The Nigeria Institute of Medical Research Foundation (NIMR Foundation) has shortlisted 30 applicants for its 4th edition of the annual grantsmanship and mentorship training programme.

This is in a bid to expand the capacity for translational research among early career investigators.

The executive director of the foundation, Dr Olajide Sobande, disclosed this to journalists in Lagos on Saturday.

He said the training, in its fourth edition, would hold from Sept. 16 to Sept. 28 at the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in Yaba, Lagos state.

Mr Sobande said the programme, sponsored by the NIMR Foundation, was aimed at building network of early career investigators skilled in developing high-quality and competitive grant proposals.

He said the 30 participants, selected from different research institutions across the six geo-political zones in the country, were shortlisted out of the 109 applications received by the foundation.

According to him, the training, which is the third to be funded by the NIMR Foundation through donations received from well-meaning individuals and organisations, is continuously refined to achieve the broad aim of the training.

He said: “We received a total of 109 applications from 63 males and 46 females.

“These applicants were from research and academic institutions distributed across the 36 states of the Federation and the Federal Capital Territory.

“In selecting the 30 participants for this year’s edition, we have taken care to consider merit, geographical spread across the six zones of the Federation, gender, as well as considerations for staff of NIMR and affiliated institutions.”

According to him, the training has also been continuously refined over the last three years.

“This is driven largely by feedback from participants, implementation lessons and innovative ideas gained from similar programmes and refinement of the logical framework to achieve the broad aim of the training.

“The training component has been redesigned into a hybrid format consisting of five weeks remote lectures covering practice sessions on evidence synthesis through scoping reviews and systematic review, meta-analysis and two weeks of in-person, residential training at NIMR.”

NIMR Foundation is a private, non-profit organisation established by the Nigerian Institute of Medical Research (NIMR) in 2018.

It was eventually registered in February 2020 with the Corporate Affairs Commission.

It also has the mandate to expand the capacity for translational research among early career investigators and promote innovation, development and commercialisation of home-grown medicines, vaccines and technologies to address the country’s health challenges.

(NAN)