Dean – Research

Dean – Research

Role Summary

The Dean – Research is the chief academic leader responsible for strengthening and advancing the research culture of the institution with a primary focus on enhancing the research productivity, quality, and impact of individual faculty members. The role emphasizes faculty-centric research development, mentoring, funding enablement, research governance, and translation of research into high-impact outcomes.

Core Objective

To enable, mentor, monitor, and accelerate research output at the individual faculty level, ensuring sustained improvement in publications, grants, patents, and societal impact across all disciplines.

Desired Skill Set

• Proven ability to drive individual faculty research performance, from early-career academics to senior professors.
• Strong expertise in research mentoring, proposal development, publication strategy, and citation impact improvement.
• Experience in establishing research performance frameworks, KPIs, and accountability mechanisms.
• Ability to identify faculty research strengths and align them with funding opportunities, institutional priorities, and national/international research agendas.
• Expertise in interdisciplinary research facilitation without diluting individual faculty ownership.
• Strong understanding of research ethics, integrity, plagiarism prevention, and compliance frameworks.
• Ability to build research capacity across departments with uneven or emerging research cultures.

Essential Qualifications

• Ph.D. in a relevant discipline with a strong and consistent research record.
• Minimum 15 years of teaching and research experience in higher education or research-intensive institutions.
• At least 05 years of experience at the level of Professor / Senior Academic Leader or equivalent.

Experience Requirements

• Demonstrated success in:
  • Improving individual faculty publication output (Scopus / Web of Science / ABDC / equivalent)
  • Enhancing grant success rates at the faculty level
  • Increasing citation impact, h-index, and research visibility
• Proven experience in mentoring faculty for:
  • Competitive research proposals (government, industry, international)
  • High-quality journal publications
  • Patents, copyrights, and technology transfer
• Experience in managing institution-wide research governance, funding allocation, and performance monitoring.
• Exposure to national and international research funding agencies and evaluation mechanisms.

Key Responsibilities

1. Faculty-Centric Research Leadership

• Develop and implement a faculty-focused research strategy that prioritizes individual researcher growth.
• Conduct regular research performance reviews at the faculty level.
• Identify underperforming research areas and provide targeted mentoring and capacity-building support.
• Enable early-career faculty through structured research onboarding and guidance programs.

2. Research Mentoring & Capacity Building

• Establish one-on-one and cohort-based mentoring frameworks for faculty research development.
• Support faculty in:
  • Identifying suitable journals and conferences
  • Structuring manuscripts and responding to reviewer comments
  • Developing competitive research proposals
• Promote ethical research practices and high standards of academic integrity.

3. Research Funding & Grants

• Guide individual faculty in identifying and applying for national, international, and industry-funded research grants.
• Review and strengthen faculty proposals before submission.
• Monitor funded projects for timely execution, reporting, and outcomes.
• Encourage interdisciplinary proposals while ensuring clear faculty ownership and accountability.

4. Publications, Patents & Research Output

• Increase quality and quantity of faculty publications in indexed and high-impact journals.
• Promote patent filing, copyrights, and other forms of intellectual output by faculty.
• Support faculty in converting research into commercial, policy, or societal impact outcomes.
• Establish incentives linked to individual research performance and outcomes.

5. Research Governance & Policy

• Develop and enforce policies related to:
  • Research ethics and integrity
  • Plagiarism prevention
  • Authorship and collaboration norms
  • Research incentives and workload allocation
• Ensure compliance with UGC, funding agency, and institutional regulations.
• Oversee research audit, documentation, and accreditation-related data.

6. Research Culture & Visibility

• Foster a culture where research is an individual responsibility supported by institutional systems.
• Encourage faculty participation in conferences, editorial boards, and professional societies.
• Enhance visibility of faculty research through institutional repositories, rankings, and research showcases.

7. Data-Driven Research Management

• Establish dashboards to track faculty-wise research metrics:
  • Publications
  • Citations
  • Grants
  • Patents
• Use analytics to guide mentoring, incentives, and strategic decisions.
• Prepare research performance reports for leadership and accreditation bodies.

Personal Attributes

• High academic credibility and ethical integrity.
• Data-driven, outcome-oriented, and resilient.
• Strong mentoring mindset with the ability to challenge and support faculty constructively.
• Ability to influence senior faculty while nurturing early-career researchers.
• Commitment to building sustainable, faculty-owned research excellence.