SBAHS Research and Grants Writing Committee

Hero Page Title:
Building a Stronger Research and Grants Culture at SBAHS

Slogan: 
Think clearly. Write competitively. Fund boldly. Build impact.

 

Chair’s Note

Research culture is built deliberately. It grows when ideas are encouraged, when researchers are supported early, when students are exposed to strong examples, when funding opportunities are made visible, and when a School begins to treat grantsmanship as a shared responsibility rather than an individual struggle. It is within this spirit that the SBAHS Research and Grants Writing Committee was instituted by the Dean of the School of Biomedical and Allied Health Sciences, Professor Samuel S. Antwi-Baffour, to strengthen research capacity, grant readiness, scholarly visibility, and collaborative research practice across the School.

The Committee was established as part of a wider effort to position SBAHS as a School recognised not only for strong teaching and professional training, but also for competitive, ethical, visible, and fundable research. Its work complements the efforts of the University and College Research and Innovation structures by bringing research and grantsmanship support closer to faculty members, graduate students, and Departments within the School. The Committee’s mandate is practical: to help faculty and graduate students think more strategically about research, write stronger proposals, publish more intentionally, identify timely opportunities, build meaningful collaborations, and translate research into practice, policy, and social benefit.

The Committee is chaired by Dr Richard Appiah, with Dr Ewurama D. A. Owusu, Prof Akua Obeng Forson, Dr Noah O. Nkrumah, and Dr Frank Atta Ekow Hayford serving as members, and Ms Etheldreda Theodora Fenny serving as Secretary. Much of committee work happens behind the scenes, but its value is felt when a webinar runs smoothly, a newsletter is published, a funding opportunity reaches the right colleague, or a young researcher begins to see a clearer path towards a grant application or manuscript.

At the heart of our work is the SBAHS Monthly Research and Grants Writing Webinar Series. The series is held on the first Wednesday of every month, from 11:00am to 12:30pm GMT, unless otherwise stated. The sessions are hosted via Microsoft Teams through the recurring link: https://teams.microsoft.com/meet/36453292484835?p=N441TGbbuV6SRJonHd. The webinar series is open to faculty, students, staff, affiliates, colleagues across the University of Ghana, and interested participants outside the University who may benefit from the discussions.

The purpose of the webinar series is simple but important: to bring experienced scholars, successful grant holders, research leaders, and grant reviewers into direct conversation with faculty members and graduate students. Since its launch in February 2026, the series has created a collegial space where speakers share practical lessons from their own research journeys, including how they built research niches, found collaborators, responded to funder priorities, managed grants, handled rejection, strengthened visibility, and sustained long-term programmes of work. We are especially grateful to our previous speakers, Dr Luchuo Engelbert Bain, Prof Seth Adu-Afarwuah, Dr Marilyn N. Ahun, Prof Deliwe Rene Phetlhu, Prof Sharon Wolf, and Prof John K. Ganle, for their generous, stimulating, clear, and inspiring presentations. We are equally grateful to our upcoming speakers, including Prof Kwasi Torpey, Dr Jeannine Baumgartner, Dr Karen O’Callaghan, and Prof Samuel Nii Ardey Codjoe, for agreeing to support the School’s research and grantsmanship agenda.

Alongside the webinars, the Committee publishes the SBAHS Monthly Newsletter. The newsletter documents the Committee’s activities, shares reflections from the Dean, highlights recent and upcoming webinars, translates SBAHS research into plain language, profiles evidence-to-practice contributions, and curates funding, fellowship, scholarship, and grant opportunities relevant to faculty members and students. Each issue is designed to do more than report events. It seeks to make research visible, accessible, practical, and inspiring. Hosting the newsletters on the School’s website will create a living archive of the School’s growing research culture and make these resources accessible to current colleagues, students, alumni, collaborators, and prospective partners.

The Committee also supports broader research capacity-strengthening activities. These include grant-writing support, manuscript development conversations, funding opportunity scans, practical workshops, and activities that help faculty and graduate students move from early ideas to better-developed research plans. A major upcoming activity is the in-person Grant Writing Workshop scheduled for 20 and 21 October 2026. The workshop will be facilitated by Dr Marilyn N. Ahun of McGill University, together with Dr Richard Appiah and other scholars from the University of Ghana. It will provide hands-on support for participants to strengthen actual draft proposals and develop more competitive applications.

Our wider goal is not simply to organise events. It is to help build a School where research ideas are taken seriously, where early-career researchers receive guidance, where graduate students see clear models of scholarly growth, where Departments collaborate more readily, and where faculty members are supported to pursue funding with confidence and integrity. In today’s research environment, good ideas are necessary, but they are not enough. Researchers also need strategy, clarity, mentorship, institutional support, strong teams, and the discipline to communicate their work convincingly.

I warmly invite faculty members, graduate students, staff, affiliates, University colleagues, and external partners to engage with the Committee’s activities. Read the newsletter. Share the funding calls. Attend the monthly webinars. Invite your students and colleagues. Ask questions. Follow up with speakers. Submit recent publications for possible feature. Most importantly, take one useful idea from these activities and put it into practice.

The work of building a competitive research culture is collective. It requires vision from leadership, commitment from faculty, curiosity from students, support from staff, and generosity from experienced scholars. The Committee is honoured to contribute to this work, and we look forward to continuing this journey with the School and the wider University community.

Richard Appiah, PhD, ClinPsych, PPsych, FHEA

Chair, SBAHS Research and Grants Writing Committee
Editor, SBAHS Monthly Newsletter
 

SBAHS Monthly Newsletters

The newsletter documents the Committee’s activities, shares reflections from the Dean, highlights recent and upcoming webinars, translates SBAHS research into plain language, profiles evidence-to-practice contributions, and curates funding, fellowship, scholarship, and grant opportunities relevant to faculty members and students. Each issue is designed to do more than report events. It seeks to make research visible, accessible, practical, and inspiring. Hosting the newsletters on the School’s website will create a living archive of the School’s growing research culture and make these resources accessible to current colleagues, students, alumni, collaborators, and prospective partners.
         

	SBAHS Monthly Newsletters Vol1 Issue 1
	SBAHS Monthly Newsletters Vol1 Issue 2
	SBAHS Monthly Newsletters Vol1 Issue 3
	SBAHS Monthly Newsletters Vol1 Issue 4
	SBAHS Monthly Newsletters Vol1 Issue 5