XLRI Jamshedpur hosts Doctoral Colloquium 2024 on theme of “Artifical Intelligence & Sustainability”
Jamshedpur: As part of its 75th Year Platinum Jubilee Celebrations, XLRI Jamshedpur hosted a Doctoral Colloquium on April 8-10, 2024. The theme of the conference was based on “Artificial Intelligence and Sustainability.” This 3-day event observed 117 paper submissions from 5 countries: India, Nepal, Oman, Spain, and the UK. Upon review, 62 papers were invited for presentations – 19 doctoral scholars from XLRI Jamshedpur and 43 doctoral scholars affiliated with other universities and institutions.
The inaugural event, held at XLRI Jamshedpur at 9:00 AM on 8th April 2024, was introduced by Prof. Prashant Kumar (Convener of XLRI Doctoral Colloquium and Associate Professor – Marketing), XLRI Jamshedpur.
In a welcome address at the inauguration of the event, Fr. George Sebastian S.J. (Director), XLRI Jamshedpur, stressed the need for research to have societal consequences and for academics to focus on the broader societal needs of the hour. He also drew attention to the rise of Artificial Intelligence in everyday life at one end and the roles of sustainability at the other end.
“Artificial Intelligence (AI) traces its origins back to the 1950s. Government has allocated $480 million in the current budget to support Fifth Generation Technology Startups, encompassing AI, Machine Learning, Internet of Things, 3-D Printing, and Blockchain. Additionally, the government aims to bolster research, training, human resources, and skill development in AI, Robotics, Digital Manufacturing, Big Data Intelligence, Real-Time Data, and Quantum Communication,” XLRI Director added.
Addressing misconceptions, Father Sebastian dismissed fears of AI’s negative impact on job opportunities, emphasizing its potential to enhance human life. However, he also underscored the emerging challenges posed by AI in the near future.
Fr. Donald D’Silva S.J., (Dean – Administration & Finance), XLRI Jamshedpur, highlighted the need to balance work and self-investment to avoid stress during a doctoral programme. Dr. Sanjay Patro, (Dean – Academics), XLRI Jamshedpur, emphasized the need for meaningful research, particularly given the nascent nature of Artificial Intelligence in Research. He shared examples of various use cases of AI from the industry and the need to study the implications of their usage in academic articles.
Prof. Madhu Veeraraghavan (Pro-Vice Chancellor, Manipal Academy of Higher Education and T A Pai Chair Professor Finance) explained the ways to target top journals for publications, and recounted personal experiences where he followed the UT Dallas and FT-50 list. He also emphasized upon staying physically fit in order to deliver best forms of research.
Another invited guest, Prof. Shaphali Gupta (Mani Ayer Chair Professor of Marketing, MICA, Ahmedabad), discussed the need for having relevance and rigor in the research programmes. She explained ways to work on ideas that have good potential for research and impact on society.
Prof. Rajendra Nargundkar (Vice-Chancellor, Prestige University, Indore), emphasized the need to balance quality of research with quantity of research. He highlighted that the scholars should focus on ticking their publication requirements in the early years of their research. Prof. Rajiv Bhushan (Associate Professor, NIT Jamshedpur), spoke for the need to focus on sustainable topics in research and the present reality of the world and the need to find that voice in academic circles.
Prof. Ajith Kumar J (Associate Dean, FPM Programme and Member of the Advisory Board of the Doctoral Colloquium), XLRI Jamshedpur, brought about the salient features and the details of the FPM programme at XLRI. Prof. H K Pradhan, (Professor of Finance and Member of the Advisory Board of the Doctoral Colloquium), XLRI Jamshedpur, recounted his personal experience in doing PhD program and his inclination for teaching, that led him to this path. He also motivated the scholars to find their true calling in the course of the journey.
Seven workshops covered at the colloquium included: how to revise and resubmit in top journals by Prof. Madhuveeraraghavan, writing conceptual articles by Prof. Shaphali Gupta, developing constructs in the Indian context by Prof. Aashish Pandey, innovative teaching pedagogies by Prof. Sanjay Patro, game theory and computerized lab experiments by Prof. Sumit Sarkar, and Signals and Spillover Workshop by Prof. Ameet Banerjee.
The 62 papers as part of this event were divided across seven tracks and fourteen paper presentation sessions.
- HR and OB track had four sessions, chaired by Prof. Jatinder Jha, Prof. L Gurunathan, Prof. Rahul Chandra Sheel, and Prof. Soumendra Bagchi, from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Marketing track had three sessions chaired by Prof. Debashis Pradhan, Prof. Himadri Roy Choudhary, and Prof. Sanjeev Pradhan, from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Finance track had two sessions chaired by Prof. Rajesh Kumar Sinha and Prof. Trilochan Tripathy, from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Strategy track had two sessions chaired by Prof. Arindam Mondal and Prof. Sourav Snehvrat, from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Entrepreneurship track had one session chaired by Prof. Indrajit Mukherjee from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Operations track had one session chaired by Prof. Ajith Kumar J and Prof. TAS Vijayaraghavan, from XLRI Jamshedpur.
- Sustainability and Policy track had one session chaired by Prof. Tata Raghuram, from XLRI Jamshedpur and Prof. Rajiv Bhushan, from NIT Jamshedpur.
The event included seven best paper awards across each of these seven tracks.
| Tracks | Winners |
| Marketing | Mr. Kumar Rohit (IIM Visakhapatnam) |
| Finance | Manik Chandra Dey (Fakir Mohan University, Balasore) |
| Operations | Ms. Soumita Ghosh (XLRI Jamshedpur) |
| Human Resource and Organization Behaviour (HR/OB) | Mr. Sai Naveen (Sri Satya Sai Institute of Higher Learning) |
| Strategy | Ms. Swati Agarwal (XLRI Jamshedpur) |
| Sustainability and Policy | Ms. Rishika Raj (IIT, Kharagpur) |
| Entrepreneurship | Ms. Pooja Kewalramani (Dayalbagh Educational Institute, Agra) |
In addition to the Convenor and Advisory Board, the Committee for XLRI Doctoral Colloquium comprised of ten doctoral scholars (Akanksha Tripathi, Anand Jhawar, Anjana Dharmani, Arijit Das, Arnav Pati, Basudeo Dubey, Jyoti Varshney, Kedar Thakur, Nalinakshaya Panda, Namrata Nigam, Soumya Das and Vikram Gupta), and three staff members (Anjelina Mundu, Pinky Kumari, and Shipra Das).
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