10 CHS Principal Investigators benefits from KNUST Research Fund
Ten (10) Principal Investigators (PIs) from the College of Health Sciences (CHS) have been awarded research grants along with Twenty-two (22) researchers from other Colleges in Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST) totaling One Million, Four Hundred and Eighty-Two Thousand, Two Hundred and Thirty-Four Ghana Cedis (GHC1,482,234) from the KNUST Research Fund (KReF). The awards ceremony was held on Monday, September 2nd, 2024, at the Council Chamber.
The multi-grant awardees from CHS were; Professor (Mrs.) Mariam El Boakye-Gyasi, Pharmaceutics; Dr. Kennedy Gyau Boahen, Microbiology; Dr. Evelyn Asante-Kwatia, Pharmacognosy; Dr. Michael Ntim, Physiology; Dr. Samuel Bimpong, Anatomy; Dr. Isaac Okyere, Surgery; Dr. Serwaa Bonsu Asafo-Agyei, Child Health; Dr Charles Kumi Hammond, Child Health; Dr. Adwoa Bemah Boamah Mensah, Nursing and Dr. (Mrs.) Akua Afriyie Ocran, Child Health winning a seed grant.
According to Professor Phillip Antwi-Agyei, Director of the Office of Grant and Research (OGR), KReF has provided an internal funding source for innovative research projects aimed at addressing specific societal challenges since its inception. He highlighted that the primary objective of KReF is to encourage faculty members to develop research projects with practical and implementable outcomes. Additionally, the Fund seeks to build staff capacity in securing and managing external research grants.
Professor Antwi-Agyei revealed that the 9th cycle of KReF received fifty (50) applications from six (6) colleges across the University. After a rigorous peer review process, the KReF Scientific Review Committee shortlisted forty-seven (47) applications, of which thirty-two (32) were approved by the OGR Advisory Board. The successful applications comprised seven (7) Seed Grants and twenty-five (25) Multi Grants.
Looking forward, Professor Antwi-Agyei acknowledged challenges encountered during the KReF process, particularly rising research costs and delays in fund disbursement. He stressed the importance of addressing these issues to ensure the initiative's continued success. Furthermore, he announced that the 10th cycle of KReF will be dedicated solely to Early Career Researchers and focused on specific priority areas aligned with the University’s research agenda. He also highlighted that KReF will continue to prioritize early to mid-career researchers and female faculty members.
In line with the University’s drive to enhance efficiency, Professor Antwi-Agyei disclosed plans to digitize the KReF submission process, enabling awardees to submit their mid-award and end-of-award reports remotely. He added that to qualify for future KReF awards, recipients will be required to demonstrate success in attracting external grants, regardless of the amount, or at least show evidence of leading a grant proposal submission to an external funding body.
He commended the 32 awardees of this 9th cycle for their exceptional proposals that stood out in the highly competitive selection process. Professor Antwi-Agyei urged all awardees to adhere to the Terms and Conditions of the Award and make good use of this opportunity to enhance the university’s research visibility and impact.
The Vice-Chancellor, Professor (Mrs.) Rita Akosua Dickson lauded the visionaries behind the KReF initiative and congratulated the awardees on receiving their grant awards. She emphasised that the University believes in its research intensiveness agenda and encouraged the awardees to use this grant as a motivation to springboard them to attract bigger grants from external funders.
