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Call for Papers for the 7th Research Congress

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From CUR Memorandume 2024-1

Background:

This year, the University of Makati will be holding its 7th Research Congress. This year also, the United Nations 17 Sustainable Goals (Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, 2015) will be in its last 7 years.

7-17-7!

As we count down to 2030, it could be asked: How have we been so far after 9 years of the adoption A/RES/70/1?

On July 10, 2023, the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (2023) reported in their press release that half of the 140 targets of the 17 SDGs have some moderate or severe deviations in the desired course. One of the contributing factors for this in recent years was the effect of the COVID-19 Global Pandemic which stalled 30 years of steady progress in alleviating people from and eradicating poverty, prohibiting direct and indirect discrimination and violence against women, and stalling the progress of climate change. Truly there is a need for more stakeholders’ collaboration for the goals to be fulfilled. (Department of Economic and Social Affairs Public Institutions, 2023)

In relation to SDG11 “Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable”, UN Habitat (Amirtahmasebi, Vuova, & Fox, 2020) published a handbook for urban development outlining the framework through which the goal could be achieved. It called for a transformative commitment towards social, economic, environmental, and spatial sustainability.

The City of Makati is doing well, based on its Basic Facts and Figures 2022. (Makati City LGU, 2022) But what else needs further scrutiny so that we can find out what still needs to be done?

In this year’s University of Makati Research Congress, we are inviting researchers to submit their papers for presentation based on the theme…

Theme: “7-17-7: Committing for a ‘People First’ Development and a Sustainable City”

Subthemes:

  1. Institute of Pharmacy, Institute of Nursing, Institute of Imaging Health Sciences, College of Science, and College of Human Kinetics = Health and the Environment in Our City: Towards healthier, active citizens.
  2. College of Arts and Letters and College of Tourism and Hospitality Management = Our Culture and Expressions in a People-Friendly and Environmentally Safe City.
  3. College of Business and Financial Science, and Institute of Accountancy = Pro-People and Sustainable Environmentally Friendly Enterprises
  4. College of Computing and Information Sciences and College of Technology Management = Technology Enhancing the Urban Life for the People and the Environment.
  5. College of Governance and Public Policy, Institute of Social Development and Nation Building, and School of Law = Inclusive and Empowering Governance for a Sustainable, Environmentally Friendly City
  6. College of Construction Sciences and Engineering = Environment-Friendly Human Settlements
  7. College of Innovative Teacher Education (CITE) and Higher School ng UMak = Beyond the Classroom: Creating a Lifelong Learning Environment.

*We also encourage everyone to do collaborative research to strengthen multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary efforts.

Objectives:

This conference aims to…

  1. Feature leading experts in the field as keynote speakers who will share their urban development research, capstone projects, and such;
  2. Give a platform for scientists and researchers in different disciplines to share their findings, policy proposals, and project implementations on making a more humane, sustainable, and environmentally friendly city;
  3. Serve as an avenue for networking among policymakers, scientists, and researchers.

Guidelines:

A.  Qualifications:

Proponents shall submit their Full Articles (published or unpublished) whose average score from the internal and external referees is at least 60/100 based on the criteria below and shall be included in the upcoming issue of the upcoming volume of UNIVERSITAS:”

  1. Research Ethics Clearance (20%): The research should have proof that it has ethical clearance from any PHREB-accredited Research Ethics Board. CUR reserves the right to have the paper reviewed by UMREC if there is a need for it. A pertinent Ethical Clearance Document should be submitted. Failure to submit this document means disqualification. Failure to pass UMREC Review, if the case arises, means disqualification. It should also pass the Turnitin 15% similarity threshold and 5% AI detection threshold.
  2. Research Rigor (35%): The research should have been done following strict procedures in data gathering and analysis. If the article was originally a thesis or a dissertation, it should be submitted in IMRAD format. The articles should pass the double-blind review of our external and internal referees. Proponents may submit unpublished or published papers. Those who submit their full paper should declare and must take the responsibility of informing their publisher about their intention to present their paper in our congress. (Please refer also to B.4)
  3. Relevance and Value to the Society, City of Makati, and the University of Makati (35%): The research should either give light through data or give a solution to social issues. UMak researchers are expected to directly address the research agenda of the City of Makati. Moreover, the research problem should be backed by a credible review of related literature that identifies the research gap.
  4. Grammar and Creative Use of Language (10%): As the research is intended to be published in its entirety as a research article, the research should be free from any grammatical and typographical errors. It should have been written to the extent of creativity to engage the readers.

B.  Procedure for submissions:

  1. Authors shall submit an article through https://journals.umak.edu.ph/universitas/about/submissions the following:
    1. IMRAD Version of their full paper following the official Research Congress IMRAD Template;
    2. Certificate of Ethical Approval or Research Ethics Clearance from a reputable Research Ethics Board or Committee;
    3. Include the following if applicable:
      1. Proof of thesis or dissertation defense approval;
      2. If applicable, proof of the authorization of the publisher for a conference presentation.
      3. Short Bio-note of the author/s.
  2. Link to their online presentation (MS PowerPoint, Canva, Keynote, Google Slides, etc.). Paper presenters shall follow this presentation deck specifications:
    1. The presentation time limit shall be set by CUR;
    2. The presentation shall follow the 7 words per line, 7 lines per slide rule to ensure legibility.
      (Please refer to the CUR’s Presentation Template v2 and CIC’s UMak Basic Blue Internal presentation files)
    3. There shall be questions and answers after the presentation. The time limit will be set by CUR.
  3. Upon receipt, CUR shall forward the submissions for double-blind review.
  4. CUR shall summarily decide based on the recommendations of the reviewers and announce the qualified papers for the Research Congress.
  5. Paper presenters shall immediately receive their certificates as part of the program. However, the certificate only certifies paper presentation, not paper publication. Presenters may be contacted if their paper is ever approved for publication.

Deadline for submissions: 

16 August 2024

Schedule:

16-17 October 2024 (Tentative)

Venue:

UMAK Auditorium, with Livestream through Official UMAK Social Media Pages

 

Signed:

FLORANTE E. DELOS SANTOS
Director, Center for University Research

References

Amirtahmasebi, R., Vuova, Z., & Fox, E. (2020). The New Urban Agenda. Nairobi: United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat).

Department of Economic and Social Affairs Public Institutions. (2023). World Public Sector Report 2023. Retrieved from publication.desa.un.org: https://publicadministration.desa.un.org/publications/world-public-sector-report-2023

Makati City LGU. (2022). Makati City Basic Facts and Figures 2022. Makati City: Makati City LGU.

Transforming our world: the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, A/RES/70/1 (United Nations General Assembly October 21, 2015). Retrieved from Sustainable Development Goals UN.org: https://sdgs.un.org/goals

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. (2023). World risks big misses across the Sustainable Development Goals unless measures to accelerate implementation are taken, UN warns. New York: United Nations. Retrieved from https://unstats.un.org/sdgs/files/report/2023/SDG_Report_2023_Press_Release_EN.pdf