Indian Institute of Technology Madras is celebrating the Research Scholars Festival between 25th March and 25th April 2022. This is the 10th edition of the annual Research Scholars Fest, which is aimed at bringing together research scholars and encouraging the free exchange of ideas and research interests.
The festival includes series of lectures by eminent speakers, workshops, and hands-on learning. Expositions by startups and popular research labs, and a wide range of competitions to foster learning and inspiration among researchers are some highlights of the festival.
This fest hopes to boost confidence of research scholars and lets them explore careers after their research programme. It also aims to help scholars upgrade their skills, gain exposure to unlimited opportunities and pave the way for academic and industrial collaborations.
Speaking about the Research Scholars Festival, Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, said, “Life as a researcher will be memorable and have many takeaways for a lifetime. I am very glad to be interacting with scholars in the offline edition of Research Scholars Fest after a long break. I believe that doors are opened now for a brighter future and I wish all the students a great career ahead.”
All events are freely accessible to the public, with this year featuring national and international participants. More than 50 events and 25 competitions were conducted besides several major summits.
Sharing his thoughts on the event, Prof. Shanthi Pavan, Dean (Academic Research), IIT Madras, said, “The graduate- student journey is perhaps the most exciting part of life where one experiments, investigates and experiences the joy of learning. There has been a lot of exciting work coming out from the research-scholar community of IIT Madras, and we wish to see more in the years to come. ”
Sharing the experience of organizing the event, Ms. Vamanie Perumal, Student Secretary (Research Affairs), IIT Madras, said, “All activities were aligned with the thought that research is a process of formalized curiosity. During this edition of the fest, we have diversified by including various aspects related to graduate life including alternate careers, academic career transition, women in STEM, STEM Art and social experiments. We have also considered the inclusion factor, with the participation of the physically challenged.”
The new summits developed as part of this edition include:
⮚ Anvesha: STEM Carnival – A first of a kind university-managed and super-charged celebration of STEM and Art in India. A 3D virtual exhibition is set up on a publicly available website to showcase works of creators, and networking sessions will be arranged for thrilling talks.
⮚ Khoj: PhD and Beyond – A first-ever summit for academics conducted in association with the Office of Global Engagement, IIT Madras, with the objective of making the process of PhD a great adventure. The Research Scholars are having a novel student-faculty matching process, wherein the students are helped to find a lab which suits their profile.
⮚ Sattva: Making HerStory – The Event focuses on honoring women who are not only queens in one but many fields.
⮚ Talaash: Research Premier League – The Research Scholars at IIT Madras have conducted competitions through the Dare2Compete platform and have announced the championship trophy for students from all colleges. The college with the maximum number of participants and winners would grab the trophy. Intra campus championship includes the battle between Pre Covid vs Post Covid batches.
The Key Sponsors of the Research Scholars Fest 2022 are NielsenIQ, KLA and Pfizer. Our Outreach Partners are Addictive Brain, PhDs of India and QKRes Technologies. Our Association Partners are Office of Global Engagement, IIT Madras Alumni Association, ICSR, IIT Madras Research Park.
