The UBIS Research Institution
In 2024 UBIS launched its Research Institute. Until then, most faculty or student led research fell under the parameters of the University’s Institutional Review Board (IRB) which provided guidance on research integrity policies, mandatory ethical clearance before data collection. With the creation of the Research Institute there was a desire to broaden and deepen the scope of research activity at the University by better serving UBIS’ research active faculty and students and, in particular, upskilling students to better develop research capabilities especially in relation to their dissertation development phase.
Hence the aim of the UBIS Research Institute (UBISRI) is to develop a research-driven culture and support research activity amongst UBIS’ research active faculty and students. Furthermore, the UBIS Research Institute seeks to upskill UBIS learners and faculty, promote structured mentoring on research methods, foster technological advancement in areas such as statistics and analytics, reinforce ethical governance through the institution’s IRB committee and promote global collaboration through joint publication, conferences and knowledge exchange.
The Research Institutes strategic plan, developed in 2025 by its head Dr Femina Syed and UBIS Provost Dr Stuart Kewley is based around two broad themes:
Establishing a Culture of Research Activity:
Establishing a culture of research activity is the primary goal of the Research Institute. The institute will assist in the exploration of research active students dissertations for sections that can be spun out to peer reviewed journals, conference papers and or book chapters. MBA and DBA students who are in the dissertation phase of their respective awards are encouraged to solicit advise from the Research Institute team to evaluate their progress to ensure: Continuous improvement, time-bound completion, constructive feedback and ensure ethical compliance. For faculty and students, more focused research activity will be developed via (internal and external) collaborative research clusters, joint publication projects with non UBIS research active students and faculty, as well the exploration of joint conferencing. Engagement will be promoted through research focused colloquiums and symposiums as well as creating an online repository of research resources and past doctoral theses. Finally, the Research Institute will also enhance visibility of UBIS as a research active institution
Strengthening Research Methodology Training:
In support of Research active faculty and students research skill building, workshops have been created focusing on: Systematic Literature Review (SLR), Qualitative and Quantitative Research Design as well as a Mixed-Methods Research approved. As well as statistical and analytical training in:
SPSS, R, NVivo, AMOS, Python, Research Rabbit, EndNote, Mendeley, or Zotero. To date 16 workshops have been completed and other research skill building opportunities have been developed through UBIS symposiums.
