Osmania University VC institutes Research Awards to accelerate R&D among faculty students. Details inside

Osmania University has announced the Vice-Chancellor's Research Awards for members of the varsity's faculty. The first round of these awards will be given on January 3 at the campus and will recognise three categories. Arts and Social Sciences have been clubbed together with Commerce, Management, Law Education and Oriental Languages into Category 1, whereas Engineering, Technology, Informatics and Pharmacy make up the second category. Science rounds off the three categories.

The awards have been instituted for the very first time in the varsity and will recognise one faculty in each category with a citation, a certificate and a cash prize. The submissions, which will be judged by an expert committee which will be headed by the Deans of the respective faculties must fall between the period of December 1, 2020 to November 30, 2021. The last date for submitting applications for the awards is December 20.

When asked why such a move was required, OU's VC, Dr D Ravinder Yadav told Edexlive that the varsity's faculty was falling behind in quality research publications in peer-reviewed journals, both national and international. "Research and teaching and learning has always been a priority of this administration. With these awards, we want to encourage young researchers to excel at their work and publish high-impact research papers, paper presentation and research projects in reputed journals. I had addressed the faculty members on the same soon after I took charge," said Dr Yadav, who was appointed as the VC this year.

While he expects the awards will create a sense of competition among the faculty to deliver high-quality research projects and publications he also hopes it will help them take inspiration from other institutes and researchers and submit proposals to funding agencies. "On January 3, we would invite a prominent scientist to deliver a lecture and present awards," he adds.

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Plans are also in place to boost the research culture among students as well as the establishment of the Human Capital Development Centre, which facilitates skill enhancement and training, academy and industry interaction, internationalisation of courses and facilities, and placements. "We aim to utilise the optimum level of students' potential," says the VC.