Research in the Uniautónoma del Cauca is a process in which the skills of research professors are identified, as well as the needs in which to do research, are useful to contribute not only to the academic community, but also to the academic community purpose of the transformation and the impact of society in the Department of Cauca, Colombia and in the context of the scientific world with the help and company of the international community

Research in the Uniautónoma del Cauca has been a process in which the abilities of research professors have been identified since the past, as well as the needs that in which to do research are useful to contribute to the community. only academically but also for the purpose of transformation and the impact of society in the Department of Cauca.

It has been a path in which various university actors, including students, professors and administrators, have intervened to build a route of priorities and strategies that each year is necessary to update, according to the different circumstances that, in the social context, are required to be effective in this important university work.

The times have thus imposed new challenges that continue to be addressed today to achieve two fundamental aspects through research. The first is to form a research community that understands the disruptive changes that a more complex and interdisciplinary research exercise imposes on us today.

Second, we position a research community with the best impact standards, both of its research products and its profiles, as models and examples of research in the region in different contexts and disciplines. The new research communities must be prepared for the most demanding changes and transformations that humanity today imposes on us.

These priorities of the research exercise in the Uniautónoma del Cauca call for the task of designing a research policy that functions as a system strengthened by multiple subsystems with which it is mandatory to maintain a permanent dialog. Research policy should thus operate as a set of systems and subsystems that are in a permanent exercise of innovation, based on the understanding of different disciplines of knowledge.

Therefore, today the institution is in the detailed work of reviewing, updating and creating the policies that will be part of the research system, incorporating the new requirements in this matter, such as the updating of a new policy of economic stimuli from of the creative activity of researchers (recently evaluated and approved by the Founders Assembly), the creation of an intellectual property protection policy (approved through Agreement 013 of 2021), adjusted to creative activities in the field of rights of author and industrial property of the different university levels, the creation of a policy of research ethics, and the strengthening of the Visibility of the researchers, through strategies such as the Editorial Seal of the institution.

These challenges are permanent tasks that must be directed and accompanied by the levels involved in the exercise of the creation of new knowledge, technological developments, the social appropriation of knowledge and the training of human talent in the existing science, technology and innovation system. in Colombia.

In this scenario, the Office of the Vice-Rector for Research becomes a space for the management and promulgation of the research of the actors that are part of the research system and that contribute with their work to facilitate other actors. said community.

For this reason, and with the challenges faced in research, the Vice-Rectory of Research aims to accompany the exercise of categorization of the professors who are assigned time in their work to do research in various responsibilities, currently counting. with thirty-nine (39) professors dedicated to research in various disciplines of knowledge. To accompany this community in the design of routes that allow their work to be made visible in the best possible way through different communication exercises, such as publications, consultancies, strategic spaces of knowledge communication, among others.

Similarly, accompanying teachers in the commitment to the consolidation of the necessary number of research groups of the highest quality, from which proof of both the research training space and the creation of new knowledge can be given. The Vice-Rectory of Research, according to the new needs of this university work, must accompany each of the academic administrative units so that in a period between 2020 and 2022, it has new research groups duly categorized before the Ministry of Science., Technology and Innovation.

In this regard, it is necessary to note that there are currently nine research groups, of which eight are recognized by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, each dedicated to the exercise of research in different areas of knowledge. and with important work of scientific production aimed at solving specific problems of society and the local and international community.

In this same order, it is intended to allow the production of the team of research professors to be visible through the ideal scenario for it. In this case, in addition to the publications achieved in journals of high international impact, through the Editorial Seal, which must have offers of publication of research texts both in print and in a completely virtual way (with the publication during the year. 2021 of fifteen books resulting from research and approximately thirty book chapters resulting from research), thus adjusting visibility according to the new circumstances that impose the least use of natural resources and the greater deployment of online activities.

The Vice-Rectory of Research, as well as the Research Council, the highest decision-making body in the design and proposal of strategies and policies on the subject, must work on a work plan that in the short and medium term allows teachers, to Through research groups, they effectively engage in fundraising for research investment. This work will be possible by correctly guiding the active participation in calls where the institution can be a direct operator. of the necessary resources to make visible the research activity of the institution and eventually in alliance with universities of the highest quality in the country and the international context.

The Uniautónoma del Cauca should have, by the end of 2022, the largest number of research groups among the private universities of the Department of Cauca, also with the largest number of professors categorized as researchers as a fundamental requirement for the assignment of time for research, with the largest number of published scientific publications through the Editorial Seal of the institution, with the largest number of research hotbeds in various disciplinary areas, and the greatest possible impact on the society of the Department of Cauca and the southwestern region of the country.

The necessary space for innovation from artistic creation, the perception and understanding of creation in the field of music, literature, poetry, and art in general, should also be considered as a way that also enables the skills of the imagination so necessary in which to do research. For this reason, it will be necessary to design the areas that will be dedicated not only to innovation in the exact and social sciences but also to artistic innovation.

Thus, with the great challenges that are imposed in terms of research, the transformations produced from social distancing, the new precautions oriented toward biosafety, the need for online work, the new forms of knowledge apprehension, the vice-rectory. of Research, together with the Research Council and the other collegiate bodies of the university management, must prepare to face the disruptive changes that in science and technology today most urge universities and society in general.

Ramsés López Santamaría
Vice-rector for Research