he Quality Assurance and Planning Unit of the Vice-Chancellor's Office in collaboration with the Human Resource Development Division has organised a three-day workshop for staff. The aim of the workshops was to enhance the competence of staff in writing winnable proposals and enable them plan and do research for publications in refereed journals.

The workshop was officially opened by the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. William O. Ellis, who in his opening address, indicated that this forms part of his vision to revitalise and refocus research units to deliver high quality research and services in their core areas. He stressed the need to optimise the returns from research, consultancy and service, especially the spinning out of new businesses from research activities.

Professor Ellis praised the organisers for putting the workshop together, and intimated that the budget support from Central Government is inadequate to fund research. He, therefore, described the workshop as appropriate and timely. In his conclusion remarks, he urged the participants to double their efforts in research and publications.

The first presenter for the workshop, Prof. William Oduro, Dean of the Faculty of Renewable Natural Resource, took the participants through the following topics: pre-proposal writing, developing the proposal concept paper, writing the proposal, and criteria used in assessing proposals. Again, participants were taken through implementing and sustaining the project after winning the proposal.

The second day was devoted to Research and Publications in Science and Technology. Prof. R. C. Abaidoo, the Provost of the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources was the resource person. He took the participants through the following topics: importance of research and publication, developing a research agenda in technology and the sciences, effective supervision for better output, effective summarization of thesis to publications, and when and where to publish.

The third and final day was devoted to Research and Publications in the humanities. The presenter was Prof. K. K. Adarkwa, the immediate past Vice-Chancellor. The Vice-Chancellor joined the presentations and assisted to answer some of the questions.

The participants were taken through various topics, including: importance of research and publication, developing a research agenda in the humanities, effective supervision for better output, effective summarization of thesis to publications, and when and where to publish.

The workshop was used to expose participants to the KNUST (DSpace) with assistance from the University Library. Leaflets on the KNUST Repository were distributed to all participants and they were encouraged to send their research into the Repository.

There was an open forum for each session which was moderated by Professor Samuel N. Odai, Head of QAPU. Participants asked various questions and the answers were provided by the resource person. Professor Adarkwa shared his rich experiences with the participants during the open forum.

The workshop was opened each day with a word of prayer by Rev. Dr. Paul K. Boafo, the University Chaplain, who also gave the closing prayer throughout the various sessions.