ORID STAFF ATTEND SOUTH-SOUTH NETWORKING MEETING ON GRANTS MANAGEMENT

The Office of Research, Innovation and Development (ORID), the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), and other south partners of the DANIDA funded, Building Stronger Universities (BSU) phase 3 project, have participated in a networking meeting on grants management. The two-day South-South networking meeting was under the theme; “Creating Sustainable Partnerships for Improved Grants and Research Management”.

The meeting was organized by KNUST’s Office of Grants and Research (OGR) and held at the Mastercard Impact Building on the KNUST campus in Kumasi on 6th and 7th October 2022. The Director of ORG, KNUST Professor Philip Antwi-Agyei who opened the meeting, welcomed participants to the meeting. Other officials of ORG include Dr Nadia Tagoe, Mrs Hannah Adom Eyison, Ms Patricia Amoah Yirenkyi and Ms Linda Aduku.

Participants highlighted the overall impact of the BSU project in strengthening their institution’s capacity, and shared knowledge and strategies for navigating the research management landscape through recent global events and evolving trends in research administration.  Other participating institutions included the State University of Zanzibar (SUZA) and University of Cape Coast (UCC). The UCC representative Dr Millicent Aning-Agyei, Research Fellow at the Office of Research, Innovation and Consultancy (ORIC), enriched the networking effort and discourse with a presentation on Toolkits and Resources for Grant and Research Managers.

The ORID representatives Mr. Krobea Asante Kotoko and Mrs. Patience Okpoti from the Accounting and the Pre-And-Post Award Teams, highlighted areas within the research support system which had been strengthened through BSU funding. These ranged from accounting and grants management software and equipment which had improved ORID’s delivery capacity considerably. They enumerated the extensive support offered by BSU consultants to improve financial management and proposal submission to enable ORID provide vital support, given the increasing volume of research projects at UG.

The Danish consultant, Mr. Christian Gregart presented insights on key requirements of Donor agencies. These include Institutions having in place, policies on Anti-corruption, Preventing Sexual Exploitation, Abuse & Harassment (PSEAH).

Professor George Obeng Adjei, (former Director of Research, ORID) who is the BSU Coordinator gave an overview of the activities implemented under the various work packages of the BSU project. He acknowledged the immense benefits accruing to UG faculty and staff over the extended period of the project.

The first phase of BSU programme (BSUI), commenced in 2011 with the objective of establishing long-term partnerships between universities and research institutions in developing countries and Denmark. The aim of the partnerships is to develop institutional capacity, establish mutually beneficial networks, to benefit from and better manage research grants.

As a result of the success of the initial phase, two additional phases have been rolled out i.e, BSUII from 2015 to 2016 and BSU III from 2017 to 2022 with the possibility of a no cost extension period.  

Some of the benefits derived by the University of Ghana from the BSU projects are the extensive training programmes which had produced several cohorts of graduate students, at master’s and PhD level as well as post-doctoral fellowships and UG-trained faculty. In addition, there have been several capacity building workshops organized by ORID for post-doctoral candidates, early career faculty and grants administration staff at all levels, infrastructure support as well as research capacity strengthening in the four UG research thematic areas.

Accordingly, the meeting at KNUST discussed some of the gains achieved over the course of BSU programme and sustainable pathways to consolidating established networks. 

Mr Christian Gregart who had completed his work on the project was presented with a traditional stole by Professor Obeng Adjei, on behalf of the organizing partners and participants.

In her closing remarks, Mrs Hannah Adom Eyison, encouraged participating institutions to further focus on strengthening the networking opportunities and engage in knowledge sharing.

Participants in a group photograph