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publications/project proposals by improving the quality of students‘ term papers. It
also strives to generate project proposals directed to external funding agencies.

The Context: What were the contextual features or challenging issues that
needed to be addressed in designing and implementing this practice (in about
150 words)?

There was a need to initiate conversations about research policy, to generate research
ideas, and to formulate cogent project proposals. The Josephite Research Forum is an
initiative under the DBT Star College Scheme begun in 2014-15 to encourage
interdisciplinary research. The Departments of Biotechnology, Botany and Chemistry
are currently under the DBT Star College scheme. The Research Forum aims to carry
out small but internally funded research projects whose outcomes could be submitted
as a term paper in the fifth semester, and can be published. A select few proposals
that show great promise could be further developed so as to attract external research
funding.

The Practice: Describe the practice and its uniqueness in the context of Indian
higher education. What were the constraints/limitations, if any, faced (in about
400 words)?

The research committee was granted Rs. 50,00,000 by the BJES and invited research
proposals from faculty. After evaluation, the accepted projects were granted seed
money. This funding has circumvented to some extent the problem arising from the
paucity of funds available to young researchers from external agencies. The
researchers have presented their research findings in a colloquium. These projects are
expected to propel young faculty to seek external funding later. The committee has
also examined the different needs of faculty for pursuing research in College.
The Josephite Research Forum has the active participation of 15 faculty members and
20-30 students across different streams and years. One of the initial meetings of the
forum involved faculty members briefly describing their research interests and
potential areas of collaboration, which gave both students and other faculty members
an idea about whom to approach for specific research queries. One or two student
presentations on specific papers or research ideas are discussed in every meeting. No
topic is out of bounds and students are given the liberty to choose what they want to
present. The format is very informal and questions are encouraged and appreciated.
Active discussion is one of the hallmarks of most JRF meetings.
Project proposals are presented to the forum by the students and are screened by a
panel of faculty members from across departments. Meritorious proposals are funded
through the DBT Star College scheme.
All students pursuing research were tagged with faculty members from other
departments, besides their term paper guides. The forum hopes to be able to fund
more projects this academic year.
Starting this semester, the Forum also hopes to invite external experts to interact with
its members on an array of topics.

Evidence of Success: Provide evidence of success such as performance against
targets and benchmarks, review results. What do these results indicate? Describe
in about 200 words.

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