Meet the 2021-2022 grantees

Christ University, India

Dr Anita is Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Christ University, Bengaluru, India and also coordinates the PhD course of the department. She is a passionate researcher and has served in various teaching and administrative capacities over three decades. Mary Anita will use the ECR Training Grant to equip PhD students with the skills needed to make impactful, persuasive powerful presentations. The training will support students to write successful research proposals and therefore enable them to succeed professionally.

University of Ghana

Amma Appah is a Research Development Officer and the Leader of the Capacity Development Team, and she in charge of planning and facilitating capacity development programmes for staff and faculty at the University of Ghana. Amma will use this grant to organise training for early-career academics and doctoral students. The training will enable participants to develop their skills in grant proposal development to increase efficiency and success in accessing and winning external funding for research.

Fiji National University (FNU)

Professor Roland De Marco is Pro Vice-Chancellor Research at Fiji National University (FNU), and a Physical Chemist and Executive Leader of Research at FNU.  Roland applied for an Early Career Researchers (ECRs) Training grant to develop the entrepreneurship skills of FNU early career scholars. This training will arm ECRs at FNU with the knowledge and confidence to pitch to research and innovation funders, embedding the creation of high-quality pitches that may be used in the presentation of new concepts to sponsors.

Kibabii University, Kenya

Dr Manasi Echaune, Lecturer at Kibabii University in Kenya specialises in educational planning and management.  Echaune applied for a grant to deliver online training for ECRs.  The training targets participants from Kibabii University and other ACU member Universities with Kibabii University being the host.  The training will enable participants to share their experiences in grant proposal writing. The training will equip ECRs with skills and knowledge to identify grant opportunities, create data base for grant opportunities and write fundable proposals.

National University of Science and Technology, Zimbabwe

Dr Paul Makoni is the Chief Research Officer of the Research Office at the National University of Science and Technology (NUST). Dr Makoni specialises in conducting training for researchers and post graduate students to improve their research skills capacity. Paul applied for an Early Career Researcher Training Grant to train early career researchers, doctoral and post graduate students at NUST and other institutions to successfully bid for grants from international donors. The grant is expected to increase the number of successful grants won by NUST.

University of Calabar, Nigeria

Professor Mbe Egom Nja is a Professor of Statistics and the Director of the Centre for Teaching and Learning Excellence at the University of Calabar. He earned his PhD degree in Statistics from the University of Ibadan and has trained many students on the techniques of research and proposal writing. Professor Nja applied for the ECR training grant to help strengthen the research base of early-career academics in the University of Calabar, particularly in the area of grant writing.

University of Nigeria

Dr Cynthia Nwobodo is a Senior Research Fellow at the Gender and Development Policy Centre at the University of Nigeria, and her work look at gender equality and women empowerment. She applied for a grant to organise a training workshop on grant writing for the Gender Centre staff, and postgraduate students who are working on gender research. The goal of the proposed training is to build the capacity of both early career researchers at the centre and doctoral students in writing grant-winning proposals.

University of Cape Coast, Ghana

Dorcas Obiri-Yeboah is an Associate Professor of Clinical Microbiology, Deputy Director, Directorate of Research, Innovation and Consultancy, and a clinician-scientist specialising in research on infectious diseases. Dorcas applied for the ACU Early Career Researchers Training Grant to build and strengthen the capacity of participants in research data management through the provision of the knowledge, skills and competencies needed. This is expected to positively impact the research output of participants.

University of Lagos, Nigeria

Dr Joy Ifunanya Odimegwu is a Senior Lecturer at the Department of Pharmacognosy, Faculty of Pharmacy University of Lagos. She specialises in the development and conservation of herbal medicines, botanical drugs bioprospecting for Pharmaceutical Leads against gynaecological cancers, drug-resistant micro-organisms and cardiovascular diseases.

Joy applied for the Early Career Researchers Training Grants to enable her to train Doctoral and post-doctoral students and staff candidates on the application of social media and networking in academia and research.

Universiti Malaya, Malaysia

Dr Stefanie Shamila Pillai is a Professor at the Faculty of Languages and Linguistics and currently heads the Social Advancement and Happiness Research Cluster at the university. She applied for the ACU Early Career Researcher (ECR) Training Grant to conduct training workshops on ‘Writing winning research proposals and presenting and pitching your research’. The workshops aim to increase the number of submissions of research proposals by Universiti Malaya's early career researchers.