Dr. Tariq Rahim Soomro
Professor of Computer Science, and Rector at Institute of Business Management
Karachi
Title: Impactful Research
Abstract:
Research output in Pakistan has grown rapidly in recent years; according to Clarivate Analytics, the country recorded the highest percentage rise in research output worldwide in 2018, at 21%, raising the question of whether a higher volume of publications means research is actually making a difference. This talk distinguishes writing and publishing research, usually measured by counts of papers, books, citations, and the h-index, from doing impactful research, measured by its effect on society and communities. Impactful research advances theory, improves quality of life, changes how things are done, and strengthens an institution's academic reputation. Drawing on published guidance, the talk recommends choosing topics that are close to the researcher's heart and of immediate use to society, following one's passion, and earning academic impact through ethical citation practices built on four Cs: competence, collaboration, care, and communication. It also argues that impact does not depend on where work appears, since journals with and without an impact factor can both publish impactful and non-impactful papers. The talk then presents the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), 17 integrated goals with 169 targets, as a framework for directing research toward societal impact. SDG 4 (Quality Education) relates most directly to academia, but universities contribute to all 17, and countries and higher education institutions prioritize the goals according to their own needs and capacities. The talk concludes with three ways to align institutional research with the SDGs: a bottom-up approach that maps existing faculty research to the SDGs, a top-down approach that assigns selected SDGs to faculty, and a hybrid approach that combines the two.
Short Bio:
Dr. Tariq Rahim Soomro, Professor of Computer Science, and Rector at Institute of Business Management, has received BSc (Hons) and M.Sc degrees in Computer Science from University of Sindh, Jamshoro, Pakistan and his PhD in Computer Applications from Zhejiang University, Hangzhou, China and became the first Pakistani to receive all three degrees in the field of Computer Science. He has more than 32 years of extensive and diverse experience as an administrator, computer programmer, researcher, and teacher. As an administrator, He served as Coordinator, Head of Department, Head of Faculty, Dean of Faculty, Head of Academic Affairs and having wide experience in accreditation related matters, including ABET USA, HEC Pakistan, KHDA Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, UAE. He has published over 100 peer-reviewed papers. He has been a senior member of IEEE since 2005 and IEEE Member since 2000. He is currently serving as IEEE Computer Society Region 10 Coordinator 2, and previously served as Chair IEEE Karachi Section, and IEEE Computer Society R10 Southern Area Coordinator. He is member Task Force on Arabic Script IDNs by Middle East Strategy Working Group (MESWG) of ICANN, Member Editorial Board of several research Journals and also served as Technical Program Committee Member of several national and international conferences. He received the ISOC Fellowship to the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for the 68th Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) Meeting. He is also the first Pakistani to became IEEE Computer Society Distinguished Visitor (2021-2023) and also became the first and only Pakistani to be selected by the IEEE Computer Society to the ‘Inaugural Class of IEEE Computer Society’ as Distinguished Contributor (2021) in the field of Computer Science. Recently has been selected as Distinguished Fellow by Post Doctoral Research Society, UK.