Interenational Conference on Social Science Research

3-Days Conference on " Promotion of Social Science Research in Pakistani Universities: Prospects and Challenges"

The first 3-days international conference on “Promotion of Social Science Research in Pakistani Universities: Prospects and Challenges” was held at the Higher Education Commission (HEC) Islamabad on April 18th.
Chief guest Dr. Javaid R. Laghari, Chairman HEC inaugurated the opening ceremony of the conference. The conference was organized by the "Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities in Pakistan, HEC". The Vice Chancellor University of Gujrat Prof Dr Muhammad Nizamuddin was the Chairman of the organizing committee.

Dr Nasir Ali Khan (Director Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar)

The anchors of the conference include experts in the field of social sciences from both, home and abroad. Experts in social science research from the USA, India, Germany and Bangladesh contributed on the different dimensions of the social science research. The participants who attended the conference include young faculty of social science and indigenous PhD scholars who will be making poster presentations based on their research. 

Speaking on the occasion, Dr. Laghari said that the Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities in Pakistan is an advisory committee established in 2003, having eminent social scientists from various higher education institutions throughout the country as its members. He appreciated the work done by the committee under its first chairperson. Dr. Najma Najam (2003-2006) and then Dr. Ishrat Husain (2006-2009). “The primary objective of the committee is to develop the existing level of faculty, improve R & D in social sciences and humanities, develop infrastructure as well as a quality assurance mechanism, keeping in view the international trends”, Dr Laghari remarked. 

He said that we want our social scientists to play a leading role in building the communities, be it education, health, environment, population, disaster or any other community need. He said that every possible effort is being made to enhance the social science research in Pakistani universities, in a way that it has a direct impact on the policy making of the country.  

Earlier, presenting an overview of the conference, Dr Muhammad Nizamuddin, said that the main objective of conference include developing and promoting an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary/trans-disciplinary approach to study the Pakistani society; forging a common research agenda to meet the contemporary social, economic, political, cultural and environmental challenges; examining latest methodological tools, conceptual paradigms and techniques to address the challenging research issues; building the capacity of young faculty members and MPhil/PhD students to conduct qualitative and quantitative social science research and establishing an inter-university consortium for expanding the role of social science research in Pakistan’s public policymaking.

In his keynote address entitled “The Crisis in Social Science Research in South Asia: Coping with Market Failure and Structural Constraints”, Prof Rehman Sobhan, Chairman, Center for Policy Dialogue, Bangladesh said that effective demand for academic research in the social sciences in South Asian region remains both weak and in particular cases, undiscovered. “The failure in articulating a need for quality research is compounded by structural constraints which distant the market for such research and generates disincentives for researchers.”

Prof Sobhan said the extent of influence exercised by our external partners depended to some extent in the professional competence as well as political influence of our respective bureaucracies. Referring to the marginalization of research outcome generated by the academic community and research institution, he said, “Even in the glory days of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) in the 1960s, when it was populated by expatriate economists of some distinction as well as eminent indigenous economists and the Pakistan Development Review was a globally recognized peer reviewed journal, their research output exercised only a peripheral influence on the design of development policy which was heavily influenced by the World Bank and Harvard Advisory Group. 

He said that the climate for social science research has been evolving with the changing times. “Today the international development community is much more open to heterodox thinking than they used to be. The global discourses on development policy has not remained immune to the growing crisis within the globalization process,” he said adding the policy agendas which once dominated policy thinking in South Asia have, in most countries, failed to deliver sustained growth or significant alleviation of poverty whilst social disparities have widened. New agendas, prioritizing poverty reduction, human development and good governance through policy ownership, have now been introduced into the policy domain though such exotic acronyms such as the PRSP and the MGDs, and once marginalized domestic researchers are being rediscovered.

He stressed the importance of quality research which provides both creative as well as credible policy options to bring about substantive chance in the lives of people. “To this end, there is a need to channel adequate budgetary resources to the research community without political strings attached to it. If quality research, which can inspire agendas for inclusive change, can be put on the table, with the full backing of democratically elected governments, the international community will be persuaded to respect and recognize these influences as legitimate sources of policy change,” he added.  

Address of the keynote speaker was followed by the Chief Guest’s address. Later, Chairperson, Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities in Pakistan, HEC and Director Institute of Management Sciences, Peshawar, Dr Nasir Ali Khan thanked the speakers and the audience for attending the first session. After the tea break, second session started with the panel discussion on “Role of Social Science Research in Public Policy Development” under the chair Dr Ishrat Hussain (Director, Institute of Business Administration, Karachi). In this session Dr Jochen Hippler (Institute of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Duisburg-Essen, Duisburg, Germany) addressed as the keynote speaker. Third session was held the same day on “Challenges for Promotion of Social Science Research in Pakistani Universities and HEC’s Experience under the chair Dr Sohail H. Naqvi (Executive Director, Higher Education Commission, Islamabad). Second day proceedings started with the discussion on “New Developments in Social Science Research Techniques and Methodologies” with Lt. Gen. (Retd) Muhammad Asghar (Rector National University of Science and Technology, Islamabad) in chair. Dr James C.Wittee (Director, Center for Social Science Research, George Mason University, USA) was the keynote speaker of the session.

Working group meetings on “Identifying Social Sciences Research Priorities for Pakistan” was another salient feature of the program. The participants were given a choice to join one of the following four parallel working groups, during which both quantitative and qualitative aspects of social science research with a focus on Pakistan was discussed. Besides the chair/moderator and six lead speakers, each group comprised about 20-25 experts who identified research priorities, including institutional and financial mechanisms for its implementations, for the next five years in its respective area.

First working group was held on “Sustainable Human Development, Poverty and Inequality” with the moderator Dr Hafiz A Pasha (Dean, School of Social Sciences, Beaconhouse National University, Lahore). Second working group met to discuss “Costs and Opportunities of Pakistan’s Rapidly Changing Age Structure: Demographic Dividend, Aging and Urbanization” with moderator Dr Zeba A. Sathar (Country Director, Population Council, Islamabad). Third Working group was convened on “The State in Pakistan: Internal and External Challenges” with its moderator Dr Rasul Bakhsh Rais (Professor of Political Science, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, School of Humanities, Social Science and Law, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Lahore). “Ensuring Human Rights and Cultural Diversity: The Role of Media and Civil Society” was discussed in fourth working group with its moderator Mr Zafarullah Khan (Executive Director, Center of Civic Education, Islamabad). Debate on “Problems of Conducting Dissertation Research in Pakistan” was extensively discussed in working group chaired by Dr Rubina Saigol (Independent Researcher on Social Development, Lahore). Day 3 started with the session sharing recommendations of working groups with Dr Sohail H Naqvi in chair. 

Dr Pasha in his recommendations stressed research in liberal arts/ social sciences. He recommended for the special studies locating the reasons behind raising poverty and inequality in Pakistan. He urged pro poor policy tackling the poverty and inequality. He recommended the objective research on youth who constitute 28 millions population of the country. He said that by 2030, Pakistan will become the largest Muslim country in the world. He further stressed to end differential in land ownership.

Dr Mehtab S Karim representing the group recommendations of Dr Zeba A. Sathar stresses the issue of youth. He viewed the problems of the youth with the diverse demographic dimensions. He recommended checking the demographic momentum. He stressed to conduct research on the issues of psychological challenges of the children. He also suggested streamline the issue of urbanization. He also recommend to formulate polices to end violence and crime among the youth.

Dr Rusal Bukash Raise on behalf of his group deliberated that theorizing of the state remained a contested issue in the country. He stressed the need to settle it at earliest. He suggested the need to give priority to the vision of the founders of the state. He also recommended finding the reasons promoting the authoritarian tendencies in the society.  He recommended for settling the imbalance among the state institutions. He also recommend to review polices on feminism, human rights and employment. He opined that the 18^th Amendment has now become a subject of intecchutal debate which must be supported in its spirit. While recommending the policy on Baluchistan problems, he stressed to focus the Balochs only in this regard. Balochs, he recommended to be given top priority in addressing the consolidation issue of the country. 

While recommending the measures to streamline the problems on conducting dissertation in Pakistan, Ms Rubina Saigol focused the problems like financing, lack of access to information and insufficient library and computer lab facilities. She recommended promoting exchange of views in seminars, conferences and public debates. Data sharing, learning academic language and writing skills of dissertation, farming the research problems and the HEC funded supervisors were the issues recommended to be taken in account.

 

A musical evening organized on the inaugural day of the workshop alongside the campus’ Odium Arts Society’s whirling presentation depicting the sufis’ divine truth made the conference a landmark event at the HEC. The anchors and participants were deeply appreciative of the over all arrangements made by the University of Gujrat. Chairman HEC Committee for Development of Social Sciences and Humanities in Pakistan (CDSSHP) Dr Nasser Ali Khan while appreciating the UOG contributions in organizing the conference remarked that the UOG has made the conference a success story of the HEC.