The Vice-Chancellor, Professor Olusola Oyewole, has congratulated the University of Greenwich’s Natural Resources Institute (NRI) ground-breaking work on cassava that led it to bag the prestigious Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Further and Higher Education.
In an official electronic mail, Professor Oyewole said the University was glad to be associated with NRI, adding that FUNAAB was also grateful for the continued support and the existing collaborations between both institutions over the years. Similarly, the Vice-Chancellor, University of Greenwich, Professor David Maguire said, “the whole University is hugely proud of this great honour; it’s a great accolade for NRI and another clear indicator of their exceptional, world-class work in this field. The prize is also a wonderful tribute to our international funders and partners. They have helped us to apply our expertise on a global scale, transforming the lives of some of the world’s poorest communities”.
Commending the team for the joint efforts at winning the prize, the Director, Natural Resources Institute, Professor Andrew Westby, stated that CAVA projects constituted important part of the submission for the prize, stressing that the “award is made to University of Greenwich, I really do value the collaborations that we have had. In some cases, these go back for more than 25 years. Please, do consider that you have a part of the award”.
Professor Westby added that the award was a great credit to NRI’s dedicated social and natural scientists as well as postgraduate research students, whose world-leading research and development works on cassava were making real differences to the lives of poor people in developing countries. Professor Westby, who is also the Deputy Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), University of Greenwich, stated that the main funders of NRI’s work had been the UK’s Department for International Development; the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; the European Commission; the African Union; International Fund for Agricultural Development; CGIAR centres and programmes, among others.
According to him, “Central to our approach and success has been the strength of our collaboration with our partners around the world”. He added that NRI’s submission to the Royal Anniversary Trust, which awards Queen’s Anniversary Prizes to Universities and colleges, recognises excellence, innovation, impact and benefit for winning institutions and for the society in general in four main areas, namely: overcoming emergent diseases threatening cassava production, adding value through processing and business development, managing waste within the value chain for economic returns, and strengthening the capacity of developing-country scientists and practitioners.
The Queen’s Anniversary Prize for Higher and Further Education is a biennial award within the United Kingdom’s national honours system. It is the prestigious form of national recognition that is open to UK academic institutions. Meanwhile, a formal award ceremony will be held at Buckingham Palace in February 2016.
Last Updated on December 7, 2015 by admin
