Dr. Richard Apau

Dr. Richard Apau is a Senior Analyst at the African Union Counter Terrorism Centre (AUCTC) with extensive experience in coordinating programme implementation in Cyber Threat Intelligence, Cybersecurity, Counter Terrorism (CT) and Preventing and Countering Violent Extremism (PCVE). He is also Countering Terrorism Financing (CTF) Online Policy Expert with wide experience in emerging financial technologies, providing strategic guidance on CFT framework development across Africa. At the AUCTC, Dr. Apau coordinates CT/PCVE research and analytical products to inform Continental Early Warning and Early Response (EWER) policies on terrorism and violent extremism-related issues. He also coordinates the AUCTC Continental Cybersecurity Capability Program, which focuses on detecting and disrupting the use of ICTs and emerging technologies by terrorist groups including cryptocurrencies and virtual assets.

Dr. Apau holds a PhD in Computer Science (Information Security and Data Protection) and an M.Phil. in Computer Science (Information Security and Data Privacy) from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana. He is Certified Cyber Threat Intelligence Analyst and Certified Network Defender. He holds an Executive Certificate in International Law of Cyber Operations from the University of Reading, UK, and an Executive Certificate in Weapons and Ammunition Management from Bunderswehr Verification Centre (BwVC), Germany.