BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa Campus, in collaboration with ICSSR and Springer Nature, recently hosted the India Research Tour 2024 at its campus at Zuarinagar.  The event began with flagging off the tour bus used for India Research Tour 2024 by Prof. Suman Kundu, Director of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, who also inaugurated the programme.  Prof. Meenal Kowshik, Professor & Dean (Administration), BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus welcomed the speakers and participants of the programme.  Mr. Vikash Kumar, Director – Institutional and Corporate Sales, Springer Nature India; Prof. Kshamadevi S. Khobragade, Council Member, ICSSR and Dr. Ed Gerstner, Director, Research Environment Alliances, Springer Nature, London also spoke on the occasion.

Springer Nature presented Best Women Researchers Award to the following eminent professors of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus for their research contribution in their respective areas of work:

• Prof. Amrita Chatterjee, Dept of Chemistry
• Prof. Indrakshi Raychowdhury, Dept of Physics
• Prof. Manogna R L, Dept of Economics and Finance
• Prof. Reena Cheruvalath, Dept of Humanities and Social Sciences
• Prof. Sutapa Roy Ramanan, Dept. of Chemical Engineering

Besides, faculty members and students of BITS Pilani, K K Birla Goa Campus, the programme was attended by over 20 participants from following institutes/ colleges in Goa:

All India Institute of Ayurveda, Carmel College, Don Bosco College of Engineering, Ganpat Parsekar College of Education, Goa College of Home Science, Goa Institute of Management, ICAR-Central Coastal Agricultural Research Institute, Vidya Prabodhini College of Commerce, Education, Computer and Management.

This prestigious event focused on fostering research collaboration and knowledge exchange, with key discussions on topics like open access in research.  The Panel Discussion on ‘Open Access and its role in evolving Research Landscape’ was moderated by Ms. Nidhi Gulati, Communications Director, Springer Nature India with following eminent speakers:

Ms. Swati Meherishi, Editorial Director (Books), Applied Sciences, APAC and MEA;

Prof. Snehanshu Saha, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems and Head of APP Centre for AI Research; and

Prof. Sanjay K. Sahay, Professor, Department of Computer Science and Information Systems

Prof. Ch V V S N V Prasad, Associate Professor and HoD, Department of Economics and Finance, BITS Pilani – K K Birla Goa Campus made the closing remarks and Prof. K A Geetha, Professor and HoD, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, BITS Pilani, K. K. Birla Goa Campus proposed the vote of thanks.