“Understanding Writing/Winning International Research Grants and Developing Sustainable Collaborative Research Networks – Tips & Tricks”

A Two days Workshop on Understanding writing/winning International Research Grants and developing Sustainable Collaborative Research Networks: Tips and Tricks was held in the seminar room, central Library, International Islamic University. The workshop was sponsored by the British Council, Pakistan and Higher Education Commission.

The Head of Programs, British Council, Nishat Riaz was the chief guest of the inauguration ceremony, held on 7th December, 2010 at 9:00-10:30 AM. In her address to the participants, she appreciated the number of participants from all the faculties of the university. She expressed her pleasure to know that the workshop was meant for 30-35 participants but 62 faculty members of IIU were registered and out of them 56 attended the workshop enthusiastically.

Dr. Najeeba Arif, Assistant Professor, Department of Urdu, IIU, was the workshop coordinator, while Dr. Waheed ul Haq, Associate Professor, Department of Mechanical Engineering, E&ME College NUST and Dr. Sarmad Sadik, Assistant Professor, SEECS, NUST were the resource persons. Dr. Shoaib, Associate Professor, E&ME College, NUST was the guest speaker.

Dr. Waheed has obtained his PhD degree in rapid manufacturing from The University of Manchester, UK in 2006. He has published more than 20 Journal and conference papers. Currently, he is serving as an associate professor in the College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering, National University of Sciences and Technology Pakistan. His current research interest includes rapid prototyping/manufacturing and renewable energy sources. As a PI, co-PI and team leader he has won several research grants from national and international agencies including British Council.

Dr Sarmad Sadik has completed his PhD from the School of Electrical Engineering & Computer Science (SEECS) in National University of Sciences & Technology (NUST), Islamabad in the year 2010. His areas of interest include software agents, formal methods, ontology based policies and semantic web. He has participated in R&D Labs and research conferences in various countries including Netherlands, Japan, China, Australia, UAE and UK.

Dr. Shoaib Ahmed Khan’s areas of specialization are Digital Signal Processing, Digital Design and Communication System. He has authored or co-authored more 65 publications in journals and conferences. He has Ph.D. in Electrical and Computer Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology; Atlanta, GA. He is one of the five recipients of National Education Award 2001 in the category of "Outstanding Services to Science and Technology".

This was an Interactive workshop based on communication, sharing and learning together and was aimed at familiarizing the participants with the processes and requirements of writing successful research projects and thinking about the challenges and risks of working in multicultural environments.

All the resource persons, including Dr. Najeeba Arif discussed the various aspects of writing and winning successful research proposals and developing and maintain international research networks. They addressed the issues of intercultural communication for the purpose of collaboration, project management and sustainability, making an impact on the institutions and the country, strategic skills – assertiveness, influencing, negotiating and embedding partnership impacts across the institutions and developing and maintaining wider international networks

The workshop was closed at 3:00-4:30PM by the Vice President, Administration and Finance of the university, Ms. Parveen Qadir Agha. Certificates were given to the successful participants and insignia of the university was presented to the guest resource persons. A token of gratitude was presented to the chief Librarian, the Vice president and the HOP, British Council. At the end of the workshop. VP A&F, Ms. Parveen Qadir Agha and the guest of honour Ms. Nishat Riaz, Head of Programmes, British Council Pakistan addressed the participants. Ms. Nishat Riaz appreciated the efforts and support of IIU for holding the workshop and hoped to enhance the bilateral relation in future.

Ms. Parveen Qadir Agha thanked British Council and HEC for sponsoring the workshop and congratulated the successful candidates. She encouraged the participants to take part actively in all such events and focus on the developing research projects. At the end, Dr. Najeeba Arif thanked all the guests, resource persons, and participants. She particularly acknowledged the cooperation provided by the chief librarian, IIU Muhammad Rafique, Mr. Ubaid ur Rehman and other staff members of the library.