Dzodzi Tsikata is Research Professor (development sociology) and has been the Director of the Institute of African Studies (IAS) at the University of Ghana since August 2016. Tsikata’s research on gender and development policies and practices; women’s movements and gender equality activism; the politics and livelihood effects of land tenure reforms, large scale land acquisitions and agricultural commercialisation; and informal labour relations and conditions of work, and has led research projects on these subjects over the years. Currently, she is co-applicant and leader of the eight-person Ghana team of a six-year research and Development Project, the DEMETER project (2015-2020). Supported generously by the Swiss National Foundation under its R4D programme, the project focuses on Gender, Land and Agricultural Commercialisation, and the Right to Food and has three research sites- Cambodia, Ghana, and Switzerland. With these topics much related to the issue of the commons and how these are linked to contemporary issues such as land grabbing, globalisation, and gender-related issues and social movements, she is a sound candidate for the closing keynote of the conference.