‘Research can help solve country’s problems’

Comprehensive mechanism devised in the form of the tenure track system.

FAISALABAD:

“Research culture needs to be promoted as it can help solve social problems the country faces,” University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF) Vice Chancellor Iqrar Ahmad Khan said on Tuesday.

He was speaking at a project formulation workshop organised by the UAF in collaboration with the Pakistan Science Foundation at UAF’s New Senate Hall.

Khan praised the Higher Education Commission for taking steps to promote comparative culture. For this, he said a comprehensive mechanism had been devised in the form of the tenure track system (TTS).

“There were only five TTS in the university up until five years ago… now more than 180 faculty members have become part of this system,” he added.

Khan said the research portfolio had increased manifold during the last five years which now amounted to Rs2 billion.

Pakistan Science Foundation Chairman Khalil Ahmad called for horning the skills in project formulation among scientists by overcoming deficiencies.

He said only five out of 20 projects submitted for grant before National Scientific Linkage Program (SNLP) were approved owing to deficiencies in the formation. He said PSF had so far conducted six training workshops in several institutions in the country to enhance the professional skills in project formulation and had trained 325 scientists.

Khalil said UAF scientists were working on several research projects worth 36 million rupees awarded by Pakistan Science Foundation.

Office of Research, Innovations and Commercialisation (ORIC) Director Asif Ali Khan said as many as 70 young faculty members were participating in the workshop. He said most of them were young faculty members who could not get their project approved due to missing links in the formulation. He said he hoped that the workshop would yield the benefits and bring more research projects to the University.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 4^th, 2013.