RESEARCH GRANT AWARDS

 1. Okuafo Pa Project on market-focused training in agricultural value chains for youth empowerment and job creation in Ghana. The project is to equip the youth in Ghana with the requisite knowledge and skills in agricultural business management along selected commodity value chains for job creation and economic empowerment (2019-2021). Role: Member of the team that wrote the proposal and leader of the Postharvest and Value Addition Module. Grant sum of Six Hundred and Nineteen thousand, Eight Hundred US Dollars ($ 619, 800). About 800 youth are currently being trained.

 2. Purdue Improved Crops Storage (PICS) 3 Project. This was a Sub Contract Project sponsored by Bill and Melinda Gate with an objective to facilitate the training of two Master (Mphil) students at KNUST in Ghana. The research was to help understand the use of PICS bags technology to reduce insecticide use and incidence of food poisoning, and document some of the stories by farmers and consumers of quality of grain stored in PICS bags in terms of health and/or nutrition (2016-2019). Role: PI / Technical lead. Contract sum of Twenty Thousand US Dollars ($20,000). Two Food Science and Technology MPhil students received research support.

3. Improving quality, nutrition and health: impacts of inclusion of HQCF in bread formulations in West African (Ghana and Nigeria). IITA-McGill-KNUST collaborative Project sponsored by IFAD. The project aimed to optimize the quality, nutritional and health implication of high-quality cassava flour (HQCF), promote household incomes as part of poverty reduction initiatives and employment creation, targeting rural communities and youth (2014-2016). Role: Collaborative Scientist. Grant sum of Seventeen Thousand, Five Hundred and Forty-Five Dollars ($17,545). Two Mphil Food Science and Technology students received research support.

4. Strengthening Root and Tuber Value Chains in Ghana, a DANIDA sponsored project. The project was to contribute to the national research capacity by providing scientific knowledge, solid baseline data, and proven methodologies to monitor performance of root and tuber (cassava, yam, cocoyam, and sweet potato) value chains in Ghana (2013-2017). Role: Member of the team that wrote the proposal and leader of New Product Development Work Package.  Grant sum of Four Million, Nine Hundred and Ninety-six Thousand Danish Krone (4,996,000 DKK), close to a million dollar (~$1,000,000) from DANIDA. Two PhDs and five MPhil students were fully sponsored.

5. Improved Yam Storage for Income and Food Security in Ghana with three hundred and seventy-five thousand U.S dollars ($375,000) sponsorship from AUSAID . Work package leader responsible for exploring the possibility of processing yam partially into various forms for long-term storage and to build capacity in effective storage and postharvest handling of yam tuber, 2013-2015.

6.  Micronutrient Composition of Ghanaian Green Leafy Vegetables and Impact of Cooking Methods. A competitive research attachment at the Institút National de la Recherche Agronomiqu? (INRA), Avignon in France with sponsorship from AWARD and Agropolis Fondation, 2013-2014.

TRAVEL GRANTS

1. Erasmus Mundus Scholar scholarship to the 2019 FIPDes Week in Paris, France, as an Academic Partner from Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), Ghana.
2. Staff mobility and teaching travel grant to ISA Lille, France. May 2019 to supervise students’ laboratory practicals and hold discussions on future collaborations.
3. Travel grant to a number of conferences (in USA, China, Denmark) by DANIDA Root and Tuber Value Chain Project 2013-2016
4. Australia Award Fellow travel grant to University of Sydney form a month training titled “Improving Agricultural Productivity through Increasing the Impact of Agricultural Research in Africa” from 27 April 2015 to 27 May 2015.
5. Agropolis Fondation travel grant for research attachement at the Institút National de la Recherche Agronomiqu? (INRA), Avignon in France, 2013-2015
6. African Women in Agricultural Research and Development (AWARD) travel grants for Research Proposal Writing Course, 19-25th February 2012, Kenya
7. AWARD travel grant for Women’s Leadership and Management Course-August 19-25, 2012, Kenya
8. Travel grant by Netherlands Government through Sustainable production and utilization of yam project to attend 1st International Chester Food Science & Technology Conference, University of Chester, UK, April 11-13, 2007.
9. Travel grant by Netherlands Government through Sustainable Production and Utilization of Yam Project to attend HACCP on new product development, and Sensory evaluation workshops at Campden and Chorleywood Food Research Association (CCFRA), UK, February 21 to March 1, 2007.