University of Nigeria

                                                                             University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

Hello my esteemed viewers,

It is my pleasure to present the 2^nd edition of the University of Nigeria Research Groups (RGs). This edition contains the summaries of eighty-six (86) RGs that are drawn from all the academic units of the university. These are the apparent active RGs in UNN. You'll agree that there is no need to include non-active RGs in the directory.

The criteria for defining active RG: 1. existing RGs that submitted their     progress reports and 2. New applications for registration as RGs.

The list of the active RGs that will be included in the 2nd edition of the UNN directory is included in the body of the mail and also attached as a MS word file. They will also receive the financial support from the University administration to help in running some of their activities.  

Please, let us know whether you either submitted a progress report or sent a concept note for a new RG and your RG is omitted from the list.

Summary of active research groups in UNN – June 2017

Faculty	Numbers of active research groups
Agriculture	8
Arts	11
Basic Medical Sciences	1
Biological Sciences	9
Dentistry	1
Education	1
Engineering	3
Environmental Sciences	5
Health Science and Technology	3
Law	1
Medical Sciences	19
Pharmaceutical Sciences	7
Physical Sciences	6
Social Sciences	3
Vocational and Technical Education	2
Veterinary Sciences	1
Institutes, Centres and Library	4
Total	86

The Research Groups: Summaries Presented Alphabetically According to Faculties

1. FACULTY OF AGRICULTURE

1.Animal Welfare and Ethics Research Group

Research Focus: To advocate for a better welfare condition for animals in Nigeria towards ensuring harvest of safe and quality animal products for human consumption.

Coordinator: Professor Anselm Ego Onyimonyi Esq (JP)

Email: anselm.onyimonyi@unn.edu.ng    Tel:

Department of Animal Science

Received: 0 Naira

2.Environment and Natural Resource Research Group

Focus: Research on environmental and natural resources. The broad objective is to contribute to natural resource and environmental sustainability in Nigeria through evidence based research

Coordinator: Prof A.E. Agwu

Email: ekwe.agwu@unn.edu.ng       Phone: +234-8034024251

Department of Agricultural Extension

Received: Fifty thousand Naira

3.FAMILY LIVING AND SOCIETY RESEARCH GROUP (FALSREG)

Focus: Family Resources Management; Marriage, Family Counseling, Survival and Sustainability; Early Childhood Education and Childcare practices/Parenting styles; Food, Nutrition and Family well being; Pattern Development and Garment Construction; Consumer Education; Fashion Design and Illustration 8. Entrepreneurship Education

Coordinator: Dr. C.I. Iloeje

Email: catherine.iloeje@unn.edu.ng  Tel: +2348038590432 

Department of Home Science  and Management

Received: O Naira

4.Food Composition, Data Generation and Public Health Nutrition Research Group

Focus: Dietary phytochemical index of traditional diets: Relationship with non-communicable diseases (NCDs) prevalence in south-east Nigerian households

Coordinator: Elizabeth A. Udenta

Department of Home Science, Nutrition and Dietetic

Email: elizabeth.udenta@unn.edu.ng  Tel: +2348035974501.

Received: O Naira

5.Food Security Research Group

Focus: Identify and harness the agricultural potentials of Nigeria, through Multi-Disciplinary Research, with a view to contributing to the current Agricultural Transformation Agenda and ensuring food security in Nigeria.

Coordinator: Professor Michael I. Uguru

Email:  michael.uguru@unn.edu.ng   Phone: +2348037723307      

Department of Crop Science

Received: One hundred thousand Naira only (100,000 Naira)

6.Food Security and Sustainable Environment Research Group

Focus: Agriculture, food security, environment, policy, development and advocacy

Coordinator: Dr.  NwaJesus A. Onyekuru

Email:                                                 Phone:

Department of Agricultural Economics

Received: One hundred thousand Naira only (100,000 Naira)

7. Nutrition Education, Communication and Health Promotion Research Group (NECHPREG)

Focus: Researches and activities that will link food constituents with nutrition and health promotion of the populace using appropriate nutrition indicators and communication that will bring about positive lifestyle modifications.

Coordinator:

Email: Elizabeth.ngwu@unn.edu.ng             Phone: +234 803922345

Department of Nutrition and Dietetics

Received: 0 Naira

8. Soil Fertility Research Group

Focus: Strengthening household and national food security, sovereignty & safety in rural and smallholder agricultural production systems of Nigeria, by combining farmer knowledge and socioeconomic capacities with knowledge from West African research, university institutions, and international agricultural research centres with problem-oriented methodologies

Coordinator: Dr (Mrs) C.B. Obika

Email:                                                 Phone:

Department of Soil Science

Received: 0 Naira.

1. FACULTY OF ARTS

1.African Humanities Research And Development Circle (AHRDC)

Focus: Understanding Islam in Nigeria: Patterns of Islamic Dawah (Proselytization) in Eastern Nigeria

Coordinator:  Prof. Egodi Uchendu

Email: uchendu@unn.edu.ng  Phone: +234 (0) 803 961 7898

Department of Coordinator: Department of History & International Studies

Received: Fifty thousand naira

2.Cultural Software Study Group

Focus: Impact analysis of art and art related productions on the socio-political entity and outlook of Nigeria and its peoples. The nature of impact of these cultural productions, the nature of the exchanges with the cultural base between which influence these productions, the ways in which the culture itself has been changing, the resultant shifts in self-perception and perceptions of the world, the ways in which the local culture responds to globalization trends, and the ways in which the new cultural productions reflect the globalizing trends; and the human impact of these trends. Also the extent national identity and person identity depend on language; to what extent the national and person identities coincide or diverge and what may be the impact on national cohesion. What may be the negative consequences of deemphasizing the arts and humanities in education and national planning? How may these consequences be measured?

Email:             Phone:

Coordinator: Professor A.N. Akwanya

Department of English and Literary Studies

Received: 0 Naira

3. Igbo Mother Tongue Education in South East Nigeria Project

Focus: Conduct researches that would develop the capacity for use of Igbo as the medium for pedagogy at various levels of education in South east Nigeria. Curriculum, syllabus would be developed to meet the needs of this purpose. It will also require translation projects of already existing texts where necessary and pilot test projects including primary pupils and adult mass literacy stratum.

Coordinator: Mrs. Chioma N. Akaeze

Email: chioma.akaeze@unn.edu.ng, GSM: +2348035531080

Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, U.N.N

Received: 0 Naira

4.Multicultural Communication and Foreign Language Teaching and Learning

Focus: Empirical research on motivation for foreign language learning; Comparative work on different aspects of the students’ mother tongues and the foreign languages being learnt; Empirical research on learning strategies that enhance language learning of Nigerian students & development & testing of new learning strategies; The influence of already learned/acquired foreign languages on other foreign languages currently being learned by Nigerian university students; The role of multi-media aids in the teaching and learning of foreign languages

Coordinator: Dr. Mrs, F.N. Ibemesi

Email:             Phone:

Department of Foreign Languages and Literary Studies

Received: 0 Naira

5.Multilingual Sci-Tech/Literary Translation and Interpretation Research Group

Focus: The translation and interpretation of classical and technical texts including evaluation and criticism of translated texts. Besides, the group aims at using information technology to create software that can be used to translate African scientific/cultural concepts into English, French and German Languages. Also, terminology creation will be embarked upon.

Coordinator: Dr. A.C. Nwanjoku

Email: anthony.nwanjoku@unn.edu.ng Tel: +2348037763374

Department of Foreign Languages and Literary Studies

6. Research in Endangered & Dead Languages

Focus: Research will focus on the indices and parameters that serve as indicators of endangered languages, literature and culture. Fading oral traditions shall be studied and recorded. Research interest also includes building capacity for language maintenance and language documentation. Policies making and advocacies for language revival will be embarked upon.

Coordinator: Dr. Enyinnaya S. Ikeokwu

Email: enyinnaya.ikeokwu@unn.edu.ng, Tel: +2348066736976

Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages, U.N.N

Received: 0 Naira

7.Research in Indigenous Writing Systems and Indigenous Languages Education

Focus: Studies on African indigenous writing systems with a view to formalizing and standardizing them for possible adoption in indigenous language pedagogy. Special attention would be paid to rural education and mass literacy campaigns using these systems. Most African scripts are understudied; researches would be carried out on their values and functionality thereby projecting them and igniting further researches.

Coordinator: Ahamefula, Ndubuisi Ogbonna

Email: ndubuisi.ahamefula@unn.edu.ng, GSM: +2348034772290

Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages

Received: 0 Naira

8.Research in Linguistic Rights and Rural Entrepreneurial Development

Focus: Language rights is one of the rights that are enshrined in the tenets and declarations of the United Nations; the research studies capacity building issues as relates to the rural populace in accessing the economy through the language of their immediate environment and indigenous languages. It is expected that any citizen regardless of his language and location should have access to governance, politics, economy, education: This is the primary focus of this research with a view to building capacities and bridging gaps.

Coordinator: Dr. (Mrs.) Crescentia U. Ugwuona (Ph.D)

Email: crescentia.ugwuona@unn.edu.ng, GSM: +2347036832566

Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages

Received: 0 Naira

9.Research in Politics of Language & Identity Crisis in Igbo

Focus: Research will focus on studies in negotiation of identity in a pluralingual Nigera. Language choice and identity crisis will be studied via some linguistic phenomena such as diglossia/’triglossia’ etc.

Coordinator: Prof. Christopher U.  Agbedo

Email: christopher.agbedo@unn.edu.ng, GSM: +2348036868498

Department of Linguistics, Igbo & Other Nigerian Languages

Received: 0 Naira

10.Rescue of Endangered Folk Music Heritage of Nigeria

Focus: High value placed on folk music by Nigerian societies and Africa as a background to the critical issues

Coordinator: Prof. Christian Onyeji

Email: Christian.onyeji@unn.edu.ng       Phone: +234 7038314235

Department of Music

Received: Fifty thousand naira

11.University of Nigeria Study Group on African Literature

Focus: The literary works of art themselves which are today part of the heritage of Africa, art works which share with other art works across the globe and diachronically over time the same basic characterizing features, whether these features have a distinctly African imprint or not. This research group will therefore not be selective about African literature, leaving out North Africa, for instance. It sees Africa, therefore, in geographical terms, and literature in universal terms.African literature is in other words where this universal form crosses with the geographically determined space called Africa.

Coordinator: Rev. Fr Professor A.N. Akwanya

Email:             Phone:

Department of English and Literary Studies

Received: 0 Naira

1. FACULTY OF BASIC MEDICAL SCIENCES

1.Food Composition Analysis and Public Health Nutrition Research Group Focus: Novel food resources, scourge of hidden hunger (micronutrient malnutrition) in school–aged children and in pregnant women. Special interest will be on Vitamin A, iodine, zinc, iron and copper.

Coordinator:  Professor I. E. Ezeagu

Email: ikezeagu@yahoo.co.uk                 Phone:  +234 803 3949541

Department: Medical Biochemistry

Received: Fifty thousand naira only (50,000N)

1. FACULTY OF BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES

1.Applied Microbiology and Environmental Biotechnology Research Group

Focus: Environmental restoration and sustainability; Microbial/molecular ecology and evolution; Biodiversity of soil and water microbes; Bioremediation and waste management; Microbe-metal interactions; Antibiotic resistance; Climate change

Coordinator: Professor Chukwudi U. Anyanwu

Email: Phone: 

Department of Microbiology

Received: 0 Naira

2. Biocatalysis and Environmental Health Research Group (BEHRG)

Focus: Using either enzymes or whole cell microorganisms to help develop and promote environmentally friendly processes, the production of renewable and clean energies, and remediation of ecologically toxic effects of many compounds. BEHRG promotes greener alternatives to reduce or eliminate the use and generation of substances hazardous to human and environmental health.

Coordinator: Dr Simeon C. Enemuor

E-mail: simeon.enemuor@unn.edu.ng; Phone: +234 803 7789 633;

Department of Microbiology

Received: 0 Naira

3.Bio-Energy Research Group

Focus: Various biomass materials such as food and non-food crops, photoautotrophic and heterotrophic microorganisms, agro-processing wastes, timber residues, wastewater, and other waste materials will be explored for efficient production of different forms of bio-energies.

Coordinator: Prof. James C. Ogbonna

Email: james.ogbonna@unn.edu.ng  Phone:08037136810

Department of Coordinator: Microbiology

Received: 5O Thousand Naira

4.Bioprocess and Renewable Energy

Focus: Optimal exploitation of microorganisms in the advancement of bioprocesses for improved reduction in production costs and increased yields. Processes forindustrial scale production of useful microbial metabolites and bio-fuel from renewable resource.

Coordinator: Dr O. C. Amadi.

Email: chioma.amadi@unn.edu.ng   Phone:

Department of Coordinator: Microbiology

Received: O Naira

5.DNA barcoding and Animal Biodiversity Research Group

Focus: Animal species-level identification/taxonomy, egg and larvae detection, environmental monitoring, forensics, biodiversity assessment and conservation. Establishment of DNA reference sequence libraries/signatures for all animal groups in Nigeria, policy making and industrial applications

Coordinator: Dr G.C. Onyishi

Email: grace.onyishi@unn.edu.ng  Phone:

Department of Zoology &Environmental Biology

Received: O Naira

6.  DRUG-RESISTANT INFECTIONS RESEARCH GROUP

Focus: Surveillance studies on some of the common infectious diseases, for which drug-resistance has been documented, studying the patterns of evolution and spread of the causative pathogens and evaluating alternative strategies for the management of drug-resistant infections.