An international webinar lecture series initiated by the Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences started at University of Kashmir.
The first lecture of this series was organized online on the Google Meet platform by the department in collaboration with the UGC-Human Resource Development Centre of the University of Kashmir and was delivered by Prof. Zaheer-Ud-Din Babar, Professor of Medicines and Healthcare and Director of the Centre for Pharmaceutical Policy and Research, University of Huddersfield, United Kingdom on the topic, "Systematic reviews and meta-analysis: a viable alternative to experimental research in times of COVID-19".
A total of 250 participants had registered for the lecture and many more participants, who could not register well in time, watched the live streaming of the lecture on Google Meet.
According to the organisers of the Webinar the need for such a session was necessitated by the unprecedented effects of the coronavirus outbreak and the disruptions it has caused around the globe, leaving academic institutions with no other option but to find alternative ways of holding classes, conducting research and thereby staying competitive.
Speaking at this occasion Prof. Shabir Ahmad Bhat, Director, UGC-HRDC, University of Kashmir appreciated the readiness shown by the guest speaker Prof Zaheer -ud-Din Babar, to deliver the lecture in spite of his hectic schedule back at his university and more so in light of the fact that he also happens to be Editor-in Chief of the BMC Journal of Pharmaceutical Policy and Research. Prof Shabir emphasized upon the need to organize more such lectures in future for the benefit of our research scholars as well as faculty members.
Earlier Prof. Nahida Tabassum, Head, Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences welcomed the invited speaker as well as all the participants from India and abroad to the webinar. She also urged to conduct more such lectures in future for the benefit of the scholars in consonance with the existing University policy to hold online classes and promote online research.
Dr. Mohammad Ishaq Geer, Organizing Secretary conducted proceedings of the session and presented the vote of thanks. The session was highly interactive wherein a lot of questions posed by the participants were answered by the speaker and the lecture was very well received by all the participants. Importance of the topic of discussion was unanimously endorsed by the participants from across the world.