Professor Adebayo Shittu Research Award for Molecular Biology

What we fund

Researchers, and the lab that makes their work possible

Nigeria carries a heavy burden of infectious disease and a rising toll from cancer, yet much of the research that could answer local health questions stalls for want of basic inputs. Talented postgraduate students wait months for reagents. Laboratories lose working time to broken equipment, insecure premises and unpaid support staff. Promising researchers leave because they cannot do the work at home.

The Professor Adebayo Shittu Research Award was created to change that at Obafemi Awolowo University, the founder's alma mater. Named for the professor who mentored him in the Department of Microbiology, it funds MSc, PhD and postdoctoral research in molecular biology, including infectious disease and oncology research using traditional medicine. In January 2026 the first round supported two MSc students and one postdoctoral fellow.

The Fund backs the people and the place together. Alongside the awards, it pays for the laboratory's equipment, consumables, security and interns, so that every grant turns into finished research. The Fund pays the laboratory and recipients directly through its trustee, First Trustees Nigeria Limited, and reviews results each cycle.

What the Fund pays for:

• Postgraduate and postdoctoral research awards
• Laboratory equipment, including an autoclave for sterilisation
• Molecular biology reagents, including PCR master mix and DNA staining agents
• Laboratory security and stipends for interns
• Travel support for international research collaboration