A team of University of Port Harcourt (UNIPORT) researchers has won an N100m national research grant from the Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund).

The spokesperson of the university, Mr. Sammy Kpenu disclosed that a team of researchers, including the immediate past Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Hakeem Fawehinmi, was among the winners of the National Research Fund (NRF) grant awarded in the 2020 cycle.

In a statement, Kpenu said the award is coming few months after the institution won 25 TETFund Institution-Based Research (IBR) grants valued at over N40m.

“Four research teams at the University of Port Harcourt, with the immediate past Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic), Prof. Hakeem Fawehinmi; Dr Ijeoma Vincent-Akpu; Dr A. D. Nbete, and Dr Silvanus Ofili as principal investigators were among those that won the highly competitive research grant awarded in the 2020 cycle by TETFund.

The Acting Director, Academic Planning, Dr A. D. Nbete, a principal investigator for one of the research teams, congratulated the other researchers on their meritorious awards and thanked TETFund for the opportunity.

He encouraged academics in the institution to deepen and widen their involvement in multi-disciplinary research collaborations, both within and beyond the university.

He emphasised the need for applicants to adhere to the set guidelines and ensure that their proposals are of the highest attainable standard that would meet the high expectations of the fund’s screening committee.