By Maduka Nweke
To bridge the gap arising from lack of documentation, the President of the Nigerian Institute of Building (NIOB), Mr Kunle Awobodu has urged wealthy Nigerians to invest in research for societal development.
Awobodu who affirmed his belief in the potentials of the black man for excellence, made the call for investment in research at the second edition of lecture series of the Association of Builders in Academia.
The President challenged participants to also explore local sources of funding for their research endeavours. He noted that bringing research outputs to a finished level for society’s adoption is a crucial part of the research ecosystem.
He gave additional insight into the NIOB’s commitment to research manifested in its ongoing efforts at realising the development of a world class research centre in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. He added that one of the key objectives of the Centre is to research into alternative building materials and promotion of skills for the nation’s development.
Earlier, Chairman of the Association of Builders in Academia, Professor Martin Dada, while welcoming participants, reminded them that men of ideas rule the world. He urged participants to continue in the search for workable ideas to advance society.
The topic, ‘Exploring Opportunities for Research Grants, Conferences and Publications’ was addressed by Sani Kunya, a Professor of Building and a former SubDean of Students Affairs of the Abubakar Tafawa Balewa University, Bauchi; and James Rotimi, an Associate Professor of Construction Management at the Massey University, New Zealand.
Kunya explained the concept of research grant and related it to the mandate and history of the Nigerian Tertiary Education Trust Fund (TETFUND). He also challenged participants to source research grants for advancing scientific knowledge, career development, increased visibility and supplementing provisions for the development of new programmes in their respective institutions.
He referred it to what was termed the global local context and took participants through the processes of writing research proposals for grant support. He then explained some potentials of grant support available at university levels and also TETFUND.
Rotimi acknowledged the need for research but emphasised that researches should aim at closing the gap between the industry and the academia. According to him, the researcher should engage the industry to identify industry’s concerns and what he termed ‘wicked problems’ of the organisation or society. According to him, beyond scoring points in publications, the researcher must demonstrate the impact of his research on society or sectors thereof.
Rotimi further identified some areas of interest for a typical research funding agency. The areas, he said, include a clear indication of the problem that needs to be solved and how it is to be solved, a credible plan for implementation and how to turn knowledge into benefits for the society. He further emphasised the need for interdisciplinary or multidisciplinary research teams to consider the research from various perspectives and the need for communication of how each member of the team would contribute to the research endeavour.