Petrina Aweinniwen Asangalisah

Petrina Aweinniwen Asangalisah is a Mastercard Foundation Scholar pursuing an MSc in African Studies at the University of Oxford and is a member of Wadham College.

She graduated from the University of Ghana with a double major in Political Science and Spanish. She finished top of her class and received the 2025 Vice Chancellor’s Awards for Overall Best Graduating Female Student in Political Science and Overall Best Student in Spanish.

In addition to working as a teaching and research assistant at the Department of European Languages and the Legon Journal of Humanities, Petrina has interned at organisations including the Embassy of Peru in Ghana and the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, where she remained as a research assistant and consultant working on both local and foreign initiatives.

Petrina is an emerging policy advisor and researcher, aiming to specialise in democratic governance in West Africa, with a particular interest in participatory governance and foreign influence in the region. At Oxford, her research will focus on civic participation, with the aim of better incorporating relevant adaptations of African-centred approaches into the sustainable development process.

Alongside her studies, Petrina has volunteered with non-profits both at home and abroad, and most recently served as Lead Volunteer and Executive Secretary at the Pan African Heritage Museum.

An avid explorer, Petrina is excited to experience the trails and sites in and around Oxfordshire. She is also a fiction writer working on her first full-length manuscript, as well as building Tagri, a publishing and literacy initiative designed to make African stories more readily available to children on the continent.