Investigating the Effects of COVID-19 Pandemic in Research Sector (Future Studies Approach)

The Covid-19 pandemic, in addition to causing infection and death, and threatening the health of large numbers of people around the world, is like a tornado that causes other damages and its effects will probably last for many years. One of the fields affected by Covid-19 is science and technology (S&T). Given that the research sector is the foundation of S&T, and due to this sector has been greatly affected by the Covid-19 crisis, in this study the direct and indirect effects of Covid-19 on research have been investigated and analyzed. This study uses thematic analysis and the future wheel method. After drawing the layers of future wheel, several policies have been proposed based on the results. Some of the recommended policies are: considering the auxiliary coefficient for the promotion scores of female faculty members who have child (ren), compiling national critical material document facilitating access to the thesis and scientific resources, developing interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary skills, improving doctoral and postdoctoral students capabilities with a view to increasing the resilience to future crises, and diversifying the research funding portfolios.