‘Budget for research to be increased’

LAHORE: A three-day international conference on “Gender, Religion and Culture in Psychology: Issues Challenges and Prospects” Monday began at the Government College University, Lahore to discuss how theories developed in the West are being adopted in the Pakistani contest and how gaps in culturally embedded literature create room for research in non-western societies.

Federal Minister for Education Shafqat Mahmood was the chief guest at the inaugural ceremony of the conference which was also addressed by American Psychological Association Chief Executive Officer Dr Jaime Diaz Granados, Vice-Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah and Dr Syeda Shahida Batool, the conference chairperson.

Besides students and faculty members from 40 universities of Pakistan, seven illustrious researchers from UK, USA, Germany and Iran were also participating in the conference organised by the university’s Psychology Department in collaboration with the federal and provincial higher education commissions. Addressing the conference, Shafqat Mahmood said the importance of social sciences and humanities could not be ignored even in this age of science and technology. He said that the government would increase budget for research besides establishing new universities. He proudly shared that he was an alumnus of GC Psychology Department, saying that he had studied psychology for six years at the Government College Lahore and later taught for two years as a young lecturer. GCU VC Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah said that universities charters were needed to be reviewed as there existed different clauses and rules of business that impeded the progress of higher education institutions. “We have very high hopes from the present government that it would do for the education that was not done before,” he added.

The vice-chancellor mentioned that GCU had made it to Times Higher Education World Universities Ranking for the first time last year due to the hard work and dedication of its faculty members. However, he said that GCU would witness more rapid development in the coming years with the completion of its new campus at Kala Shah Kaku. Prof Dr Shahida Batool, the conference chairperson, said literature demonstrated that the psychology of gender and religion were knitted together in the local and national cultures as well. “The conference will cover multiple issues related to religion, gender and culture and their relevance to subjective and psychological well-being,” she added. Later, Dr Jaime Diaz Granados, in his keynote address, explored how culture formed people's thoughts and behaviours and how psychological science could inform the ways that culture shaped people's self-concepts, perceptions, relationships, and moral reasoning. The three-day conference is spread over 20 scientific and one poster session.