The Director of Africa Centre for Coastal Resilience (ACeCoR), Prof. Denis W. Aheto, has urged postgraduate students of the Department of Biomedical Sciences to be ambitious in their quest to hone skills in grantsmanship.

Prof. Aheto noted that the process was very demanding, and therefore, they must be determined to give off their best  to prepare a professional, competitive and compelling proposal to be successful to win grants.

“Writing Grants does not mean the absence of challenges. The challenges will keep coming but, you don't have to stop writing, Prof. Denis W. Aheto said.

Prof. Denis Aheto making a presentation at the workshop

Prof. Aheto was speaking at a day’s workshop for postgraduate students of the Department of Biomedical Sciences on the topic “Mechanics of Grant Writing”.

The Director of AceCoR entreated the postgraduate students to take interest in grantsmanship and work in teams to develop proposals to fund research projects since government’s funding of postgraduate education was very limited.

Prof. Aheto, who has rich experience in grantsmanship and won millions of US Dollars for UCC and thousands of dollars at his personal capacity, implored faculty and students to identify authorities in their academic field and establish connection with them.

“One of the surest ways to succeed in grantsmanship is to connect with authorities in your field of study then engage them in grant proposal writing,” he advised them.

To prepare a winnable proposal for grants, Prof. Aheto told the postgraduate students to improve on their presentation skills and prepare a strong proposal.

Prof. Aheto also touched on goals of a proposal, types of grants and grant seeking strategies, developing ideas, project thinking, tips for applying for grants, among others.

Closing the workshop, the Dean of the School of Allied Health Sciences, Prof. Desmond Omane, underscored the need for the students to build networks and connections.

He encouraged the students put the knowledge they had acquired into practice, saying: “start something no matter how small it is when the call comes, it will develop into a full proposal.”

Present at the workshop were the Dean, School of Graduate Studies, Prof. Sarah Darkwa; Head, Department of Biomedical Sciences, Prof. Alexander Egyir-Yawson and some lecturers of the Department of Biomedical Sciences.

Some of the lecturers listening to the presentation