Prof. Evans Osabuohien
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Prof Evans Osabuohien Trains African Early Career Researchers on the Art of Grant Winning and Quality Publication
As a further step in making credible impact on humanity, Prof Evans Osabuohien co-hosted a workshop tagged “Workshop and Network Meeting for African Postgraduate and Early Career Researchers in Economics and Social Sciences”. The workshop took place between the 28th and 29th of October 2021 as part of the collaboration of Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria (CU) and Universität Witten Herdecke, Witten, Germany (UW/H). It was graciously supported by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) within the framework of the Research Linkage Programme, which is coordinated by Prof Evans Osabuohien and Prof Magdalene Silberberger (UW/H). It was organised using the platform of Covenant University Centre for Economic, Policy and Development Research (CEPDeR) to promote collective research skills crucial for graduate students and early career researchers in Africa.
While giving his welcome remark as the Chair of the Organising Committee, Prof Evans Osabuohien encouraged participants (both physical and virtual) to take full advantage of the workshop by actively engaging in all the sessions and seeking avenues to network. He drew from his personal experience while attending a similar event in Ghana in 2010, where he first met Prof Magdalene Silberberger, which formed the fulcrum for collaboration that birthed the ideas for the workshop. ‘We hope that we will have testimonies of excellent outcomes arising from this workshop through collaboration and networking in years to come, he noted.
Apart from leading one of the groups during the breakout sessions, Prof. Evans Osabuohien took two very thought-provoking sessions, “Grant Winning and Implementation – Some Helpful Tips” and “Common Sense of Translating Manuscripts to Publishable Articles: Insiders’ View.”
On the “Grant Winning and Implementation – Some Helpful Tips”, Prof Evans Osabuohien examined the topic in an interactive session where the concept of grant winning, ‘sportsmanship/sportswomanship’ in grant winning, the contextualisation, feasibility and approach-CFA framework of research grant winning and helpful tips in accessing grants were treated. Also, some funding agencies in Economics & Social Sciences disciplines were shared. In addition, Prof Evans Osabuohien used insights from the AvH research linkage programme and other ongoing grants cum recently executed grants to motivate the participants on the reality of grant winning.
The session on “Common Sense of Translating Manuscripts to Publishable Articles: Insiders’ View’ (co-anchored with Prof Magdalene Silberberger) was handled with much acuity starting from the introduction, the importance of starting with unique principles, the peculiarities of Economics & Social Sciences publishing, why it is essential to publish, insights from research/academic impact pyramid. Participants were made to see the growth from adaptability to the point of stimulation and indelible impact termed ‘immortality in research’. The session concluded with how to choose publication outlets and how to deal with rejection, adding that one cannot start writing when one is good but keep writing and keep moving forward until the mastery stage is attained.
Altogether, participants’ minds were opened to the existing opportunities and the importance of collaboration and networking. The presentation material is available online.
