How to Apply for HEC Research Awards – A Step-by-Step Manual

Over the past few years, the HEC (Higher Education Commission) has invested a lot in its research and development programs. Every year HEC announces its research awards to encourage researchers in the country. These awards support and incentivize scholars, researchers, and institutions across various disciplines. They also provide financial grants, resources, and acknowledgement to outstanding research projects. The award includes a certificate and a cash prize. If you are a great researcher and have already published your research works in HEC-recognised journals, you can easily apply for the awards. Now, if you wondering how to apply for the HEC Research Awards, don’t worry, this article is all about it. In this article, we will cover every detail regarding these awards.

Before getting into this, this is worth mentioning here that HEC has closed the applications for Research Awards for 2023. This means you can’t apply for this year’s awards. However, this article will help you out in getting prepared for next year’s awards.

Disciplinary Domains

HEC grants Separate awards in three broad disciplinary domains. You can apply for any of these disciplines

• Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, Law, Education, Management, or Public Policy
• Physical Sciences, Engineering, Technology, Computer Science, Statistics, or Mathematics
• Life Sciences, Biological Sciences, Health Sciences, Pharmacy, Agriculture, or Veterinary Sciences

Award Categories

HEC divides the awards into three categories. Each category has different prize money. Let’s discuss all the categories one by one.

• Best Researcher (A cash prize of Rs. 500,000/-)

HEC will grant the Best Researcher Award to the researchers for their highest-quality research contribution. The researchers who have contributed the most to intellectual and social development through their writings will get this award.

This is a lifetime achievement award. So, rather than a single publication or contribution, there should be many outstanding publications which demonstrate a major impact on society.

• Best Young Researcher (A cash prize of Rs. 500,000/-)

The Best Researcher Award is for early researchers under 40 who stimulate further research, address or resolve social problems, and enhance the quality of research in Pakistan. The objective of this award is to recognize both the contribution and future potential of early-career researchers in terms of their research and publications.

• Best Publication (A cash prize of Rs. 1,000,000/-)

The next is the Best Publication Award. HEC will give this award to the publication i.e., a book or journal article, that will produce the greatest impact on human welfare, either by stimulating and opening up new areas of further research or by contributing to the resolution of a critical problem facing Pakistan and the world at large scale.

Terms and Conditions:

• The applicant has never been blacklisted by HEC
• The applicant/publication has not received the same award earlier
• None of the publications on Applicant/Authors’ credit is plagiarized as per HEC plagiarism policy
• For the best researcher award, the applicant must be a resident of Pakistan for at least three years on 1st January 2023
• For the Best Publication award, the publication must not be more than three years before 1st January 2023
• The publication must be a scholarly book or journal article.
• There should not be more than three authors for the publication.
• All authors must be residents of Pakistan for at least three years on 1st January 2023
• HEC will only consider the research articles published in a W-category journal in the HEC Journal Recognition System (HJRS).
• Research articles must have a minimum citation count of 100

For More Terms and Conditions Please click here.

How to Apply for HEC Research Awards

All applications must be submitted through the HEC online portal research.hec.gov.pk​ by the applicants.

• First of all, you have to create your account on the portal. Open the HEC online research portal on your browser. You will get a screen like this. Click on the sign-up button.

• You will now get a form like this. Enter all the details and click on the submit button.

• Now, enter your CNIC/Passport and password and log in to the portal.
• Here, you will get a dashboard screen like this. Now, click on Research Award. (At the time of writing, the applications for research awards are closed)

• The applicants have to fill out all the sections of the online application form and upload all the mandatory documents in PDF format.​

Note: If you already have an account on the HEC web portal, you do not need to create an account on the Research portal. Just use the same credentials on this website too and you will be logged in.

FAQs

​Q. Can an applicant submit more than one publication for Best Publication Award?

Ans: No, the applicant can submit only one publication, either a Research Paper or a book under the Best Publication Award

Q. Can an applicant apply for all award categories simultaneously?

Ans: No, the applicant can apply a maximum of two categories, however, he/she must select one out of “Best Young Researcher” and “Best Researcher”

Q. Is a research article published in y category journal eligible for the Best Publication Award?

Ans: No, research articles only published in a W-category journal in the HEC Journal Recognition System (HJRS) are eligible.

Q. Is there any list of recognized book publishers defined for the Best Publication Award?

Ans: There is no list of recognized book publishers for the Best Publication Award (Book). A publisher will be evaluated by the Review Panels to determine the prestige of the publisher.

Q. Does an applicant need to submit a hard copy of the Book under the Best Publication Award?

Ans: Yes, you also have to submit the hard copy of a Book to HEC under the Best Publication Award.

Other Facilities HEC Provide to Students/ Teachers/ Researchers

HEC is an autonomous, self-governing institution that oversees the primary funding, regulation, and accreditation of the higher education system and institutions in Pakistan. To help you develop a better understanding of the role of this department, here are the core functions of the HEC in Pakistan:

• Facilitate increased collaboration in research between academic institutions and industries.
• Streamline the process of degree attestation.
• Spearheaded educational initiatives, including the establishment of technology parks.
• Enhance the infrastructure of universities throughout Pakistan.
• Provide degree equivalence certificates for better opportunities abroad.
• Focus on the professional development of faculty members.
• Facilitate access to national and international grants for academic institutions.
• Provide support for the filing of patents.
• Oversee the planning, revision, and implementation of higher education curriculums.
• Regulate and govern universities in Pakistan.
• Maintain records and rankings for universities recognized by HEC.