Office For Research Support

The office for Research Support (ORS) was set up in 2006 as a unit of the Administration department of the Institute, to coordinate research projects activities and provide pre- and post-award administrative services for sponsored projects. The ORS is headed by a Research Development Officer in the Coordinating office who reports directly to the Director of the Institute. The office comprises the Finance Unit, Documentation/Compliance Unit, Publications, Database Management and Research Links Unit. These units are juxtaposed to provide administrative services for projects. 

The ORS provides pre- and post-award administrative services for sponsored projects. This includes:

Dissemination of funding opportunities
Compilation of documents for grant application
Proposal development and grant submission
Tracking of submitted proposals
Notification of award and account set up for project

Contract Negotiations
Review of sub agreements, material transfer agreements, Memorandum of Understanding etc
Monitoring of expenditure against approved budget lines
Organization of project workshops and conferences
Submission of financial and technical reporting

Close out processes

The ORS ensures overall effective coordination of the research administration service, policies and processes. The office has designed checklist forms for grant submission, budget preparation and human subject/clinical trial submission. A grant management manual has been developed, awaiting management approval before use. The Office of Research Support, therefore, serves as a bridge between the funders and the Principal Investigators (PI)at the Institute, and addresses queries on behalf of the PI

The Office works concurrently with the Accounts Office and Central Administration. The office also communicates regularly with donor agencies such as the National Institute of Health (NIH), Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF), World Health Organization (WHO), EDCTP, Wellcome Trust, JICA, Global fund, LSHTM, DANIDA, UNDP, US Department of Defense, Swiss TPH, Foreign Commonwealth Development Corporation (FCDO), Rockefeller Foundation.

Staff Outlook

The Office has a staff strength of six, including three finance officers, two administrative assistants and a coordinator.  Staff of the Office have received in-house training at the Yale Office for Sponsored Project (OSP) and have attended various international conferences and training workshops such as the Society for Research Administrators (SRAI) Conference and the West African Research and Innovation Management Association (WARIMA) workshops.

Support to Research

As at the first half of 2022, the Office is effectively coordinating ninety active projects. In the past three years, the Office successfully facilitated the submission of thirty-five (35) grants. Grants were submitted to agencies such as Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), National Institute of Health (NIH), European Union (EU), EDCTP, Wellcome Trust, Coalition for Operational Research on NTD’s (COR-NTD), L’Initiative, WHO-TDR and Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (BMGF). Out of these, notable grants awarded include:

Sustaining and Improving surveillance of human and animal influenza and other respiratory pathogens in Ghana (SHARPEN-FLU)- CDC

Developing a Drug Discovery Hub in Ghana- BMGF
Enhanced Strategies to Protect and Improve Health Security in Ghana (ESPHIS-GH)- CDC
A Phase 3 double-blind, randomized, active comparator-controlled, group-sequential, multinational trial to assess the safety and efficacy of a trivalent P2-VP8 subunit rotavirus vaccine in prevention of severe rotavirus gastroenteritis in healthy infants- PATH
Elucidating the mechanisms and functions of bacterial-derived mediators on Plasmodium falciparum- WELLCOME TRUST
Capacity Building for Enhanced Research Administration (CaBERA-II) in Africa

The ORS has successfully completed two Yellow Book audit by NIH and two site visit by CDC and NIH. The Office also facilitated the institution of the Noguchi COVID-19 fund which awarded grants to five young fellows in the Institute to conduct research related to COVID-19.  