PESHAWAR, May 17: Senior faculty members of the University of Peshawar have sought facilities and incentives to promote the culture of research in universities. Professors of physics, chemistry and bio-technology told a press conference on Tuesday that the university had expensive equipment in the centralized resource laboratory but due to minimum working hours and lack of incentives for researchers most of the equipment remained unutilized.

Prof Raiz of the physics department said that trained technicians were not properly paid by the university and the result was that they quit the job when they found better opportunities. So is the case with faculty members who left the university for greener pastures, he added.

He demanded that teachers and students both should be provided with an environment conducive to research and laboratories should remain open for research work.

Prof Dr Irfan, head of the enhancement cell, pointed out that the Higher Education Commission gave grants for research, adding that a Rs8,500 stipend was given to each research student and Rs100,000 was provided for research activities. However, he regretted, the University of Peshawar did not have any grant for PhD or MPhil students while only 1 per cent of the current budget had been allocated for research.

Prof Haroonur Rashid, dean of faculty of life and environmental sciences, said that the lack of resources was the main hurdle in the promotion of the research culture.

He said the university planned to establish a ‘nuclear medicine research laboratory’ at an estimated cost of Rs17 million and added that the laboratory would also have facility to determine the age of a historic artefact.

He demanded that the budget for the research work and science education should be increased manifold in order to keep pace with the advanced world.

Dr Abdur Rashid of the department of botany said the university was establishing a botanical garden in collaboration with University of Tokyo, Xinjiang Institute of Ecology and Geography, China, and Uttah State University of USA.

He said the botanical garden to be established on a 100-acre piece of land at Regi Lalma and Hayatabad would cost about Rs37.8 million and added that it would be used for preservation and conservation of plants, natural resources and recreational purposes.