The Grooming Centre University Research Grant 2026 is open. Applications close on October 23, 2026. Postgraduate students can get ₦200,000 each. Final-year undergraduates can get ₦100,000 each.
The whole pool is ₦20 million, shared among 150 students. The money is for a research project, so you need a proposal ready, not just your school details.
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Application opens | August 31, 2026 |
| Application closes | October 23, 2026 |
| Number of winners | 150 (100 undergraduates and 50 postgraduates) |
| Where to apply | groominggrant.org/apply |
About the Grooming Centre University Research Grant
Grooming Centre is a microfinance organisation in Nigeria. This grant is how it pays students to do research. It started in 2019. This 2026 round is the seventh edition, and 659 students have received awards from it so far.
CREM (Center for Research in Enterprise and Action in Management) runs it for them from Lagos.
How much money you can get from the Grooming Centre University Research Grant 2026
| Level | Number of places | Amount for each winner |
|---|---|---|
| Final-year undergraduate | 100 | ₦100,000 |
| Postgraduate | 50 | ₦200,000 |
Add up 100 times ₦100,000 and 50 times ₦200,000 and you get the ₦20 million. So “up to ₦200,000” is the postgraduate amount. If you’re an undergraduate, plan around ₦100,000.
The money goes into your approved research project. When you finish the study, you must send the final soft copy of the completed project to the centre.
This grant pays for research only. If you’re also trying to understand the difference between a student loan and a scholarship, we wrote about NELFUND student loan and scholarships in Nigeria too.
Who is eligible to apply for the Grooming Centre University Research Grant 2026
- Be a final-year undergraduate or a postgraduate student.
- Your school should be a university or polytechnic approved by NUC or NBTE.
- Nigeria is the focus. The research has to fit one of the areas in the next section.
- They want an original idea that can work in Nigeria, backed by real data.
- Your project supervisor must write and sign a recommendation for you. No letter, no application.
- Age, gender, religion or tribe doesn’t matter.
Research areas the Grooming Centre grant covers
Your research must fall under financial inclusion, microfinance, rural development, social enterprise, MSMEs, technological development, digital finance, youth development, or women’s development. Any other research aimed at lifting people out of poverty also counts.
Say you want to study how market women in your area get small loans. That sits under financial inclusion. A project with no link to money, business or poverty doesn’t match what this grant is for.
If you’re a postgraduate student, we also have a post on the NDDC Local Postgraduate (Master’s Degree) Scholarship 2026/2027. Check if you qualify.
Documents you need before you fill the Grooming Centre grant application form
- A passport photograph.
- The research proposal. It must be 10 to 15 pages, written in Microsoft Word with Times New Roman, size 12, and 1.5 line spacing.
- Your personal profile, as a PDF. Two pages at most.
- Last one: the signed recommendation from your project supervisor, also as a PDF.
How to apply for the Grooming Centre University Research Grant 2026
- Open the Grooming Centre grant homepage and download the abstract guide. It shows the format your proposal should follow.
- Write your proposal using that format.
- Go to the application page at groominggrant.org/apply.
- Name, email, phone number and address come first.
- Upload your passport photograph, then pick Undergraduate or Post Graduate.
- Next the form asks for your current course and year of study. Type the full name of your school too, with the city.
- Upload the supervisor’s recommendation, your profile and your proposal.
- Submit.
Everything goes through that page, in soft copy. The form has no payment section.
Applications close on October 23, 2026. You’re uploading three files, and one of them needs a lecturer’s signature. Don’t leave it for the last day.
What the research proposal for the Grooming Centre grant must contain
The portal lists the parts it wants, in this order: introduction, statement of the problem, research questions, research objectives, significance of the study, operationalization of terms, and scope of the study.
Next is the literature and theoretical review. It covers conceptual literature, empirical literature, theoretical orientation and conceptual framework. After that come your hypotheses and methodology.
Methodology means your research design, study area, study population, how you’ll collect data, sample size and sampling technique, reliability and validity test, and how you’ll analyse the data. Then ethical consideration. References go last, in APA 6th style.
The studies in your empirical review should be from 2019 to 2025, according to the portal.
There’s also an audio guide on the homepage that talks you through writing the proposal. Listen to it before you start.
Things on the Grooming Centre portal that don’t match each other
- The top of the homepage says August 31 to October 23, 2026. Lower down, the requirements section still shows July 21 to October 10, 2025. Go by the 2026 dates.
- The proposal upload box says 10 to 15 pages, but the written requirement says 10 to 20. Keep it between 10 and 15 and you’re safe either way.
- One line says final-year undergraduates. Another just says undergraduates. Final-year is the one on the main qualification line, so go by that.
What to do first if you want to apply for this Grooming Centre grant
Go to your project supervisor first. You can do everything else from your phone or laptop. The signed letter needs a person. Lecturers aren’t always around.
Then pick a topic that sits clearly inside one of the research areas. Postgraduate students should make that link obvious from the first page. After that, finish the proposal and upload everything.
More scholarship and grant posts are on our scholarships page.
Contact details for the Grooming Centre University Grant
You can email info@groominggrant.org or call 090-1323-4481. The office is at 1 Adebayo Oyelana Street, beside Ejigbo Mini Stadium, Ejigbo Isolo, Lagos.
