Evolution of Humanities and Social Science research is a priority for MSRT

Report by the Directorate for International Academic Cooperation –

(Source: Public Relations)

Dr Peyman Salehi, Vice-Minister for Research at the Ministry of Science, Research, and Technology (MSRT), in his first visit to universities after his appointment, visited Allameh Tabataba'i University on 9 May 2022 and met Professor Abdollah Motamedi, ATU President and Professor Seyed Jalal Dehghani Firoozabadi, ATU's Vice-President for Research.

At the beginning of the session, Professor Motamedi pointed to the preparation of ATU's new strategic plan following his appointment as ATU President and said, "Being based on upstream plans, a university's strategic plan is not a prescriptive document. The main topics of ATU's plan were first identified by a specialised team and sent to the Faculties and Departments. Accordingly, the faculty members also announced their plans until 2026. We received more than 1,500 plans from the Faculties in this direction, of which 970 were new".

Motamedi then added that ATU is one of the most active international affairs and scientific diplomacy universities. He said, "Our faculty members hold Persian Language Chairs in different countries. Last year, 13 joint international research projects were conducted. An important part of our research is international research. Some of our disciplines, although they are mainly humanities-based, have laboratories. These disciplines have been launched in recent years and need to be strengthened. We have also taken important steps to internationalise our specialised magazines to make the most of the existing equipment and facilities".

Then, Dr Peyman Salehi said, "We made our first visit to ATU to show the importance of humanities. ATU has an unparalleled capacity because it is the only humanities-focused university in the country." He then added, "In the current situation, professors can help the university avoid being drawn into political and economic isolation. Internationalisation and scientific diplomacy are serious priorities for the MSRT. Moreover, a serious issue is winning chairs in the universities abroad. ATU enjoys professors who, owing to their academic and international backgrounds, have the capacity to occupy these international chairs. Therefore, one of our priorities is to help universities identify and take these chairs, and we will do our best to support them materially and spiritually".

The Vice-Minister for Research then continued: "MSRT's other priority is indexing journals. If we fail to realise the capacity to index our journals internationally, we will have a problem. Thus, ATU is expected to prioritise the issue and have a roadmap for it so that it can speak at the international level. We expect ATU to pursue important political, social, and ideological issues with the aim of theorising at the international level and promoting its scientific publications."

Dr Salehi then referred to the Vice-Ministry for Research's programmes, saying that the "evolution of research in humanities and social sciences, optimal postdoctoral capacities, launching a national laboratory network, and drafting a law to remove research barriers are among these programmes."

No university has a five-year plan for faculty members. As the first university to implement this plan, ATU should be a model for other universities in this respect. I want to suggest that ATU seriously try to turn into a knowledge-based university of the third type. We will also necessary support in this direction

He continued that "No university has a five-year plan for faculty members. As the first university to implement this plan, ATU should be a model for other universities in this respect. I want to suggest that ATU seriously try to turn into a knowledge-based university of the third type. We will also necessary support in this direction".

At the end of the session, the MSRT's Vice-Minister for Research visited ATU's Cognitive Lab, the Central Library and Documentation Centre, and ATU's Museum.