A report on International Doctoral Consortium 2018 held at BIMTECH, Gr Noida
BIMTECH, Greater Noida, is in constant pursuit of promoting and creating enabling environment for quality research of global relevance. Centre for Research Studies at BIMTECH in collaboration with St. Mary’s University, Halifax, Canada hosted International Doctoral Consortium 2018 (IDC 8) from June 6-8 2018, at the institute main campus. IDC has been organised for the first time in India. The theme for IDC 8 ‘Keep Calm & Decolonize’ seemed quite topical and relevant in the light of recent efforts envisioned in the area of decolonization of management education and research.
This student led research consortium is highly developmental and geared towards PhD students who present, discuss, and debate topics and methods key to the study of management issues from a critical perspective. The IDC has become an increasingly popular event because of its intimate size, the intellectual generosity of the academic community, the interactions between participants, and the truly international experience of the event — with students from at least five continents and ten or more countries.
The three day event was inaugurated on 6 June, 2018 with the ceremonial lamp lighting followed by welcome address by Dr Anupam Varma, Dean Academics and Deputy Director of BIMTECH. Dr Varma extended a hearty welcome to the delegates from various sponsor schools and in his welcome address reiterated the vision of BIMTECH which promotes collaborative research across continents. Dr A Sahay, Dean Research in his deliberation deconstructed the theme of IDC 8 for the audience. The highlight of the inaugural session was the Keynote Address delivered by Dr Maria Ceci Misoczky, from the Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS) in Porto Alegre, Brazil. She made the delegates connect with the impact of decolonization on disciplines and philosophy across decades. The Q/A session after her talk was quite enriching when the young scholars engaged in inquiry on future of research in countries which recently decolonised. In her address she presented the historical journey of colonisation and decolonisation, and how it impacted research in the countries which decolonised.
Among the other dignitaries on the dais were Prof. Albert Mills, (Management Department), Sobey School of Business, PhD Program, Saint Mary’s University Canada. In 2011, Prof. Albert Mills, founded the joint doctoral colloquium between the doctoral programs of York and the SSB, Saint Mary’s University. More recently, it is moving to international locations – North America (IDC 1-6), Europe (IDC 7) and Asia (IDC 8). He informed the august gathering about the genesis of IDC as a highly coveted international conference created by the Sobey School of Business at St. Mary’s University that brings together practitioners and students in the field of Critical Management Studies (CMS). He also said that “The IDC is unique in the high level of student involvement, with PhD students from across the world being responsible for planning the different aspects of the conference. It brings together critical and qualitatively-oriented organizational and management scholars and PhD students. Together, established and emerging scholars engage with multi-paradigmatic approaches and gain greater exposure to a range of post positivist approaches.”
The IDC 8 concluded on 8 June 2018 with a very enriching pièce de résistance of the valedictory function, the Valedictory address by eminent professor Dr Nimruji Prasad J, Indian Institute of Management, Vishakhapatnam on the topic “Importance of epistemic locus in management research”. Her talk focussed on IT and change. Among some of the valuable takeaways from her address was that one has to think not just as an Indian or Brazillian etc but as a global person to produce relevant research. One has to develop a civilisation awareness. She reiterated the fact that Indian Management must not get trapped in orientalism, and move from “Deifying, monumentalising and commodifying” of management knowledge drawn from mythologies”. She also implored the novice researchers to “practice decolonisation” and not stop at mere “definirism” while creating knowledge artefacts. She made the research fraternity take cognizance of the fact that a manger has to be first be a good person.
The three day consortium saw more than 50 national and international delegates presenting their work in progress, research proposals and dissertations on various management disciplines to eminent Chairs from reputed academic institutes who were very supportive and added value to their ongoing research with their constructive feedback.
Apart from the technical sessions like every year IDC 8 also on-site workshops with international focus both in terms of sponsor schools from each continent of the globe and the involvement of students from each sponsor school on the Student Organizing Committee that runs the consortium. More than 50 culturally diverse enthusiastic participants united for six highly enabling hands on workshop named like “Many faces of the case study method” by Päivi Eriksson & Hanna Lehtimäki of University of Eastern Finland (Finland) and “Getting published” by Gabrielle Durepos of Mount Saint Vincent University (Halifax, Canada), “Pitfalls in researching post-colonial context” by Dr Nimruji Prasad J, Indian Institute of Management, Vishakapatnam , “Advances in Critical Sensemaking : Lessons from Theory to Application” by Albert Mills, St. Mary’s University (Halifax, Canada), “Maintaining a critical perspective in research output despite institutional pressures” by Cristian Villanueva, Universidad Anáhuac México (Huixquilucan, Mexico); and, “What is going on? Goffman’s Frame Analysis in today’s critically oriented research” by Virpi Malin, Jyvaskyla University (Jyvaskyla, Finland).
The finale was indeed apt with recognition to presenting delegates, feedback and experience sharing by participants and vote of thanks by Mr Keshav Krishnamurty, PhD Candidate at UMass Boston University of Massachusetts Boston, Chair of IDC 8. On behalf of BIMTECH IDC 8 was onvened by Prof Himanshi Tiwari, Faculty OB, HR Area, BIMTECH.
