Research and Development Cell

Preamble

The National Education Policy (NEP) 2020 envisages the promotion of quality research within the Higher Education System. Gokhale Institute of Politics and Economics, Pune, established in 1930, being a pioneering Institution in the country for research in the area of social sciences in general and economics in particular, as part of its larger expansion plan, intends to strengthen its vibrant education eco system with emphasis on research in collaboration across industry, government and community based organizations at local, national and international levels. The establishment of Research and Development Cell (RDC) is expected to play a pivotal role in catalyzing multidisciplinary /transdisciplinary research culture as mandated in NEP 2020.

Vision

To systematically strengthen and infuse greater efficiency and transparency in the ecosystem for research at the Institute in line with the provisions of NEP 2020 by giving equal emphasis on teaching and research and become a Research Intensive University.

Mission

To create a conducive environment for enhanced research productivity at individual and institutional level.
To encourage collaboration across industry, government, community based organizations and agencies at the local, national and international level.
To facilitate greater access to research through mobilization of resources and funding.
Encourage and enable consulting projects for raising resources within prescribed rules and regulations.

Objectives

To create an organizational structure and substructure with role-based functions of RDC, formulate Research Policy for GIPE, identify thrust areas of research, and form related cluster groups/ frontline teams/consortia of researchers within and outside GIPE.
To create enabling provisions in Research Policies for recruitment of research personnel, procurement of equipment, and financial management with adequate autonomy to the Principal Investigator(s) and disseminate research outcomes to stakeholders and the public at large.
To establish a special purpose vehicle to promote researchers and innovators, identify potential collaborators from industry, research organizations, academic institutions & other stakeholders for cooperation and synergistic partnerships.
To act as a liaison between researchers & relevant research funding agencies, extend guidance in preparation & submission of project proposals and post-sanctioning of the grants to oversee adherence to timelines.
To have better coordination among other cells/centers dealing with University-Industry Inter Linkage, Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship Development and Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and to create a prototype template thereafter.
To develop an Institutional Research Information System for sharing the status of ongoing/ completed research projects/Programmes, expertise & resources, etc., making effective use of Information & Communication Technology (ICT) for preparing the database of in-house experts to provide industrial consultancy and services.
To engage & utilize the services of superannuated active faculty/scientists in research capacity building of talented young minds and promote mobility of researchers across institutions and R&D Labs.
To serve as nodal center for ideation and conceptualization of research topics/themes by organizing workshops and training programs and ensuring the integrity and ethical practices in research activities including clearance of bioethical committee wherever required.

Functions

The Research and Development Cell (RDC) would help creating a research ecosystem for reliable, impactful, and sustained research output. The essential elements of such an ecosystem, viz., generation of knowledge and facilitation of research, innovation and technology development for industrial & societal benefits, are addressed by human resource (researcher & faculty), intellectual capital (knowledge & skills), governance (regulation & policies) and financial resources (funding & grants).

Organizational Structure

The RDC will have the following organizational structure

Vice chancellor/ his nominee shall be the chairman of the Committee
Dean/ Associate Dean, Research and Publication shall be the Director and member of RDC
Dean/ Associate Dean, Faculty shall be member of the RDC
Dean/ Associate Dean, Faculty and Dean/ Associate Dean, Academics shall be member of the RDC
Dean/ Associate Dean, Faculty and Dean/ Associate Dean, Student Affairs shall be member of the RDC
Heads of Research Centers shall be members of the RDC

There shall be following sub-committees to help the RDC in its functioning

Finance and Infrastructure Committee

1. Research Policy Development Committee
2. Research Programme, Collaboration and Consultancy Committee
3. Monitoring and Evaluation Committee

Ethical Committee

While the core committees are set, the committees will have the right to temporarily/permanently expand these committees as and when contingencies arise. These committees can also include external experts.

Functions of Sub Committees

Finance and Infrastructure Committee

RDC is expected to facilitate the resource mobilisation and create a Corpus for research and development from government, industry and other funding agencies and CSR funds for sustenance and furtherance of research activities. While this will be done by the Apex Committee (RDC) inputs from these will be provided to the Planning and Monitoring Board and Finance Committee for implantation. The Director RDC may be a permanent invitee to the Finance Committee of the Institute as well the Planning and Monitoring Board for smooth facilitation of the same.

Research Policy Development Committee

Thrust areas for Research in Gokhale Institute should be identified, underpinning the societal needs and the availability of key resources, faculty research competencies and support systems. This needs to be aligned with the mandates of various National Missions, SDGs leading to Atma-Nirbhar India but need not restricted to this. The long term research policy of the Institute will be developed by this subcommittee via inputs by the RDC and for final vetting by the RDC. This may then be approved by the academic council and the Governing body of the Institute.

Research Programme, Collaboration and Consultancy Committee

This committee will act as a facilitator for networking and collaborative research with other national and international institutions working in inter- disciplinary, trans-disciplinary and multidisciplinary areas. This subcommittee will also reach out to key industry players, research organisations, institutions, associations, NGOs and government bodies to forge strategic partnerships. This will also create a real-time documentation of all research projects/consultancies/collaboratives at institutional and individual levels.

Monitoring and Evaluation Committee

This committee will be entrusted with the task of monitoring the overall research programmes of the Institute. The committee shall monitor and oversee research progress, coordinate programme, manage and facilitate optimizing resources, and timely review research activities for completion of the projects as per schedule. The committee needs to formulate and adhere to specific quality benchmarks for research.

Ethics Committee

This committee shall sensitize the researcher to the importance of integrity and ethics in research and comply with ethical codes of research and publishing practices at institutional, national, and global levels. This would be the overall ethics committee that is constituted at the institutional level for all the engagements of could carve out a subcommittee.

Contact

To be updated