Rawalpindi : Fatima Jinnah Women University’s (FJWU) Quality Enhancement Cell (QEC) organised a three-day workshop on “Quality Assurance in Doctoral Research: A 360° Approach to Ethics, Mentorship and Research Excellence” from May 19-21.
Held under the patronage of Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Bushra Mirza, the workshop was the university’s first comprehensive capacity-building initiative for doctoral supervision. It was led by Prof Dr Bushra Yasmin, Director QEC and FJWU Research & Resource Center.
In line with the Higher Education Commission’s emphasis on professional development and mandatory training for PhD supervisors, the series aims to strengthen supervisory capacity, promote ethical research practices, and enhance research quality. Faculty members from various disciplines participated in interactive sessions on supervision, research ethics, governance, mentorship, and scholarly excellence.
Prof Dr Bushra Yasmin conducted a session on ethics, integrity, and governance, highlighting the role of academic integrity and institutional oversight in postgraduate studies. Nosheen Naz, Additional Director QEC, spoke on plagiarism prevention through Turnitin and AI governance frameworks.
Shagufta Nasreen, Assistant Registrar QEC, discussed responsible research management, journal recognition, and quality assurance checks.
External experts also contributed as resource persons. Dr Sofia Khalid, Chairperson of Environmental Sciences at Allama Iqbal Open University, spoke on building trust-based supervisory relationships and addressing ethical challenges in supervisor-student interactions.
Prof Dr Attya Bhatti of NUST discussed strategic mentorship for developing independent, future-ready researchers.
Prof Dr Shumaila Sajjad of the International Islamic University Islamabad outlined roles, responsibilities and expectations in doctoral supervision, focusing on communication, accountability and alignment with HEC policies.
On the final day, Prof Dr Tariq Majid of Quaid-i-Azam University led sessions on research design, scholarly publishing and building research collaborations. He provided practical guidance on literature reviews, publication policies and professional networking.
The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks by Nosheen Naz, followed by certificate distribution and presentation of souvenirs to resource persons.
