Don charges researchers on capacity building

A university don, Prof. Abel Idowu-Olayinka, has underscored the importance of capacity building and continuous training workshops for university dons and researchers across Nigeria.

Idowu-Olayinka, a former Vice Chancellor, University of Ibadan, Oyo State, stressed that any lecturer who wants to progress in academics and make meaningful contributions to society must always engage in impactful research and publish regularly.

The award-winning researcher made this known on Wednesday at the maiden workshop of the School of Postgraduate Studies, Olusegun Agagu University of Science and Technology, (OAUSTECH) Okitipupa, Ondo State.

The title of the workshop is: “The Style of Writing Award-Winning Research Grant Proposal”,

Idowu-Olayinka, a world-class scholar, said that capacity building workshops would help upscale researchers’ skills, enable them write competitive and award-winning proposals, expose them to appropriate and willing funding agencies with their regulations, make them skilled writers and continually place them at vantage positions.

According to him, it is only through research that scholars’ brilliant ideas could benefit humanity and attract needed funding seamlessly.

“As researchers, we always need to support our research and funding is critical, so we need to reach out to national and international funders as the government or our employers will not be in a position to fund our research all alone.

“It is essential to pay attention to the craft of carefully writing award-winning grant applications,” Idowu-Olayinka said.

The global educator submitted that in writing an award-winning grant proposals, the methodology must be very good and focused, the arrangement and packaging must be catchy, one must know the kind of agencies to apply to, understand people that can be in the position to support and always meet the deadline.

“It is equally important that we ensure clarity of thought, be punchy and concise, work our literature review to be current and detailed, ensure we adhere strictly to the guidelines of the funders and always be conversant with their requirements among others,” he said.

The former Vice Chancellor, commended OAUSTECH don’s on the various competitive grants they have won in recent times through the efforts and leadership style of the incumbent Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Temi Ologunorisa.

He enjoined geophysicist, academic staff and other upcoming researchers in the university to be willing to learn always from experienced researchers within and outside the university, collaborate with their colleagues and leverage on guidance, support and mentorship of their supervisors and experts in the field.

He added that he was impressed that both postgraduate and undergraduate students of the university attended the workshop, asking useful questions and making impactful contributions.

Meanwhile, Ologunorisa, in his remarks, applauded the guest speaker for an exhaustive discourse.

He emphasised that his goal was to appropriately position OAUSTECH on the globe through world-class research outputs and regular impressive publications.

He assured that OAUSTECH was already on the march to carve a niche for itself in the area of its competitive advantage, which is the area of marine and coastal economy (blue economy), which is the newest economy of the world.

“Without mincing words, we want to build scholars and thoroughly- bred academics that can attract funds and grants into this university, as grants and funding are becoming more and more globally competitive. We would not be left behind,” Ologunorisa said. (NAN)(