PhD in the Faculty of Business at the University of Leeds, and the Leeds University Business School Scholarship for Publication. His MPhil thesis received the University of Cape Coast Dean’s Award for Research Excellence for the Best MPhil thesis in the School of Economics.

Before joining the University of Greenwich, he was a lecturer in Economics at the Elizabeth School of London. Previously, he served as a Teaching Assistant at the Economics Department and Research Assistant at Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds. Earlier in his career, he taught and conducted research at the School of Economics, University of Cape Coast.  He has more than nine years of university teaching experience across undergraduate and postgraduate programmes. The modules he has taught include microeconomics, development economics, managerial economics, econometrics, behavioural economics, research methods, mathematics and statistics, and applied macroeconomics.  He has also supervised both undergraduate and postgraduate theses.

His peer-reviewed research has been published in World Development, Energy Economics, The Journal of Development Studies, Environmental Science & Policy, Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Social Indicators Research, Review of Development Economics, Journal of Family and Economic Issues, Finance Research Letters, Agricultural Finance Review, and Eurasian Business Review. He has also contributed to a Palgrave Macmillan book chapter on mobile money adoption and healthcare utilisation in rural Ghana.

His other awards include the Leeds University Business School Doctoral Scholarship (2021-2024), the University of Cape Coast Dean’s Award for Academic Excellence (2014) and the Award for First Class Student (2015). He is an Associate Fellow of the Advance Higher Education Academy and a member of the Royal Economic Society. He also a reviews manuscript for journals, including World Development, Energy Economics, Food Policy, Small Business Economics, Industry and Innovation, and Oxford Development Studies.

Earlier in his career, Chei held consultancy and leadership roles with the Ghana Statistical Service including serving as a Master Trainer and Regional Field Supervisor for Ghana’s 2021 Population and Housing Census. He has extensive experience in field surveys and data collection and has contributed to research funded by the African Economic Research Consortium, Solidaridad West Africa, the International Centre for Evaluation and Development, and the University of Cape Coast.

Within the NRI’s livelihood and institutions area, Chei’s work contributes evidence on how institutions, markets, technology, and environmental shocks shape poverty, livelihoods, and resilience in low- and middle-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa. He is particularly excited by research that connects development, institutions, technology and the environment, and by interdisciplinary approaches that translate rigorous empirical findings into practical policy and impact.

Chei’s current projects include.

• Beyond fragility response: an institutional ecosystem framework for delivering prosperity and peace in the Lake Chad region
• Bureaucratic corruption and cooking fuel deprivation in urban Africa
• Inequality Next Door: how local wealth disparities shape subjective living conditions in sub-Saharan Africa

Co-Principal Investigator, Examining the effect of financial literacy and digital literacy on the use of digital financial services in Sub-Saharan Africa (Jointly with Prof. Jacob Nunoo, Dr Michael Coffie). Funded by African Economic Research Consortium (AERC).

Co-Principal Investigator, Evaluating Tertiary Education in Ghanaian Prisons through Distance Learning: A Case Study of Nsawam Prisons. (Jointly with Prof. Jacob Nunoo, Dr Michael Coffie). Funded by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, University of Cape Coast.

Seed Grant, Proposal on Building resilience through bundled financial services and agronomic practices among smallholder farmers (Jointly with Professors Ekow Emmanuel Asmah, James Atta Peprah, and Francis Andoh). Funded by the International Centre for Evaluation and Development, and the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Assets and Market Access (BASIS). 2020.

Co-Principal Investigator, Sat4Business Credit Scoring Project in Ghana. (Jointly with Professors Ekow Emmanuel Asmah, James Atta Peprah, and Francis Andoh). Funded by Solidaridad West Africa Funded Project, 2021.

Co-Principal Investigator, Mid-Term Evaluation of Cocoa Rehabilitation and Intensification Programme (CORIP II) in Ghana. (Jointly with Professors Ekow Emmanuel Asmah, James Atta Peprah, and Francis Andoh). Funded by Solidaridad West Africa 2021.

Co-Principal Investigator, Cost of Raising Children and Implications for Widowhood in Ghana. (Jointly with Professor Ekow Emmanuel Asmah, Prof Francis Andoh, Peter Mwinlaaru). Funded by the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, University of Cape Coast. 2019.

Outstanding Academic Performance Prize, PhD in the Faculty of Business, Leeds University Business School (LUBS), University of Leeds, Winner, 2025

LUBS Scholarship for Publication, University of Leeds, Winner, 2024

Postgraduate Researcher of the Year, Leeds Partnership Award. Nominee, 2024

LUBS Doctoral Scholarship, University of Leeds, Winner, 2021-2024

Dean's Award for Research Excellence, Best MPhil Thesis, School of Economics, University of Cape Coast, Winner, 2019

Dean's Award for Academic Excellence, First Class Student, College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast, Winner, 2015

Dean's Award for Academic Excellence, College of Education Studies, University of Cape Coast, Winner, 2014

• Bukari, C. (2026). When it rains, it pours: On the spillover effects of corruption on firms’ tax evasion. World Development, 203, 107373.
• Bukari, C., & Acheampong, A. O. (2025). Mitigating the impact of climate change on poverty in Africa: the moderating role of financial inclusion. Finance Research Letters, 84, 107853.
• Bukari C., S. Seth, G. Yalonetzky (2024), Corruption can Cause Healthcare Deprivation: Evidence from 29 sub-Saharan African Countries, World Development, 180, 106630.
• Bukari, C., Koomson, I., & Annim, S. K. (2024). Financial inclusion, vulnerability coping strategies and multidimensional poverty: Does conceptualisation of financial inclusion matter? Review of Development Economics, 28(2), 462-498.
• Bukari, C., & Aluko, O. A. (2023). Severity of climate change and deprivation outcomes: Micro-level assessment for sub-Saharan Africa. Environmental Science & Policy, 150, 103593.
• Asmah, E. E., Andoh, F. K., Alakija Sekyi, N. A. S., Mwinlaaru, P. Y., & Bukari, C. (2023). Examining Parental Expenditure on Children in Ghana. Journal of Family and Economic Issues, 44(4), 777-789.
• Agyei, P. M., Bukari, C., & Amoah, N. (2023). Market orientation of entrepreneurial university distance education and sustainable competitive advantage relationships: The mediating role of employee engagement. Cogent Social Sciences, 9(1), 2198783.
• Bukari, C., Aning-Agyei, M. A., Kyeremeh, C., Essilfie, G., Amuquandoh, K. F., Owusu, A. A., ... & Bukari, K. I. (2022). Effect of COVID-19 on household food insecurity and poverty: Evidence from Ghana. Social Indicators Research, 159(3), 991-1015.
• Bukari, C., Broermann, S., & Okai, D. (2021). Energy poverty and health expenditure: evidence from Ghana. Energy Economics, 103, 105565.
• Bukari, C., Peprah, J. A., Ayifah, R. N. Y., & Annim, S. K. (2021). Effects of credit ‘plus’ on poverty reduction in Ghana. The Journal of Development Studies, 57(2), 343-360.
• Koomson, I., Bukari, C., & Villano, R. A. (2021). Mobile money adoption and response to idiosyncratic shocks: Empirics from five selected countries in sub-Saharan Africa. Technological Forecasting and Social Change, 167, 120728.
• Bukari, C., Essilfie, G., Aning-Agyei, M. A., Otoo, I. C., Kyeremeh, C., Owusu, A. A., ... & Bukari, K. I. (2021). Impact of COVID-19 on poverty and living standards in Ghana: A micro-perspective. Cogent Economics & Finance, 9(1), 1879716.
• Peprah, J. A., Koomson, I., Sebu, J., & Bukari, C. (2021). Improving productivity among smallholder farmers in Ghana: does financial inclusion matter? Agricultural Finance Review, 81(4), 481-502.
• Bukari, C., & Anaman, E. A. A. (2021). Corruption and firm innovation: a grease or sand in the wheels of commerce? Evidence from lower-middle and upper-middle income economies. Eurasian Business Review, 11(2), 267-302.