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Two Days National Conference on “Emerging Trends in Governance and Management in Pakistan” held on 20th -21st May 2016 at Crystal Hall, Pearl Continental - Lahore
Two Days National Conference on “Emerging Trends in Governance and Management in Pakistan” held on 20th -21st May 2016 at Crystal Hall, Pearl Continental - Lahore


Hosted by: Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS)
The Two Days National Conference on “Emerging Trends in Governance and Management in Pakistan” held on 20th -21st May 2016 at Crystal Hall, Pearl Continental - Lahore, began with much zeal & zest where around 300 national & international participants showed up including, academics, practitioners, policy-makers, researchers and PhD & MPhil Scholars form different universities across Pakistan. The Conference offered eminent keynote speakers followed by parallel sessions on different tracks of Governance and Management being chaired by distinguished academicians and professionals. Conference was chaired by Prof. Dr. Nasira Jabeen, Dean Faculty of Economics and Management Sciences and Director Institute of Administrative Sciences (IAS), University of the Punjab. Prof. Dr. M. Nizamuddin, Chairman, Punjab Higher Education Commission chaired and inaugurated the conference with his keynote address on “Trends in Public Management Reforms in Pakistan”. Dr. Ishrat Husain, Professor Emeritus, IBA Karachi, delivered his highly realistic keynote address on, “Governance Reforms in Pakistan”, while Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission addressed the audience on, “Issues of Governance and Public Management” as Chief guest of the academic event.
A total of 43 research papers were presented in parallel sessions at the two days conference. Paper presentations were followed by the panel discussion on: “Issues in Public Management: An Improvement Agenda”. The Panelists included: Prof. Dr. Abuzar Wajidi, Director Institute of Health and Business Management, Jinnah Sindh Medical University; Mr. Abdullah Khan Sumbal, Commissioner Lahore Division; Dr. Amna Imam, Secretary Government of Punjab; Mr. Sohail Ahmed, Professor of Practice, University of Management and Technology; Prof. Dr. Mehtab S. Karim, Research Professor, School of Public Policy, George Mason University, USA.
The conference precluded a Ph.D. colloquium - a hallmark feature of the scholarly event to encourage high quality academic exchange and meaningful interaction on one-on-one basis. Mentoring sessions were also conducted for providing individual feedback to the PhD Scholars on their on-going research work.
Second day of the conference was initiated with an experiential talk on “University Governance Reforms: Global Trends and Local Realities” by Dr. Zafar Iqbal Jadoon, Dean Business School, University of Central Punjab and keynote address on: “Evidence-based Public Policy” by Prof. Dr. Mehtab S. Karim, Research Professor, School of Public Policy, George Mason University, USA.
Paper presentations were followed by the panel discussion on: “Collaborative Governance: Academia, Industry and Civil Society Partnerships”. The Panelists included: Dr. Nadeem ul Haque, Former Deputy Chairman, Planning Commission; Mr. Naeem ul Haq, Director General, National Institute of Management - Lahore; Dr. Ali Sajid, Director, Lahore School of Management; Ms. Seema Aziz, Managing Director, SEFAM (Pvt.) Ltd.; Mr. Altaf Ezid Khan, Member, Federal Board of Revenue.
Plenary Addresses on the theme of the conference were delivered by Dr. Muhammad Amjad Saqib, Executive Director, Akhuwat and by Dr. Syed Tahir Hijazi, Member (Governance & Reforms), Planning Commission. Conference Report was presented by Conference Coordinators; Dr. Amani Moazzam and Dr. Yaamina Salman and closing remarks were shared by Prof. Dr. Nasira Jabeen - Conference Chair.
Supporting partners for the conference were University of the Punjab, Punjab Higher Education Commission and Oxford University Press. Gala dinner and Sufi night was also arranged for all the participants and worthy guests on day one of the conference. At the closing ceremony, souvenirs and shields were exchanged with distinguished keynote speakers and conference organizing committee. Certificates were given to the participants and students' untiring efforts towards supporting the organizing committee were highly applauded.
The Conference central message focused on the application of transparency and accountability mechanism with autonomy, effective rule of law and sound legislative system towards effective governance and improved public service provisioning in Pakistan. Indeed, the conference by IAS unfolds new avenues for academicians to improve research, knowledge and practices of governance and management in Pakistan.