LASU wins 2020 TETFund research grants

Two research teams from Lagos State University (LASU), led by a former Dean, Faculty of Arts, Prof. Adeniyi Harrison, and the current Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, Prof. Omobitan Olufunso, have won the 2020 Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFund) national research fund to the tune of N66.8 million.

Prof. Harrison-led research project titled: “Developing functional Metalanguage for the 21st century needs of Nigerian national languages,” got a grant of N32m, while Prof. Omobitan’s project titled: “Emerging patterns and determinants of rape: Comparative study of rural-urban communities in Nigeria,” won a grant of N33, 824m. The projects will run for a period of 18 and 23 months respectively.

In a brief ceremony held at the acting vice chancellor’s office to present letters of award to leaders of the two groups, the Acting VC, Prof. Oyedamola Oke, congratulated the awardees for putting together the award-winning proposals, which attracted a chunk of the N7.5b TETFund research facility to LASU.

He also thanked the outgoing director, Directorate of Research Management and Innovation, Prof. Olumuyiwa Odusanya, for the role of the agency in attracting the grants. He urged the awardees to be good ambassadors of the institution.

Prof. Odusanya, in his brief remarks, said the 2020 award marked the second time that LASU would be winning the NRF grants. He said although the process of fine-tuning and sending proposals was challenging, he was happy that the outcome was worth the efforts.

Odusanya said there were several lessons to be drawn from the process, noting that the process of peer review of proposals must be sustained, while proposals must be broad-based encompassing various fields of study.

Prof. Harrison, who spoke on behalf of recipients, thanked the university for its support for the researchers’ effort and canvassed the institution’s continued support throughout the project duration.