LAHORE: The Government College University (GCU) Lahore has decided to substantively increase the research incentives for its faculty, linking the incentives to the impact factor of research projects.

The university also recommended opening of its laboratories and testing facilities for the industry, private firms and individuals to generate funds and develop linkages with the industry.

The decisions were taken at the 51st meeting of the GCU’s Advanced Studies and Research Board (ASRB), which continued for four days on its main campus. Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Asghar Zaidi chaired the meeting attended by senior faculty, deans, Director Research Dr Faiza Sharif and Registrar Dr Shaukat Ali.

Later, the VC told the media that maximum research incentives were increased from Rs10,000 to Rs60,000 to motivate the faculty and staff to conduct high-quality research.

However, he said, these incentives were aimed at enhancing the impact factor of the research.

“The greater the impact factor of a research paper, the higher will be the incentives,” Prof Zaidi said.

He said the GCU had also allowed its faculty and staff to individually undertake consultancy projects for which they would need to pay 20 percent share to the university. “Similarly, we also devised a complete financial framework to extend testing facilities to the industry in Pakistan,” he said.

He said the recommendations of GCU-ASRB would be placed before the Syndicate in the upcoming meeting in May for the final approval.

The ASRB meeting also approved 46 of 50 titles and thesis synopses for PhD research studies. These research proposals include research on “women harassment at workplace in Lahore since 2002” and “Green synthesis of nano-bio insecticides and evaluation of their insecticidal activity”.

The meeting also appointed supervisors and panels of examiners for evaluation of the PhD theses.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2022