CENTRE TO ESTABLISH RESEARCH INTEGRITY UNIT AT AJAYI CROWTHER UNIVERSITY
The Centre for Bioethics and Research, Nigeria has promised to establish a Research Integrity Unit inside Ajayi Crowther University.
A release signed by the Public Relations Officer of ACU, Mr Olufemi Atoyebi, said the agreement was announced by the program coordinator of the centre, Adesola Adeyemo, when a team from the research centre visited the Vice-Chancellor, Prof Timothy Adebayo, and his deputy, Prof Muyiwa Popoola, after a workshop held on July 9, 2024 at Welcome Centre inside the school.
Adeyemo said 18 other institutions in Nigeria are partnering with the centre, adding that other benefits through the partnership include access to research grant offered by the United States, creation of research opportunities with global visibility and by extension, further exposure and acceptability of Ajayi Crowther University globally.
Other members of the team that visited the Vice-Chancellor from the centre were Professor of Psychology and Bioethics, Adebayo Adejumo; Professor of Philosophy and Bioethics, Christopher Agulanna; and Surgeon, Oncologist and Bioethics, Prof Temidayo Ogundiran.
They were accompanied into the VC office by Acting Head of Department, Biological Science, ACU, Dr Afolake Olanbiwonnu.
Adeyemo said, “Part of the programme covers training up to the level of a Masters degree in Bioethics. It focuses on responsible conduct of research. The focus of that is that at the end of the training, the trainees who have gone through the program would have become research integrity officers.
“One of the things we intend to do is to establish a research integrity unit here in Ajayi Crowther University. We are going to make available necessary support for the office to take off. Across the nation, we are going to have a national research integrity offices that will be similar to what we have in the US.
“With this training that we are providing, it is actually in line with National Institute of Health in Nigeria. For any researcher, particularly bio-medical researchers who are conducting research that involves humans, they are expected to go through a minimum of eight hours of physical contact training on responsible conduct of research. That is what we are providing right now.
“Those who want to access any grant as long as it has to do with the US government fund will be expected to provide evidence of this training.”
Adeyemo stated that already ACU researchers have an edge in accessing the US funded grant because through the workshop they have participated in, they would be issued certificate of participation.
“The interesting thing is that your researchers from Ajayi Crowther University who have participated are already taken care of. They can access the US grant and show this evidence that they have gone through this training.
“At the end of this training, we are going to provide them with the certificate of participation. Already they have some forms of certificates because they were all mandated to take some courses on CITI; that is Collaborative Institution Training Initiative.
“The Center for Ethics and Research paid for those courses so that researchers in Nigeria can access them free of charge. We paid for them so that as long as you come in through our platform to say you are affiliated to the centre, you have access to those courses free of charge and we have been providing that over the years. We are going to continue to do that,” the coordinator explained.
In his response, the Vice-Chancellor assured the centre that ACU is ready to be part of the initiative, promising that the University will facilitate participants for the programme.
“We will provide an enabling environment for all what you want to do. We are just an evolving university and we want to sprout. We are still building on the integrity of St Andrews College, said the VC,” he said.
