The inaugural ceremony of the Ninth Conference on Excellence in Research and Education (CERE) took place on May 04, 2018. The four day conference which started on May 03 is organized by FPM participants of the Institute and will witness various round table discussions, workshops and keynote address.
Day Zero of the Conference had a Pre-Conference Workshop on Research Methodology by Professor Arijit Chatterjee, Assistant Professor, ESSEC, Singapore Campus. He discussed about the logical justification of knowledge, the problem of demarcation, dogmatic falsifications. He also talked about various management theories, how to make the research interesting etc. He concluded his talk discussing about dilemma of research strategies.
The inauguration of the conference took place on May 04, with Professor Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Director, IIM Indore as the Chief Guest. He spoke on the topic— ‘Building an Impactful Academic Career’. He noted that CERE will help in enhancing knowledge and share the research work with experts and scholars from various domains. He started his presentation with a quiz where he shared photographs of various distinguished personalities and why they were famous. Then he noted that the common thing about these thought leaders is that they all pursued their PhD from India. ‘Having a PhD degree from abroad isn’t a necessary. You may complete your education in India and yet be as skilled as any other scholar and researcher abroad. It’s all about the good work you do and how you use your education’, he said.
Sharing insightful tips of research with the participants, Professor Krishnan noted that choosing a topic which will be useful for the nation is of utmost importance. ‘Always have a road-map prepared of the research you wish to do, and how this research would contribute and create an impact’, he noted. He encouraged the gathering full of young scholars and researchers from various colleges and universities across the nation as well as the foreign participants from Canada and Sri Lanka to have a vision and aspiration, build focus and have a strategic intent to be known as an expert in their area. Noting that rigor, insight and relevance are three important factors to become a thought leader, Professor Krishnan also advised the participants to embrace technology and adapt new pedagogy. He concluded his talk sharing tips on how to create an impact—either by becoming an outstanding teacher who is remembered by the students for generations, or by contributing to practice by sharing knowledge on forums via videos or podcasts, or by becoming a rigorous researcher.
This was followed by a round table discussion on ‘Public Private Partnership: Developing an Academic Research Agenda’, moderated by Professor Ashwin Mahalingam, IIT Madras. The speakers for the discussions included Professor G. Raghuram, Director, IIM Bangalore and Mr. Shailesh Pathak, CEO, L&T. Professor Mahalingam began sharing examples of Passport Seva Kendra and also the need of sustainability. Professor Raghuram talked about various projects and non-performing assets in PPP. Giving example of problems during the construction of Mumbai Metro, he shared various issues of arbitration. Mr. Pathak noted that one of the most successful PPP initiative till date is Indian Railways, during the year 1860-1880. Discussing the PPP models in India and China, he advised never to compare both the countries as both are different in culture and industry.
The participants also attended a Workshop on Teaching through Stories. This was conducted by Professor Kamal K. Jain, Dean (Academic) & Faculty, IIM Indore. He shared various interesting stories from leadership and negotiation area and explained to the participants how engaging the audience through stories can be effective. The participants enjoyed the session.
The second half of the day had a Workshop on Paper Development by Professor Bill Foster, University of Alberta, Canada. He spoke about theory driven research and how one can get the article published in the Academy of Management Learning and Education (AMLE) Journal. He then also discussed some important emerging ideas in research and which can help in enhancing the results. He also shared his insights on limitations of academic papers.
‘All the workshops and roundtable discussions aimed at helping research scholars and young faculties in building their research work and to make a mark in academia, as well as also to get it published in leading international journals of repute’, IIM Indore FPM participant Shweta Jha said.
The third day of the conference will witness a Workshop on Joy of Research by Professor Gajendra K. Adil, SJSOM, IIT Bombay and two round table discussions. The valedictory session would take place on May 06, 2018.