UIU Research Grant - Application Guidelines for Research Projects
One of the main aims of tertiary education is to create knowledge and knowledge creation is not possible without research. It is a responsibility of the faculty members to take initiatives in this respect and play a leading role. However, there are severe impediments to such activities as neither the public nor the private universities have the proper incentives or statuary frame work to encourage Research and Development (R&D). Good researchers are not properly evaluated by the respective institutions and there exists a lack of financial and administrative support.
The ranking of a university is primarily judged by its research activities and their outcome. Bangladesh is lagging far behind the international community, even behind the universities of south Asia region in this respect. As a humble effort to overcome this impediment, United International University (UIU), with active financial support from the United Group, has taken the pioneering initiative to provide Research and Development (R&D) fund for the researchers to conduct quality research activities and set examples for other institutions.
Partnership of the Proposal
IAR usually invites for Research Proposals twice a year. Interested Faculty members from UIU and members from the Partner Organizations* [conditions applied as per the MoU/MoA] are eligible to submit their applications as the Principal Investigator of the projects. Interested individual researchers from other Universities/Organizations may apply as a Principal Investigator with partial funding. For proposal having Principal Investigator from other Organization, at least one Co-Investigator has to be from UIU who will be acting as the Project Coordinator. Other Co-investigators, if any, can be from UIU and/or other Universities/Organizations.
Faculty members from UIU can undertake one project as the Principal Investigator and one project as the Project Coordinator (for project having Principal Investigator from another Institution). A UIU faculty member can submit second proposal as the Principal Investigator provided s/he has successfully completed at least one IAR funded research project. In case of UIU faculty member (as Principal Investigator) with two projects running concurrently, the total budget of the two projects must not exceed BDT 1,200,000.
Interested Researchers will have to submit proposals ‘online’ in the prescribed form in IAR Website. UIU faculty members as the principal Investigator can sign up with their official email addresses. In case of the Projects headed by the members of the Partner Organizations, only the official email address (email domain of the Partner Organizations) will be accepted. In case of Individual researchers’ applying from other Universities/Organizations, UIU faculty member who is going to participate as the Project Coordinator can be able to sign up on Principal Investigator’s behalf.
The Principal Investigator and the Project Coordinator will be solely responsible for the project and its day to day operations, financial transactions and fulfillment of project objectives. If the Principal Investigator/Project Coordinator has obtained funding from a third party for the same project, he/she must inform the IAR authority and include the amount of such funding in its proposal together with the details of what that funding has been used for.
All the project expenditures will follow the usual policy of UIU. A prior permission from IAR-UIU will be needed before submitting the requisition for the purchases more than BDT 15,000. Cash advances for expenses should be adjusted in the Finance and Accounts Office by following the UIU policy and requires prior approval from the Executive Director, IAR. For the Projects headed by the members of the Partner Organizations, the payments will be made through the respective organizational authorities. All the relevant approvals should be granted from highest authority of both IAR-UIU and Partner Organization and will follow the policy in accordance with the MoA/MoU.
Any portion of the IAR-UIU Grant unexpended or uncommitted at the end of the Grant Period must be returned to IAR, UIU. Any change in Budget or Cost reallocation will require prior approval in writing approved by the IAR Authority. The expenditure summary and accounts clearance will have to be submitted along with the final report.
All published papers must acknowledge that the project was funded by the IAR - UIU and the author affiliation of all the authors/co-authors from UIU must mention their affiliation as UIU. For the Projects headed by the members of the Partner Organizations, the acknowledgement of the funding/contribution from both IAR, UIU and the Partner Organizations must be mentioned.
In the list of the authors, name of a person who is not a co-investigator of the project will not be acceptable. Any other additional organization undisclosed to the IAR-UIU and Partner Organization will not be accepted and the paper will not be considered as an outcome of the IAR funding.
*List of Partner Organizations:
1. North South University (NSU)
2. Accounting Research Institute (ARI) of Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM), Malaysia
3. University of Liberal Arts Bangladesh (ULAB)
4. Department of Finance, University of Dhaka
5. South East University (SEU)
6. CMED Health Limited
7. Liberation War Museum
8. Shahjalal University of Science & Technology (SUST)
9. Department of Organization Strategy and Leadership (OSL), University of Dhaka
10. American International University-Bangladesh (AIUB)
11. Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
12. Research Initiative at Bangladesh (RI@B)
13. International Development Enterprise (iDE)
14. LankaBangla Securities Limited (LBSL)
15. Department Public Health and Informatics, Jahangirnagar University (DPHI-JU)
16. Green University of Bangladesh (GUB)
17. Pundra University of Science & Technology (PUB)
Fund Allocation and Project Budget
The maximum allocated fund for a particular project will not exceed BDT 2,500,000 for a 3 year project. Smaller projects with duration between 1 to 2 years or less than 1 year may be allocated a budget proportional to their time duration. Generally, any faculty member, who has not served more than 3 years in UIU/Partner Organizations, will not be eligible to submit the proposal as the principal investigator. However, under special circumstances, this condition may be relaxed.
The principal investigator of an ongoing project, normally, will not be allowed to quit UIU/Partner Organization once undertakes a project until the project is finished. In appropriate cases, UIU/Partner Organization’s authority may accept the resignation of the principal investigator if convinced that the transition of the project under a proposed new leadership will be smooth and appropriate.
The principal investigator from UIU is free to choose co-investigators from UIU or outside of UIU. To apply for UIU Research Grant, Principal Investigator from the Partner Organizations must have at least one co-investigator from UIU as the Project Coordinator. When the Principal Investigator is from Partner Organization, funding will be granted following the percentage agreed by both UIU and the Partner Organizations (as per the MoA/MoU). The proposal must clearly mention the cost components requested from UIU or the Partner Organizations in separate items.
Each proposal may request funding for one or more Research Assistants (RA) and the total remuneration shall not exceed BDT 30,000 per month. An RA usually will be employed full time and must not be doing any full time job elsewhere. If more than one Research Assistants are needed, the allocated fund may be divided amongst the RAs. The minimum educational qualification of full time RA will be a Bachelor’s degree in the appropriate field.
A proposal may ask for expenses, up to BDT 50,000 (Scopus indexed conference) to present conference papers resulted out of the research projects having duration more than 1 year and an additional BDT 100,000 for publication charges (Scopus indexed Journal papers only). The Investigators will not be eligible for the UIU General Conference/Journal funds/rewards/allowances/expenses to present such papers, if such a fund is requested. However, if further funds for Journal papers are needed, the researcher may apply for separate supplementary funding.
Any hardware/software purchased from the project funding of IAR must be installed in the UIU premises and the Principal Investigator will have to hand it over to IAR authority once the project is complete.
Measure of Project Success
Research Projects financed by UIU Research Grant through IAR will be judged by the Article(s) published in Scopus Indexed Journal(s) and the following criteria must be fulfilled to successfully complete the Project:
1. The Article(s) needs to be published in Q1 or Q2 or Q3 Journal(s) that is required to be indexed by Scopus for 4 consecutive years at the time of application. Publication(s) in Q4 Journal will not be accepted. Scopus provided quartile information is available in Scimago Journal & Country Rank website (Link: https://www.scimagojr.com/).
2. IAR placed a Score/Points table for Scopus Indexed Publications based on the Scopus provided Quartile information. Accomplishing the designated score/point requirements mentioned in the following table will ensure successful completion of the Project:
IAR Score/Points according to the Scopus Quartile | |
Q1 – 3.0 Q2 – 2.0 Q3 – 1.0 | |
Grant Amount | Required Points |
Less than or equal to BDT 500,000.00 | 2.0 |
BDT 500,001.00 to Less than or equal to BDT 1,000,000.00 | 4.0 |
BDT 1,000,001.00 to Less than or equal to BDT 1,500,000.00 | 5.0 |
BDT 1,500,001.00 to Less than or equal to BDT 2,500,000.00 | 6.0 |
Submitting the Proposal
The Proposals must be submitted as per the prescribed format in IAR website (https://iar.uiu.ac.bd/apply/login). To submit the Proposal, an applicant needs to sign up and then log in to start his/her application.
The Objective of the project should include what the research expects to achieve and the possible benefits out of successful completion of the project.
Present State of the Art should mention the similar projects or research going on/has already been completed or paper published on the topic (please provide references). The proposal must clearly mention what is the novelty/further development expected in the proposed project in comparison to the present state of the art.
In Methodology, the actual process of conducting the research (like whether the project will be simulation based or any hardware developed, the sequence of events like any field work, survey or physical measurements etc.) should be elaborated.
Expected Results and Possible Outcome should include what results are expected, how the results are significant so far the theory or application of the project topic is concerned. In case of practical application of the project outcome, it is important to mention the actual benefit that can be achieved from the research outcome.
Duration of the Project should identify the milestones of the activities, description of the activities and their duration in a Gantt chart. If the proposal is accepted, the investigators will have to present their progress from time to time based on this Gantt chart.
Important Budget Components should be mentioned, with proper justification, the list of hardware items or software packages/programs needed to be purchased for the project and the possible application of the hardware items or the software packages/programs in further research and development after the project is completed.
The Financial Proposal would include all the cost components with elaboration. This may include the remuneration of the Research Assistants, cost of hardware items or software packages/programs, other relevant components if survey is required, consumable like electronic components (with detailed listing and quantity as far as possible). Computers or laptops are not usually funded in the projects.
The proposal must be submitted online in IAR Website (http://iar.uiu.ac.bd/apply/login) within the dead line. Any proposal submitted beyond the deadlines will not be considered.
Evaluation of the Proposals
IAR will form Evaluation Committees with Executive Director- IAR as the Chairman and experts from the respective fields appointed by the Chairman of the evaluation committee. If the Principal Investigator is from the Partner Organization, authorities from the respective organizations may appoint some of the members of the Evaluation Committee on their behalf. The selection procedure will have 2 phases – the Phase 1 will be the evaluation of the proposals to make a short list and Phase 2 will be a 10/15 minutes presentation for the shortlisted projects. The decision taken by the respective expert committee will be final.
Proposal evaluation will be based on the following marks distribution-
1. Technical soundness of the proposal in relation to its title: 50 (Max)
2. Real life application of the outcome of the project: 10 (Max)
3. Fund sought with appropriate justification: 15 (Max)
Less than BDT 500,000: 0-15
More than BDT 500,000 to BDT 1,000,000: 0-12
More than BDT 1,000,000 to BDT 1,500,000: 0-9
More than BDT 1,500,000: 0-6
4. Co-investigator(s) outside UIU included in the project: 15 (max)
(Role of the co-investigator has to be clearly defined and their consent letter has to be submitted)
International co-investigator: 10
(Has to be employed outside Bangladesh and not on leave or lien from Bangladesh)
Co-investigator from industry: 5
5. Partial fund obtained from outside UIU: 10 (max)
(Document of partial funding has to be submitted) 50% or more: 10
Within 25-49%: 6
Within 10-24%: 4
(This will be applicable for the projects funded by the partner organizations as well)
Submission of Progress Report
The Principal Investigator will have to submit Progress Report every four/six months followed by an Oral Presentation. Timing of the progress report will be decided by IAR. The progress report will be a short description of the activities performed, cost incurred and achievements/activities as per the Gantt chart presented during proposal submission.
Submission of the Final Report
The Final Report will contain an executive summary mentioning the results and outcome of the project with list of the published papers. The copies of the published papers should also be included along with the clearance from Finance and Accounts Office. Until the publication target of awarded research proposal is achieved, the principal investigator may not be allowed to submit further research proposals under this scheme. UIU Evaluation Committee will formally inform the principal investigator regarding the acceptance of the Final Project Report within 3 months of submission of the Final Report.
Extension of a Project
Extension of Time Duration:
The duration of a project may be extended with permission from IAR provided enough justification is presented. However, no additional fund will be allocated for such extensions.
Extension of the Research
In case of projects where the extension of research can produce further significant results, the Principal Investigator may apply for extension of the research in the prescribed form justifying the proposal for extension. If accepted, such proposals may get further funding provided all the requirements of the previous project are properly completed.