Jipmer will soon establish a Research Resource Centre to build on its ongoing efforts to develop independent and collaborative studies.
The Jipmer Research Resource Centre aims to set up infrastructure with structural and functional components which can support research related activities of faculties and students.
The centre will have significant divisions like Clinical Research, Molecular Biology, Clinical Epidemiology, Jipmer Innovation Facilitation Unit, and Biostatistics Wing in it.
The centre is expected to function as a nodal point for the research grant office, MoU office and International Collaboration office.
“It will be equipped with research laboratory facilities for basic to advanced research,” Jipmer Director Dr. S. C. Parija said.
For international research collaboration, Jipmer will be adopting the Government of India’s VAJRA (Visiting Advanced Joint Research) and GIAN (Global Initiative for Academic Network) Schemes under the Ministry of Science and Technology.
Through these schemes, the institution expects to tap into the expertise of foreign faculty from institutes of higher education for various research activities. Meanwhile, Jipmer has identified a place to build an international hostel to accommodate international faculty and students.
According to Dr. Parija, Jipmer has been seriously addressing its relatively uninspiring research track record in relation to its stature as a premier healthcare institution (Jipmer was declared as an Institution of National Importance under the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in 2008) with a definitive pro-poor focus.
“With multi-sectorial research activities, Jipmer will become more visible beyond boundaries as a medical research leader besides healthcare and medical education,” he said.
The organisational structure has been redesigned for rapid turnaround and critical review of research projects.
Exclusive division
An exclusive division for research headed by Dean (Research) has been formed along with various committees that support and facilitate good research practices. The funds allocated for research has been stepped up substantially.
Moreover, a Jipmer Innovation Facilitation Unit has been set up to promote research efforts. In the last one year, five faculties and one MBBS student have filed patents in various fields, and four more are in process, Dr. Parija pointed out.
This is in addition to the various MoUs Jipmer has signed with many national and international institutes for training and collaboration to strengthen the research activities.
A series of systematic research strengthening programme is under way envisaging capacity building for students, research scholars and faculty, developing and strengthening the research skills, instincts, abilities, processes and resources.
The Jipmer Research Leadership Mentoring Programme, for instance, looks to create a pool of medical research leaders at national and international level. An Online Research Dashboard and Online Research Grievance Redressal Unit is in place to support and facilitate the researchers at various stages of their research.
“Jipmer is also establishing a new online project management system in collaboration with Centre for Development of Advanced Computing,” Dr. Parija said.
