College of Health Sciences PIs meet with the Director of OGR
On March 30, 2022, the Director of the Office of Grants and Research (OGR), Professor Philip Antwi-Agyei, met with Principal Investigators (PIs), Co-PIs, and all other interested faculty members on grantsmanship at the College of Health Sciences (CHS) Boardroom. The meeting was geared toward interacting with the participants to discuss practical ways to improve grantsmanship and research visibility in the college as part of the university’s vision to promote research and grantsmanship.
Professor Christian Agyare, the Provost of CHS, expressed his delight at the OGR director's visit and his willingness to interact with the members. He also stated that the college benefits from grants while emphasizing that the College of Health Sciences is a leader in research. Professor Agyare also stated that the Provost’s Office will assist members with the approval process and accounting-related issues.
Professor Christian Agyare, the Provost of CHS, expressed his delight at the visit of the OGR director and for his availability to interact with the members. He further stated that the college benefits from grants while reiterating the fact that the College of Health Sciences stands tall in terms of research. Professor Agyare also assured that the Office of the Provost will facilitate the approval process and accounting-related issues to ensure the smooth running of their project/research. "For me, it is my target to attend to the requests of PIs on my desk in 24 hours," he said. Professor Agyare revealed that for the first time, the college has disbursed 10% of the indirect cost from grants to the school/faculty, 25% to the PI, and 25% to the departments.
In his presentation, Professor Antwi-Agyei, the Director of OGR, gave an outlook on how the College of Health Sciences is performing in terms of grantsmanship and also discussed the measures that can be put in place to improve grants and research. He highlighted the vision of OGR, which is to enhance KNUST’s research dissemination and visibility. Professor Antwi-Agyei provided some in-depth strategies that could be deployed in actualizing the vision. He indicated that from 2019 to 2021, the College of Health Sciences has contributed 34% of all the grants of KNUST, with $26.2 million from 64 grants and 28 PIs.
He admitted that there was a dip in grantsmanship over the period and attributed it to the COVID-19 pandemic. Professor Antwi-Agyei stated that the scope and potential for OGR to further drive KNUST’s strategic vision of becoming a world-class research-intensive university is in line with theirs, and it’s expected to improve KNUST's ranking in Africa and globally by the year 2024.
Mrs. Barbara Gyapong-Korsah, the Assistant Grants and Research Manager, OGR, assigned to CHS and the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS), and Mrs. Eunice Adu-Boahen, the Intellectual Property (IP) Administrator at the OGR, were introduced to the faculty members at the meeting. The participants were encouraged to work with them to provide all the necessary support they needed from the OGR. The program was climaxed with an open forum where all concerns about grants and research from the audience were discussed and addressed.
