Workshop on Grantsmanship Held for Scientists

The School of Medical Sciences (SMS) in partnership with the Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (DRIC) has held a one-day workshop on Grantsmanship. Speaking at the workshop, a Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Visiting Scholar, Dr. Olumayokun Olajide, from the University of Huddersfield, UK, said there were two of types of research, which include Research Grant and Research Fellowship. He said majority of young researchers, looking for post doctoral opportunities, prefer research fellowship to research grant. Sharing his personal experience, he advised young researchers to keep their research proposal focused and tailor their proposed research to the funding bodies' area of interests. Dr. Olajide enjoined researchers to be persuasive in their research grant application to enable the funding bodies to dole out grants to them. “Make sure it grabs the attention of the relevance of your work. Make sure the research proposal forms a coherent story”, he added. During research work, he urged researchers to put in much details to convince reviewers that they are experts in their field and have thoroughly thought through their proposal. He said a generic structure of a proposal must include; abstract, problem statement, project purpose, research design applicant qualifications, evaluation plans, budget and appendix.