Addressing journalists on the Osogbo main campus of the university on Monday, Adebooye said scholars from various departments in the institution won research grants running to N173 million in the outgone year.
Presenting the grantees their letters of award that will enable them to access the funds, Adebooye warned them against spending the money on frivolities.
He said, “Winning a research grant is not an opportunity to go and buy a new car, phone, television or gadgets. Don’t pursue material things from your first grant. Push knowledge. It is time for you to push for knowledge, write your name in gold. When you do this, you will win more. That is how some of us built our careers.
“The first grant we got, we focused on contributing to knowledge, on doing research and doing the work as it ought to be done.
“Make sure things are done properly so that you make yourself a strong scientist and researcher, and also defend your name and that of the school. If you mess up, you damage yourself and the name of the school.”
Speaking on the grants won by the lecturers, Adebooye added that compared to 2022 when UNIOSUN won just two grants with a total value of N36 million, in the 2023 grant cycle, the institution leap-frogged to six awards with a total value of over N174 million.
He added, “UNIOSUN and two other universities in the Southwest led the state universities in Nigeria with each university having six successful research proposals.
“UNIOSUN also emerged as one the two universities nationwide (the other being the University of Ibadan) that won the highest number of NRF research grants under the Humanities and Social Science Research Category.
“Both universities produced four awardees each in the HSS category. We planned serious mentorship strategy, Campus-to-Campus grantsmanship and sensitisation campaigns.”
