The CPEC-Collaborative Research Grant is focused on supporting research in the following priority thematic areas of national interest, utilizing full potential of Chinese experiences and lessons learnt in these areas;
- Sustainable Agriculture, including but not limited to challenges such as Agricultural Productivity and Resilience; exploitation of Agricultural Value-chains; and Sustainable Food Eco-systems for rural and urban consumers and producers
- Health and Wellbeing, including but not limited to Nutrition, Maternal and Child Health (MNCH), health-related information and communication technologies, Public Health Surveillance and Epidemiology, Non-Communicable Diseases, Bio‐informatics & Big‐data Analytics
- Clean Water and Sanitation, including but not limited to, food, energy, water nexus, and focusing on challenges such as large-scale, low cost, and scalable waste water treatment systems; significant reduction in irrigation related water losses; and innovative socio-technical approaches to water conservation.
- Poverty Alleviation, including, but not limited to, skills and labor market interventions, and focusing on challenges such as exploitation of 3G/4G networks particularly for less literate and largely illiterate populations; addressing and mitigation of large climate change impacts on marginal communities; the use of technology in bringing transparency and responsiveness to citizen services.
- Science & Technology for Sustainable Development, including but not limited to, export competitiveness, and focusing on challenges such as exploitation of economic and technological impacts of mobile broadband and development, deployment, and exploitation of 5G networks; 4th Industrial Revolution (4IR) within the Pakistani context; transformational innovation and enhancement of global competitiveness of Pakistani export value-chains; indigenous development of high-end textile value chains; industrial performance and productivity, competitiveness, and re-location (particularly in the context of CPEC); and the interplay between population and economic development.
- Sustainable Cities and Communities, including but not limited to, sustainable urban design, low-cost housing, mobility, and transport and focusing on challenges such as planning for and preservation of urban space and life; economic, sociological, and cultural triggers for the planning and creation of second tier (and new) cities and towns; provision of quality of urban life such as transportation and congestion, waste collection and disposal, water and sanitation, healthcare and education, and law and order.
- Cultural Harmony between Pakistan and China, which may include identity politics, gender, population, and work ethic focusing on challenges such as preservation of our intellectual heritage and material culture, barriers to gender participation in the workforce and in national development; future of work and family; and cultural and sociological impact of CPEC.
- Sustainable Energy, including but not limited to Energy efficiency, Battery and Storage Technologies, efficient and smart grids focusing on challenges such as smart and sustainable energy solutions for urban, rural, and remote areas.
- Sustainable Infrastructure, including but not limited to low cost electric mobility solutions; sustainable platforms for urban, rural, and intercity mobility including roads, railway, and port infrastructure; innovation mechanisms for reduction in transmission and grid losses in legacy power transmission infrastructures.
