Papua New Guinea University of Technology Research Report 2016

FOREWORD

On behalf of the Research Committee of Unitech, I am delighted to present the 2016 Research Report of the Papua New Guinea University of Technology. This is a compilation of the research activities of the thirteen academic departments and four research units of the university. I am very thankful to the Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Shamsul Akanda, for compiling and editing the report.

Unitech has the largest postgraduate program in the country, with more than 200 postgraduate students at the present time. The majority of the students are from Papua New Guinea but there are also some from other Pacific Islands who are here through Erasmus Mundus Program of the the European Union. This year, we have one postgraduate student from Africa, Botswana, who is under the Association of Commonwealth Universities Scholarship. The presence of research students creates an atmosphere that is conducive to research. Supervision of postgraduate students and doing research go hand in hand.

The Papua New Guinean postgraduate students at Unitech are either sponsored by the university, by companies or by themselves. Whereas the government has instituted scholarship programs for undergraduate study (HECAS - Higher Education Cost Assistance Scheme - and AES - Academic Excellence Scholarship) no similar schemes are in place for postgraduate studies. We are aware that the government plans to introduce scholarships for postgraduate
studies soon, and we look forward to a substantial expansion of our postgraduate programs when that happens.

There is a well-attended weekly research seminar at Unitech. For the preceding few years this was coordinated by the Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Shamsul Akanda, and last year and this year it is being coordinated by another member of the Research Committee, Professor Subramaniyam Gopalakrishnan. I am very grateful to both of them for their commitment to the seminars, research and to the postgraduate program as a whole.

Unitech has a Research Committee that funds research projects and staff attendance at national/international conferences. In 2016, a total of K56,281 was given out by the Research Committee for student research projects only, but no fund was used to support staff attendance at national and international conferences. Nonetheless, many requests for research funding and attendance at international conferences were turned down by the Research Committee, due to a shortage of funds. These funds need to be tripled or quadrupled. That would be a good
investment.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all heads of department, leaders of research units and members of the Research Committee for their fruitful work during the year 2016. I also thankful to the Vice Chancellor and his management team for their continued support and commitment of funds even when the university budget is under stress. Above all, I thank the Dean of Postgraduate Studies, Professor Akanda, for preparing the 2016 Unitech Research Report 

Dr Augustine Moshi
Pro Vice Chancellor Academic and
Chairman of the Research Committee