KNUST Staff trained in Research Grant Proposal Development

The Office of Grants and Research (OGR) organises workshop on Research Grant Proposal Development.

The Online workshop which began on Tuesday, November 2, 2021, was preceded by an in-person Pre-workshop meeting on Friday, October 29, 2021 to discuss modalities for the workshop, provide participants with essential workshop-related information, and facilitate individual groups readiness for the main event. The Pre-workshop meeting was held at the Gardiner Conference Room, Great Hall, KNUST with about 95 participants.

In his opening address, the Director of the Office of Grants and Research, Prof. Robert Clement Abaidoo, who doubled as the main facilitator for the meeting assured participants that the workshop had been carefully planned to ensure participants are well equipped to develop wining proposal. He explained that the workshop had been fashioned in such a way that participating groups would use already drafted proposals and systematically work to improve them as the workshop progressed. He affirmed that the concept of the workshop had been used for a similar one on Article Writing which had been a success.  He therefore encouraged participants to stay committed to the process.

Prof. Philip Antwi-Agyei, the Chair for the Young Researchers Forum informed participants that the YRF, which is under the OGR, seeks to share ideas and promote research at KNUST. He explained that activities of the Forum include research grant acquisition, creating networks and developing research citizenships within each college. He urged participants, that as researchers, they ought to frequently check their emails as some collaborators use such channels to share Funding Opportunity Announcements.

Participants were taken through a detailed outline for the online workshop including the schedule, the topics to be covered and facilitators of the event. There was a question-and-answer session and a brief meeting with group leaders after the pre-workshop meeting. The online workshop was scheduled as follows:

• 2nd – 3rd November – Part 1
• 4th – 14th November – Writing break
• 15th – 16th November – Part 2

In a related story, the first part of the Research Grant Proposal Development Workshop was held on the November 2nd and 3rd, 2021. The facilitators of the online workshop were Prof. David Walwyn (University of Pretoria), Dr Robin Drennan (Wits University) and Dr Matt Johnson (Coventry University), all of whom are very experienced in developing winning grant proposals. Topics covered in the first part of the workshop included introduction to grant writing, writing winning grants, Preparing Budgets and Project Plans, and Review of Proposals.