Awards, Grants & Scholarships

Research and Seed Grants

(i) African Agriculture Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, Innovate UK, United Kingdom   2023

African Knowledge Base Supervisor (Co-Investigator), “SmartBerry project (a collaborative effort between Nottingham Trent University (NTU) and Covenant University (CU) to increase the productivity and profitability of Ashley Strawberry Farms, a local strawberry grower in Nigeria, through technology and innovation)”, African Agriculture Knowledge transfer partnerships (KTP) 2023-24 R1, United Kingdom, (£245,725.00).

 (ii) Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed Funding, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom    2020

Co-Investigator, “Strategic planning of urban water reuse interventions for community resilience”, Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed Funding (Tranche 9 - August 2020 - August 2021) of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom, K. Behzadian, P. Phaik Eong, L. Choe Peng, K. Blay, A. Mehmood, I. I. Akinwumi, A. Moghayedi, V. Vassilev and J. Diazsolano (£19,964.03). 

(iii) Frontiers of Engineering Development Seed Funding, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom    2019

Co-Investigator, “The circularity of biological wastewater treatment”, Frontiers of Engineering for Development Seed Funding (Tranche 7 - October 2019 - February 2021) of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) United Kingdom, L. Orsini, K. Akinola, L. C. Pasquale Rosa, K. D. Dearn and I. I. Akinwumi (£30,000). 

(iv) Frontiers of Development Seed Funding, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom        2019

Co-Investigator, “WASH environments, sanitation policies and health outcomes during the first 2000 days of life”, Frontiers of Development Seed Funding (Tranche 2 - July 2019 - February 2021) of the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng) United Kingdom, M. Luhrmann, A. Akinwumi and I. I. Akinwumi (£20,000). 

(v)  British Council Going Global Partnerships - Transnational Education (TNE) Exploratory Grant, "STEM 4.0: Advancing Technology Education through AI Driven and Adaptive Learning" (TNE2024-057), Partners are Nottingham Trent University (UK) and Covenant University (Nigeria), Jan - Dec 2025, British Council (£24,950).

(vi)  British Council Going Global Partnerships - Transnational Education (TNE) Exploratory Grant, "Bridging borders: Transnational education pathways between UK and Nigeria" (TNE2024-025), Partners are University of the West of England (UK), University of Lagos (Nigeria), University of Ibadan (Nigeria) and Covenant University (Nigeria), Jan - Dec 2025, British Council (£24,782.35).

(vii)  Research Grant to investigate "Perspectives and Strategies for Student Development in African Higher Education Institutions", Co-Principal Investigator, Feb - June 2025, Education Collaborative ($5,000).

Mobility and Capacity-Building Grants (International Office & Linkages) 

(viii)  Erasmus Mundus Joint Master, EU-CORE European Master on Control of Renewable Energy Systems, Main Partners: Ecole Centrale Nantes (France), University of Zagreb (Croatia) and the Brandenburg University of Technology Cottbus–Senftenberg (Germany), with Covenant University (Nigeria) being one of the Associate Partners, 2025-2030, European Union (€2,160,000).

(ix) Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme for staff and students mobilities between Ecole Centrale Nantes, France and Covenant University, Nigeria, 2024-2027, French National Agency of Eramus+, European Union (€94,064).

(x) Grant-writing capacity-building and training project, Awarded to Covenant University, My Role: Coordinator and a Facilitator, West Africa Hub of the Education Collaborative, 2024, ($4,163.16).

(xi) Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme for staff and students mobilities between Middle East Technical University, Turkey and Covenant University, Nigeria, 2023-2027, European Union.

(xii) Erasmus+ International Credit Mobility Programme for staff and students mobilities between Riga Technical University, Latvia and Covenant University, Nigeria, 2022-2027, European Union.

(xiii) Grant-writing capacity-building and training project, Awarded to Covenant University, My Role: Coordinator and a Facilitator, West Africa Hub of the Education Collaborative, 2025, ($5,775).

 Awards and Scholarships

1.  Leadership Excellence Award 2025 - Dr Isaac Akinwumi, Director, International Office and Linkages (2025), Postgraduate Student Council, School of Postgraduate Studies, Covenant University. 

2. Covenant University Recognition Award to SDG 17 Champion - Dr Isaac Akinwumi (2024) for his outstanding contribution to the achievement of Covenant University in the 2024 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking. In the 2024 Times Higher Education Impact Ranking. Covenant University was ranked No. 63 in the world accruing a score of 92.1% for SDG 17 and by so doing is No. 2 in Africa (behind the University of Cape Town, South Africa) and No. 1 in Nigeria. 

3.  Prof. Peter A. Okebukola Prize for Best Participant in Project (2024) at the 13-week practical training on the use of Artificial Intelligence for Teaching, Research and Community Service in Higher Education. A course organised by the National Universities Commission (NUC) in Partnership with the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) and facilitated by the Virtual Institute for Capacity Building in Higher Education (VICBHE). 

4. Sustainable Development Award - A. Moghayedi, K. Behzadian, V. Vassilev, I. Akinwumi, A. Mehmood, L. Choe Peng, P. Phaik Eong, K. Blay, J. Diazsolano (2021) Causality between challenges, motivations, and extent of use of water recycling systems in residential properties, SEEDS International Conference 2021 Sustainable Ecological Engineering Design for Society, 1-3 September 2021, Leeds Beckett University, UK.

5.   Early Career Fund offered by Future Earth to attend the Sustainability Research and Innovation Congress 2021 (SRI2021), which took place virtually on 13-15 June 2021.

6.   Panel Member, Future Leaders – African Independent Research (FLAIR) Fellowship Committee (Physical Sciences), The Royal Society, United Kingdom (1 January 2021 until 31 December 2023)

7.      Grant Winner Award (2020), College of Engineering (CoE), Covenant University, Second Edition of the College Award Night and Dinner (December 17, 2020). Award recognising the grants won by the recipient during the 2019/2020 academic session.

8.      Provided expert comments on a tool developed by some Australian researchers to anticipate landslides on rubbish mountains – potentially helping the millions who live and work on them, The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)       2019

“The new tech that detects deadly slides on rubbish mountains”, The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC)

9.  SDG Talent, UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2017, Denmark, August 13-21, 2017.

10.  Volkswagen Foundation Best Poster Prize Award, “Engineering and Life” conference, October 2016, Hanover, Germany

11.  Commonwealth Scholarship, Commonwealth Scholarship Commission (CSC) in the United Kingdom, Award for 2015/2016 Split-Site PhD programme at the University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom

12.  Association of Civil Engineering Students (ACES), Best Lecturer in the Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, May 2014, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

13.  College of Science and Technology Prize for 2012 Graduating Class Course Adviser, Covenant University, June 2012, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

14.  College of Science and Technology Prize for Best Course Adviser in the Department of Civil Engineering, Covenant University, June 2010, Covenant University, Ota, Nigeria

15.  University Prize for Best Graduating Student of the Department of Civil Engineering, Federal University of Technology Akure, November 2006, Federal University of Technology Akure, Akure, Nigeria

16.  Ondo State Scholarship Award, Ondo State Scholarship Board of Ondo State Government, 2004, 2005 and 2006, Akure, Nigeria

17. Federal Government of Nigeria Undergraduate Scholarship Award, Federal Scholarship Board of Federal Government of Nigeria, 2002, Akure, Nigeria 

Travel Grants

1. Travel to attend the British Council Going Global Partnerships "Deep Dialogues – Transnational Education: exploring glocalisation strategies" took place in Cardiff from 25 to 27 June 2025. 

2. Travel to attend the 2025 June Convening of the Education Collaborative, Kigali, Rwanda, June 2025.

3. Travel to attend the Launch of the Centre for African Social and Economic Transformation (CASET), University of the West of England, Bristol, on 22 May 2025.

4. Travel Grant from the European Union via Erasmus+ International Staff Teaching Mobility to Riga Technical University, Latvia, March 10-14, 2025.

5. Travel Grant from the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) to attend the third U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine symposium, held on February 18-20, 2025 at Kigali, Rwanda.

6. Travel Grant from the Embassy of France in Nigeria through Campus France to attend the launch of Erasmus+ Mobility Programme between Ecole Centrale de Nantes (ECN) and Covenant University, held on November 26-27, 2024,  at Nantes, France. 

7. Travel Grant from US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) through the University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) to attend the International Conference on Climate and Health for Africa, Washington, D.C., United States, 2023.                                                                                                                                                                                                                             

8. Travel Grant to attend UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2023, Kigali, Rwanda, December, 2023.

9. Travel Grant to attend UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2022, Mysore, India, December, 2022.

10. Travel to attend WeBuild2Sustain Project meeting, held on November 15-20, 2021 at the Ruhr-West University of Applied Science (HRW) in  Mülheim, Germany.

11. Travel to attend “The circularity of biological wastewater treatment” Project meeting, held on February 1-2, 2020, at the University of Birmingham, Birmingham, United Kingdom. 

12. Travel Scholarship, Water Technologies for Emerging Regions (WaTER) Center, University of Oklahoma, United States, 2019. Travel scholarship to attend the “University of Oklahoma WaTER Conference”, 16-18 September 2019, held at Norman, Oklahoma, United States. 

13. Travel Scholarship, Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom, 2019. Travel scholarship to attend the Frontiers of Development Symposium: “Inclusivity and wellbeing in the first 2000 days of life”, 11-13 March 2019, held at Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, Cambridge, United Kingdom. 

14. Travel Scholarship provided by the Royal Academy of Engineering (RAEng), United Kingdom to attend the Frontiers of Development Symposium: “Inclusive Prosperity and Wellbeing in the Context of Mass Displacement”, 11-14 February 2018, held at Kigali, Rwanda.

15. Travel Scholarship provided by the University of Oklahoma WaTER Center and its sponsors to attend the “University of Oklahoma WaTER Conference”, 18-20 September 2017, held at Norman, Oklahoma, United States (US)

16. Travel Grant to attend UNLEASH Innovation Lab 2017, Denmark, August 13-21, 2017.

17. Travel Grant funded by the Volkswagen Foundation to attend the “Engineering and Life” conference, 19-21 October 2016, held at Hanover, Germany.

18. Travel for Commonwealth Split-site PhD, 2015 -2016, at the University of the West of England, Bristol, United Kingdom.