Date/Time
Date(s) - 07/10/2020
10:00 am
Categories No Categories
Dr. Rajesh Tandon, (Founder-President, PRIA & our Co-chair, UNESCO Chair in Community-Based Research & Social Responsibility in Higher Education) was invited to give the Inaugural Address at the New Student Induction, Amrita Master of Social Work, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham.
In his address, Dr. Tandon emphasised the importance of experiential learning for a researcher. He began with a beautiful thought “don’t just stop at thinking; see, hear, smell and feel as well. Use all your senses when doing field research”. He succinctly articulated the guiding principles for students of field research. He discussed the respectfulness which must be attributed to indigenous knowledge, that can be far deeper and richer than formal education in many ways. Dr. Tandon then stressed on the need to unlearn outdated myths and attitudes, before venturing out to learn something new. Finally, he suggested that one of the essential values that every researcher must have are those of ethics and integrity. Professionalism is not attained through educational degrees, but from gaining values of professional integrity to ensure that one’s positionality is never compromised. Students of field research will face many institutional, socio-cultural and other barriers; it is then that they must learn to speak up. Those are the moments when their ethical choices will be tested. That is their most important capital that they must invest in and harness.