In March 2015, a team in the Department of Community Medicine of Bayero University, Kano, Nigeria, led by Professor Zubairu Iliyasu, received a research grant for a new research project to compare the feeding practices of mothers with stunted and non-stunted children. The grant was awarded by ORIE, a DFID-funded consortium of UK and Nigerian organisations.
ORIE (Operations Research and Impact Evaluation) undertakes nutrition research and evaluation to generate evidence on the operationalisation, cost-effectiveness and impact of a major DFID-funded six-year programme to implement and scale-up nutrition interventions in Northern Nigeria, called WINNN (Working to Improve Nutrition in Northern Nigeria). ORIE also invests in strengthening the capacity of nutrition researchers working in Northern Nigeria, by providing funding to enable researchers to design and undertake their own research project with the ongoing support and guidance of a group of experienced international researchers. BUK was one of three successful bidders in a competitive bidding process in late 2014, which attracted thirty-three applications.