The Danish Ministry of Foreign Affairs (DANIDA) under the Building Stronger Universities (BSU) Initiative has awarded a 13 Million DKK grant to the University of Ghana (UG) and its partners, for the implementation of Phase III of the BSU Programme. The BSU Phase III programme is a collaboration between UG, University of Aarhus, and University of Copenhagen. The BSU III programme was formally approved by the Danish Minister for Development Cooperation in September 2017, and is effective from October 2017 to September 2021.
The BSU Phase III programme consolidates the gains and achievements of earlier phases of the programme, and the Phase III focuses on i) Malaria Research (malaria and haemoglobinopathies), ii) Climate Change Research (climate change adaptation and mitigation), and iii) Institutional Capacity Building with emphasis on outreach and engagement with external stakeholders. The project aims to i) enhance administrative capacity for research management; ii) enhance research and outreach capacity at system/organisational level, and iii) research, outreach and teaching capacity at the PhD and post-doctoral levels.
The project is organised around three Work Packages and will include research teams comprised of Senior Researchers, Post-doctoral Fellows, and PhD students working on research projects in the afore-mentioned thematic areas. Other components include the development of E-textbooks with enhanced local content, improving the research grant administration environment, and engagement and training of faculty in stakeholder and industrial outreach.
The processes leading to the award included a series of meetings between UG and Danish academic partners, and a DANIDA Appraisal Team, and were facilitated by the Pro Vice-Chancellor (RID), Professor Francis Dodoo, who played a critical role in shaping the discussions on the convergence between UG and DANIDA research priorities and strategic interests, and transition from BSU II to BSU III.
The BSU III project at UG is led by Professor George Obeng Adjei, Director for Research, and supported by the Research and Administrative Staff at ORID. The scientific delivery team includes Professor Richard Boateng (Department of Operations and Management Information Systems, University of Ghana Business School), Dr. Kwadwo Owusu (Department of Geography and Resource Development, School of Social Sciences), Dr. Michael Ofori (Department of Immunology, Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research), and Dr. Christiana Amoatey (Department of Crop Science, School of Agriculture). On the Danish side, the project is led by Dr Finn Plauborg (Aarhus University) and is supported by Professor Lars Hviid (University of Copenhagen), and Dr Kirsten Sorensen (Aarhus University).
The University of Ghana is pleased with this support from DANIDA, as the activities outlined in the current phase are of strategic importance in supporting the vision of the University to be a world-class research-intensive university.
