Elvis Effah

Elvis Effah is a Bill Anderson Fund fellow and a second-year doctoral student in the sociology department at Virginia Tech. He specializes in environmental sociology (disasters and community resilience). His current research examines Black agricultural producers’ experiences in Southwest Virginia during Hurricane Helene, with a focus on inequality in disaster response and recovery.

In Ghana, his work has explored indigenous knowledge and ocean management practices, as well as climate change and local mitigation strategies in coastal communities such as Moree, Keta, and Salakope. This research, conducted under the United Kingdom Research and Innovation’s One Ocean Hub, contributed to his recent publication, “Drawing the Future: Children’s Visual Imaginaries of Ocean Governance and Indigenous Knowledge in Coastal Ghana.” Effah serves as a teaching/ research assistant in the department of sociology, Virginia Tech. His long- term goal is to become a researcher whose scholarship informs equitable climate policy, supports marginalized communities, and advances more just and inclusive approaches to environmental governance.