HEC

1. An applicant cannot submit more than one project in a year.
2. Grants cannot be used for buying vehicles, huge hardware and other major acquisitions of a capital nature except minor equipment [laptop/desktop/3-in-one copier etc.]/accessories justified in proposal.
3. Utilization of the research project grant would be in line with budget proposal and no re-appropriation will be allowed.
4. PI/Co-PI shall receive remuneration in Lump sum once in a project period from the 2nd installment.
5. Research Associates/Research Fellows/ Post-doctoral fellows shall be allowed to assist in the project if justified in the proposal.
6. Inter-universities/institutes/DAI's collaborative proposals involving less-developed institutions are encouraged.
7. No foreign trip / training is allowed under awarded grant.
8. The PI can appoint the team members as per approved project budget heads as and when needed as per proposed strategy and timeline.
9. The PI shall be required to submit the following deliverables during course of the project;

• Fund Utilization duly audited by the University Auditor and Progress Report – 1 in the mid of the project
• Fund Utilization duly audited by the University Auditor and Progress Report – 2 at the end of the project
• Report should be submitted both in hard and soft form.
• Project-specific other deliverables as committed in the proposal.
• Presentation of the finding in HEC National Symposium organized for the purpose.
• 100 copies of Financial Academic research report printed by universities/DAIs or publisher of National/International repute for the end users / stakeholders. The published report shall contains outcome of the Research, benefit for end users are recommendation for adaptation/implementation for beneficiaries.
• Upon receipt of the above documents, the HEC shall issue an NOC /certificate of project completion to the PI and the Institution.

Proposal Review Process

The proposals received shall be processed as under;

Initial Screening: Proposals submitted by PI's shall go through first scrutiny by the HEC Focal Person's Staff. At this stage, based on the documents/details provided, eligible proposals shall be short-listed.

Review by Committee: The short-listed proposals will be evaluated by a Research Project Review Committee appointed by HEC and its decision will be communicated to the Principal Investigator within three weeks of submission.​

Selection of reviewers: A panel of reviewers shall be selected by HEC from Social Sciences, Business Education, Art and Humanities experts in the relevant field. The applicants (PI&CO-PI) will not be a part of committee.

Project review criteria: The review of project shall be undertaken against the approved criteria.

For the proposals which are otherwise acceptable, the reviewers shall provide a brief qualitative report containing guidelines/comments for any further refinements in the accepted project methodology, budget or implementation plan.​

Final Approval Proposals:

All the shortlisted proposals along with reviewers' report would be presented to competent authority of HEC for grant approval of the projects for funding and award letter will be issued by Academic Division

Timelines:

To ensure the smooth running of the thematic Grants Program the following schedule shall be followed;

Monitoring of the projects:

Keeping in view the number of funded projects and administrative convenience, as many monitoring Teams shall be appointed by HEC as appropriate. The HEC authorized teams may visit the project on site between 5th to 8th month of start of the project to see the progress, methods, inputs and outputs of the project.

The monitoring team shall submit its evaluation report on the prescribed Performa/score card.

To ensure that monitoring team visits timely, the HEC authorized Focal Person shall be responsible to facilitate the teams in travelling and logistics etc.

Change of PI/Co-PI

If the PI leaves the Institution, then Co-PI would take the lead of the project if he is in the same institution. In case there is no Co-PI or Co-PI also leaves the institution, then VC/Rector of university/ Director of DAI shall appoint a PI from amongst the project team or as per laid down parameters /procedure of HEC.

In case both PI and Co-PI move to the same institution and jointly apply for transfer of funds to their new institution, HEC shall have no objection in such cases, subject to the adjustment of funds released to previous institution and issuance of NOC about no liabilities against PI and Co-PI with regard to the specific project.

Submission of research proposal:

HEC shall provide all necessary Details of the program and documents [Application Form, Themes/Sub-themes, Budget Template etc.] on the HEC website.

Four copies of the online application form duly signed and stamped by Head of Institution should be submitted/ sent by registered mail/courier service in the name of Director (ACAD), Higher Education Commission, H-8, Islamabad on or before January 05, 2018 along with email submission at: (tshah@hec.gov.pk).

Legal Deed:

Upon acceptance of the research proposal, the PI shall submit a Legal Deed endorsed by the respective VC/Director in order to receive the grant.

Right of HEC:

In case of the Non-Compliance of the Deed by the grantee of the TRGP/ Non-fulfillment of the procedure the HEC shall reserve the right to cancel the Deed forthwith. Moreover, in case of non-observance of the time duration of research work (Including the approved period of the extension) the HEC shall not grant TRGP to the same University/DAI, again/ for the next time.