Further strengthening its roadmap, Far Eastern University (FEU)’s University Research Center (URC) conducted its first seminar under the Research Enhancement for Fostering Inquiry and New Explorations (REFINE) program.
Dr. Feorillo Petronillo A. Demeterio III, De La Salle University’s executive director of its Research and Grants Management Office, was REFINE’s keynote speaker, where he discussed “Some Principles in Establishing a Research and Mentoring Ecosystem in a Teaching University.”
Demeterio first underscored how research needs an ecosystem characterized by aligned and supportive programs, departments, and stakeholders that have roles in promoting research production. He then highlighted the importance of collaboration between research teachers and their students as the second principle, explaining that while young students have novel ideas, they tend to be raw and need their teachers’ expertise and experience in refining their ideas. Next, Demeterio explained that teaching research should be part of an ecosystem designed to support research teachers and guide students.
He also claimed that research can only be effectively taught by researchers due to the experience and enthusiasm they are able to exude that students can benefit from. Demeterio suggested that research-informed teaching can be a framework for teaching research in a teaching university. In explaining this, he shared how research-tutored, research-led, research-based, and research-oriented teaching methods might be executed in research classes.
After generating research, Demeterio highlighted the importance of having undergraduate and graduate research projects published so that their efforts can be part of the body of knowledge. He revealed two strategies to promote publication of students’ outputs: having students submit in journal article format instead of the thesis format, and establishing a journal that publishes collaborations between teachers and students.
Mentor-mentor collaborations are also useful, according to Demeterio. In his experience, referring his own undergraduate students to pursue their research under the mentorship of one of his old graduate students proves effective. Finally, associating research-work with good times such as dinners, excursions, and trips cultivates a positive attitude toward research instead of dread, he said.
“With research, we will no longer be chasing after what is new, because we ourselves will be part of the people who produce that new knowledge. Even if research is taxing, it actually gives us rest—rest from the possibility of the never-ending chase for new knowledge and rest from the fear of becoming an old and irrelevant teacher,” said Demeterio.
URC REFINE is a program that features a series of seminars aimed at establishing a stronger research culture in the university, with Dr. Demeterio’s seminar as its first installment.
The first REFINE seminar was held last Feb. 14 at the Admissions Building Interactive Room 207B. It was attended by faculty from different institutes.
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