THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES School for Graduate Studies and Research STRATEGIES TO ENHANCE RESEARCH PRODUCTIVITY
o Differentiated strategies to support the varying career pathways of researchers; clear and transparent guidelines on the institution’s expectations of researchers (see Section on Measuring Research Productivity at The UWI in this Paper). • Contemplate, integrate, and make actionable, the research priorities of your Faculty. • Provide support systems that boost morale and enhance research. • Promote collaboration in research. • Collaborate with disciplinary experts within or outside of the university to assist with the development of research projects, goals, methodologies and analysis. • Engage and recruit visiting Professors, including Fulbright scholars, whose research interests align with the Faculty/Department/Centre/Institute/Unit to strengthen the research ecosystem. • Foster broader international collaboration through North-South and South-South partnerships. • Promote a culture of ‘leading by example’, through open discussion between senior and/or established researchers and their early-career peers. Promote the Mentorship Strategies identified in this Paper. • Promote discussion fora to encourage a common understanding of research values, policies, and expectations among staff and research students. • Encourage staff to join professional and academic organisations. • Promote the hosting of Departmental Research Seminars at which academic staff, not just Visiting Professors and research students, are encouraged to present their research. • Promote the use of Thesis by Manuscript to expose students early on to research and publication and jumpstart their academic careers. Institutional Research Support Services • Undertake a comprehensive review of The UWI budgets to assess whether current fiscal allocation adequately reflects the goal of retaining and improving The UWI’s status as the top research university in the Caribbean. • Revisit and champion the establishment of a Caribbean Research and Competitiveness Fund, possibly coordinated through CARICOM. All developed and rapidly developing countries have mechanisms/agencies that competitively fund knowledge generation, innovation and their link to economic growth and are increasing the percent of their GDP allocated to this. Current estimates are that OECD countries allocate between 1.8% and 2.8% of GDP to this activity. The Caribbean has no such research funding model, and best estimates are that the region allocates about 0.016% of GDP to knowledge generation and innovation for development. At the 20 th Meeting of CARICOM Heads of Government in July 1999, Heads agreed in principle to establish a Research and Innovation Fund, but the decision has never been operationalised (Paper available on request). • Continue to revisit, reassess, and disseminate The University of the West Indies’ Research Agenda, which prioritises key research areas for regional development, international excellence and entrepreneurship and innovation; and match budgetary allocations and international donor applications to the key research areas identified. Utilise stakeholder perspectives, including governments, business and industry in designing and modifying The UWI’s Research Agenda. • Coordinate activities to develop cross-campus Research Clusters which match The UWI’s Research Agenda, and promote and support Cluster activities. Support the evolution of Clusters into coordinating Centres with which personnel from the former Clusters are affiliated, if external funding for the Centre’s activities can be identified. • Revisit and improve the institutional system for detection of relevant Calls for Proposals from international donor agencies and their early dissemination to appropriate UWI Staff, Post Graduate Students and Research Clusters. • Establish structured procedures to facilitate early interaction of researchers with industry to fashion the design of research programmes around industry needs and thus increase the probability of industry support. • Develop and operationalise a UWI Unit, or Campus specific Units, dedicated to assisting researchers with the commercialisation of their research products and processes. • Explore the feasibility of establishing a structured mechanism (annual meeting) whereby The UWI research products of possible commercial value can be exposed to potential investors.
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