The Research Manual saw a significant number of changes as the Research Manual Revision Technical Panel proceeded to continue the revision process this SY 2019-2020.
The manual, which the revision started in SY 2018-2019, had its revision process in full throttle as the University Research Office (URO) was started to be led by Dr. Johnny Ching. The new leadership picked up from where the previous one left off, which is the establishment of the revision of the technical panel and the review of the manual for the initial survey of what parts should be amended.
Initial actions
When Dr. Ching took over as director of URO, his first actions as regards the revision were to establish a new set of technical panel members and restructure the manual by separating the general provisions of the manual from its specific guidelines. With regular deliberations and consultations with all members of the technical panel and URO coordinators, the manual was improved with significant changes especially in the types of research accepted for funding, de-loading and overloading scheme, and in the different benefits and incentives that URO offers.
Prioritizing collaboration
The major changes in the research manual is anchored on the goal of increasing the number of faculty members involved in research as required in De La Salle University- Dasmariñas’s (DLSU-D) Level 4 accreditation by the Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities. As such, many of the changes made in the manual imply the prioritization of collaborative research among DLSU-D faculty members.
Research type and loading scheme
The revision in the manual presented various types of research according to various categories such as the nature of research, funding, scope, setting, and composition of authors. The last category is crucial in the determination of research incentive – overloading and de-loading. In the said category, there are two types of research – single author and collaborative – the latter having two subtypes that are homogeneous research (involves one discipline) and heterogeneous research (multi-disciplinary). The loading scheme in this case was designed to give more research units to those who are engaged in collaborative research than those who would choose to do research individually.
Benefits and incentives
The different grants and incentives the office offers were also seen crucial in increasing the involvement and research output of faculty members. It is for that reason that the benefits that researchers can avail of in the conduct of their research activities were improved significantly.
For the dissertation grant that aims to help faculty members to complete their doctorate degrees, the office proposes to change the number of available grants per school year from two to seven.
The amount of cash for journal publication incentive was also amended in a way that would increase the amount to be received by those who have co-authors than those who published individually. The proposed change also aims to promote the preference to collaborative research publication.
Moreover, the guidelines for the paper presentation subsidy that can be availed of by researchers if they want to present their paper in international conferences were also improved. The amount to be granted is retained; however, the proposed changes were made to make the liquidation processes easier for those who will avail of the subsidy. Majority of the amount in the subsidy was proposed to be set as an allowance, so that it would not require a tedious liquidation that most of faculty researchers who availed of the subsidy complained about before.
A new incentive was also included in the revision, which is the cash incentive for faculty researchers who would be granted with intellectual property (IP) protections such as patents, utility models and industrial designs. This incentive aims to boost the IP portfolio of the university, which is a recently included parameter in accrediting higher education institutions.
The technical panel also eyes to provide cash incentives for those who are engaged in creative works; however, clear guidelines are yet to be formulated for that purpose.