The Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) has organised the Maiden Research Awards and Grants Ceremony to honour seven faculty members for demonstrating excellence through their research work.

In all, five faculty members were awarded research grants whilst two received research awards. The winners for the research grant were Prof. Elvis Asare-Bediako of the Department of Crop Science who conducted a research on “Incidence of Viral Diseases of Okra (Abelmoschus Esculentus L.) in the three Agro-ecological Zones of the Central Region and Identifying Resistant/Tolerant Varieties.”

Dr. Samuel Acquah of the Department of Medical Biochemistry also worked on “A study of Insulin Resistance in Rat Malaria” whilst Dr. Patrick Osei-Kufour of the Institute for Development Studies conducted a study on  “Mapping of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) involved in Conflict Prevention, Management and Resolution (CPMR) work in Ghana.

The research topic for Dr. Simon Mariwah of the Department of Geography and Regional Planning was “What has Poverty Got to do with it? Asset-based Approach to Household Access to Improved Sanitation in Ghana” while Dr. Baah Sefa-Ntiri of the Department of Physics, worked on the research topic “Application of Nanotechnology to underground Water Treatment, Assisted by Laser Light Techniques.”

For the Research Awardees, Dr. David Teye Doku of the Department of Population and Health received the Best Evolved Research Award with his research topic “Measuring Adolescents’ Socioeconomic Status in Health Inequality Research in Developing Countries: The Development of Material Affluence Scale.” The Best Evolving Research Award went to Dr. Hope Pius Nudzor who conducted a research on the topic “Unmasking Complexities Involved in Operationalising Universal Primary Education Policy Initiatives: Using the ‘FCUBE’ Policy Implementation in Ghana as an Exemplar.” Each of the award winners received cash prize and citation.

Giving an overview of the event, the Deputy Director of DRIC, Prof. Samuel Kobina Annim noted that the objective for instituting the ceremony was to provide a platform for the two categories of beneficiaries, thus the grantees and awardees to share their research findings. He noted that the ceremony was intended to instigate and influence public discourse, inform national policy and engender the conduct of wide-scoping and multi-disciplinary research to help address challenges confronting the world. He indicated that the platform would bring to the fore novel ideas, robust strategies and sustainable solutions. “It is also anticipated that policy-makers, industrialists and the general public will make use of the findings, recommendations and experiences of the researchers for national socio-economic transformation and development, he added.

The Vice-Chancellor who chaired the ceremony encouraged faculty members of the university to work towards producing quality research work stressing that “Universities are being assessed by the quality of research output.” He urged senior academic staff not to hide their research work.

“UCC prides itself as a university with world-wide acclaim, however, we can only be recognised as such if we contribute meaningfully to impact the livelihood of people through our research”, Prof. Kuupole noted. He commended the awardees for the hard work and exhibiting excellence through their research work. He also encouraged other senior academic staff to apply for the research grants and awards of excellence in research.

The Pro-Vice-Chancellor, Prof. George K. T. Oduro who also spoke at the ceremony said members of the university community should consider DRIC as a university wide office with the mandate of co-ordinating research activities. He stressed that we need to use DRIC to propel the visibility of UCC.

It would be recalled that the University through DRIC created an equal opportunity platform for faculty members to apply for limited research grants to undertake high-class evidence-based research in areas of relevance to national development. Following a competitive bidding process, five faculty members benefitted from the research grants and have submitted their research reports and policy briefs to the University.

To further promote the conduct of rigorous research that is of national and global relevance, DRIC opened another bid for a call for awards of excellence in research. Three categories of awards were made available, namely: Outstanding Research Award (ORA), Best Evolved Research Award (BEdRA) and Best Evolving Research Award (BERA) out of which two members of faculty emerged winners for BEdRA and BERA.