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College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences

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Islam delivers seminars, conducts grant writing workshop in Kyiv, Ukraine

Dr. Rafiq Islam
SWBR Program Leader

Dr. Rafiq Islam, the Director of the Soil, Water, and Bioenergy Resources Program at OSU South Centers, recently visited Ukraine as part of the CRDF Global – Ukrainian Ministry of Education-funded US-Ukraine research project to meet and guide field researchers at the Askaniya State Agricultural Experimental Station, Institute of Irrigated Agriculture, National Academy of Agrarian Sciences, Ukraine. 

This is the second phase of the experiment that needs to include summer cover crops after winter wheat harvest, followed by the planting of corn and sunflowers in the spring 2020. Moreover, he was actively involved in interviewing and selecting another short-term scholar from the Askaniya State Agricultural Experimental Station, Institute of Irrigated Agriculture.

As part of the CRDF project goal, Dr. Islam disseminated information to the collaborative partners, discussed further research and grant collaboration, delivered seminars for students and faculty members, and organized a professional development on grant writing workshop during his visit to Ukraine. He delivered a classroom presentation entitled “Climate-Smart Agriculture for Healthy Soils, Healthy Food, Healthy People” to the undergraduate and graduate students at Kherson State Agrarian University, Kherson. Dr. Sergey Lavrenko, who previously worked with Dr. Islam at the OSU South Centers, was very helpful to translate and explain the presentation in Ukrainian to the students.

Dr. Islam delivered a two-hour presentation entitled “Brain Storming and Successful Grant Writing” to the faculty members of the Kherson State Agrarian University, which was followed by an interactive question and answer session. Moreover, he conducted a day-long grant writing workshop to the faculty members, scientists, and researchers of the Institute of Water Problems and Land Reclamation in Kyiv. The grant writing workshop covered most of the aspects of research proposals including budget and budget justification, introduction/rationale, hypothesis, goal and specific objectives, methods and materials, methodology and procedures, experimental design/analysis, outcomes/outputs, data management, Extension outreach, project evaluation, etc. The workshop was well attended and accepted by the participants and the administration of the institute.