Edu Inam, a Nigerian scientist and professor of chemistry at the University of Uyo, Akwa Ibom State, has won the 2026 Faculty for the Future Impact Prize of the Schlumberger Foundation. Ms Inam was among nine women scientists and engineers selected from 156 applications across 61 countries for the inaugural prize, according to a statement by the Schlumberger Foundation.
She was recognised for her initiative, “Scaling a Research Equipment Database for Equitable Access in Nigeria,” which seeks to improve researchers’ access to scientific equipment and research infrastructure across the country. Ms Inam, a former head of the Department of Chemistry at the University of Uyo, is also the director of the International Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability Research at the university.
Explaining the motivation behind the initiative, Ms Inam said her background in analytical chemistry exposed her to a persistent problem: researchers often struggle to know where functional scientific equipment is located and how to access it. “My personal challenge has been knowing where functional equipment are located and how to access them in Nigeria’s higher institutions system,” she told PREMIUM TIMES.
According to her, equipment sometimes exists in Nigerian institutions, but researchers may not know where it is located, whether it is functional, who manages it, or how to request access. She said the situation has become particularly difficult for students who require specialised equipment to complete research projects as part of their graduation requirements.
To address the problem, she developed LabEquipment.ng, a searchable platform that provides information on available research equipment, their locations and contacts for accessing them. By the end of 2025, it had brought together 22 institutions, more than 200 pieces of equipment, over 3,000 searches and interactions, and more than 550 users, the professor said.