Raphael Owusu is a forest researcher from Ghana whose work focuses on forest governance, forest landscape restoration, the governance of value creation in agroforestry systems, forest policy, power relations, and forest management institutions. He is currently a Postdoctoral Research Scientist in the Department of Forest Policy and Land-Use Governance at Georg-August University of Göttingen, Germany. Raphael earned a Bachelor of Science in Entomology and Wildlife from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, in 2017. He subsequently pursued a double master's programme between 2018 and 2020, earning an MSc in Forests and Livelihoods from the University of Copenhagen, Denmark, and an MSc in Tropical Forestry from Technische Universität (TU) Dresden, Germany. Between February and July 2021, he worked as a Research Assistant on the CamForst Project at the Chair of Tropical and International Forestry, TU Dresden, where he gained valuable experience in forestry research. He later completed a doctorate in Tropical and International Forest Governance at Technische Universität Dresden. His doctoral research examined how actors, power dynamics, and formal and informal institutional frameworks—including policies, regulations, taboos, beliefs, etc—influence forest landscape restoration practices. Beyond his research, Raphael contributes actively to the international forest policy and governance community. He serves as an Associate Editor of Forest Policy and Economics, Deputy Coordinator of the IUFRO Working Party 9.05.09 – African Forest Politics and Governance, and a member of the IUFRO Task Force on Post-Conflict Forest Landscape Restoration.