It is a primary concern of the research unit head not just to formulate and lay down research guidelines and programs but also to help motivate and enrich faculty members' skills in doing research. What are your insights on this? What are the best practices to motivate and enrich faculty to do research?
There can be different approaches to motivate the faculty for research. But first of all, the environment to carry out good research is very important. A good research environment will help faculty members to carry out research in diligent manner. Primary issue in research environment is to generate focused discussion groups. These discussion groups should regularly meet and openly discuss the research related issues. Each faculty member should be allowed to join one or more focused groups according to his research interests. Research seminars and symposiums should be conducted on regular basis to understand new ideas. It is also important that the communication should be very open. A lot of research ideas do not flourish because of communication barriers. The team leader should encourage equal participation.
Resource allocation for research should also be sufficient to meet the research goals. Time, money, human resources all are important in this context. And last but not the least, due appreciation should be given to all those who contribute to the research.
I agree that communication is key. Understanding the strengths of other researchers and finding common interests is key to improving productivity.
Other simple things such as a shared database of resources can make a huge difference. The amount of times I discovered other departments within the faculty had excellent (and often expensive) equipment hidden away was alarming.
Jules
there should exist a mechanism to promote research among colleagues and faculty members. Institute should have well planned research policy and identified areas in which research is to be conducted. it is also important that a head and senior should provide opportunity and guidance to do research. A kind cooperation, encouragement and humble suggestions are also expected from a head of an institution.