Office of the Vice President for Research

The Office of the Vice President for Research  promotes, sustains, and develops scientific research at Kuwait University through policy, programs and procedures for grant support. It endeavors to create an environment that encourages pursuit of humanities, basic and  applied research, with emphasis on priority and solution-based research to serve mankind.

OVPR  renders management, services, resources and technology support to achieve the fundamental goals of research,  sets  priorities, develops infrastructure and world-class labs for high quality research, encourages faculties to innovate, discover and invent, and steers faculty research towards scientific distinction and excellence.

The Office explores possibilities of  investing research outputs, builds inter-institutional,  regional and international alliances/partnerships for collaborative research, bridges institutional/industry divide for marketing of research outputs of commercial propensity, facilitates patents registration and safeguards intellectual property rights, and decisively moves towards the establishment of Research Park at Kuwait University, envisioned as the  hub of innovation, creativity and  scientific intellectualism. Emphasis is also on communication, awareness and visibility, achieving outputs of high impact that elevate KU's scientific  standing, and advancing  institutional capabilities towards global dimensions.

The OVPR is headed by the Vice President for Research (OVPR), a multiple-responsibility Sector that oversees management and functionality of the following three constituent  offices:

• Research Sector (RS), this office provides grants and services support to faculty research community for the pursuit of  humanities, basic, applied, priority and solution-based research that holds significance for the state, society and community.

• Academic Publication Council (APC) is responsible for the preparation  of KU's scientific journals, overseeing their production, release and marketing. A total of nine scientific journals are released and listed in international databases.

• Center for  Gulf & Arabian Peninsula Studies (CGAPS) provides an active forum for specialized research on  dominant Gulf/regional issues/concerns, organizes conference/seminars and builds requisite data archive.

All through this journey, that started four decades ago in 1979,  RS's fundamental mission  has been to lay an enduring foundation  of research at Kuwait University for encouraging faculties to pursue original, high quality research that is relevant in  contemporary context, meets national needs,  and fulfils social and community aspirations.

At the heart of this mission is RS’s well defined system of research support for promoting, supporting and sustaining faculty wide research interests in basic, applied and humanities  research, facilitated  through resources and services support. This system is integral to RS’s policy, principles and procedures, overseeing  the rendering of  grant support to faculties for  pursuing  high quality  ventures  that are scientifically sound and seek to resolve  national concerns.  RS’s  policy is, therefore, focused  on building  institutional  research strengths through well-defined programs, clear priorities, and provision of awards and  rewards as stimulants for high quality research, while elements of productivity, publications, partnerships, research marketing, are equally predominant in raising  the  existing status and  standard of faculty research towards  the  acquisition of international credibility.

Given this outstanding purpose, RS’s mission is  vast and  increasingly committed to globalizing institutional research, an objective that requires strengthening institutional resource muscle through infrastructural enhancement  as a conscious step towards creating  a supportive environment for advanced research. Emphasis is also  on encouraging  scientific openness through periodic poster events,  enhancing interdisciplinary and collaborative research,  and on elevating  quality standards for strengthening the scientific foundations at Kuwait University, enhancing research culture, and  moving towards establishing centers of research excellence.  Establishment of  KU Research Park is also an equally strategic commitment, laying grounds for  scientific innovation, germination of new ideas and spin-off technologies, with tremendous scope and propensity for industry-research linkage, and marketing  of scientific inventions.

A clear new strategy and dimension, therefore,  prevail in institutional research,  with priorities and  realistic goals set for KU research sector to acquire  international dimensions,  on grounds of faculties scientific capabilities and creative powers. Faculties are also increasingly moving  towards  the redressal of  priorities and  issues of national and social significance, sustained   through the grant of awards, with review  process ensuring  scientific merit, originality, relevancy and quality of proposed research. The provision of needed resources, further complement  research implementation, allowing faculties to  innovate, and pursue advanced high quality research.

RS's  manual of Research Support Rules & Regulations, as well as e-manual (available to researchers through the portal facility),   provide the guiding principles on  the regulatory framework and  bylaws governing  the system of grant awards at KU, which  are continuously reviewed, updated  and reformed for facilitating researchers. RS is also incorporating e-mode in its research operations and has generated   the electronic research support application, which is  being introduced for faculties to have the advantage of online submission of proposals.   RS is also refining its processing procedures for expediting grant approvals,  encouraging well-defined  comprehensive proposals, and expanding  its collaborative sphere through new interactive alliances and partnerships  with external institutions for joint research ventures of scientific and human value, as well as  for  technology indigenization/transfer, research investment,  patent registration, and intellectual property rights, as well as  for the feasibility of pursuing large-scale interdisciplinary studies, thereby setting new directions in institutional research. RS’s  increased focus is currently on developing areas of  research strengths, setting quality benchmark in faculty research,  reinforcing the value,  significance and impact of  research outputs,  and attaining recognition and visibility through scientific and creative excellence.