She is an urban anthropologist with over a decade of professional, research, and teaching experience that focuses on issues of urban social and spatial development, informality, participation, and governance from below.

She holsd a Dr. Phil. (German equivalent of Ph.D.) in Social and Cultural Anthropology, from the Department of Political and SocialSciences, Free University Berlin. In her thesis, she ethnographically explored how changing patterns of migration are creating new forms of everyday governance practices in Accra, the capital of Ghana. Afia has conducted research and taught at a variety of interdisciplinary institutes including  the Centre of Excellence in Global Governance Research (Helsinki), The Centre for Metropolitan Studies (Berlin) and the Leibniz Institute of Global and Area Studies (Hamburg). Prior to her doctorate, she worked as a strategic consultant for the built environment alongside spatial planners, architects, engineers and economists for three years.