Page 15 - Issue212

ـه1441 يناثلا عيبر Forum 15
م2019 برمس�يد 212

research and

initiative center (ric)

INTRODUCTION TO RIC ORGANIZATIONAL STRUICTURE OF RIC

Figure 1 shows RIC organizational structure, main roles and committees
In the last few years, Prince Sultan University has increasingly
given research more attention and weight. This finally
contributed to the establishment of the Research and
Initiatives Center (RIC in short), in September 2017. Since then,
the University has taken several brave decisions to promote
research and has resulted in several new research programs
and initiatives. First, the University adopted a decentralized
strategy for research governance, giving colleges their
financial independence and decision making about conference
attendance, project proposal evaluation, research labs, to name
a few. This change from the fully centralized research strategy
to a decentralized one has radically improved the research
productivity and increased the motivation of researchers.
Besides, several research programs were established, allowing
faculty members to invite top scholars as distinguished visiting
professors, and also invite Ph.D. students from abroad for
research internships of one to six months. These are just a
sample of the initiatives that Prince Sultan University has made,
and that resulted in a highly positive impact on the research
environment. At PSU, we are very proud and enthusiastic
about the achievements made in research, and we are working
forward to reach the highest level of excellence in research in
the near future. Figure1. RIC Organizational Structure

RIC GOALS RIC SERVICES
RIC provides many services. The main services are summarized in Figure 2. The rest are listed below.
RIC General goals are:
Goal 1 - Establish an effective research infrastructure
Goal 2 - Play a larger role in advancement of research
Goal 3 - Contribute to the socio-economic development of the
Kingdom through research & innovation.

RIC goals for this academic year are:
Goal 1 - Boost the number and quality of publication at PSU
(target +500 journal publications)
Goal 2 - Streamline the administrative processes related to
research (publication fees, conference attendance, incentives,
recruitment of researchers …)
Goal 3 – Support NTP 2020 initiatives through the seed projects
Goal 4 – Attract external research funds through research labs
Goal 5 – Establish the research roadmap for the vision 2030 to
be in the top 200 University by 2030.
Goal 6 – Attract more active researchers (Research Professors,
Postdoc, PhD Students, Invited Professors, …) Figure 2. RIC Services