CALL FOR PAPERS: NOW CLOSED
What is the Seminar about?
This day-long seminar will showcase undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral research in the social sciences in India. It will engage with wide-ranging contemporary topics in the social sciences and provide a forum for students from various institutions to engage in exchange of academic knowledge. Last year, research topics ranged from unwanted pursuit behaviour to the vulnerability of the Indian labour force to automation, among others.
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Objectives of the Seminar
Encouraging high-quality research is an integral part of the undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral curricula in India.
Providing an opportunity for students from various disciplines within the social sciences to present their research.
Engaging with topics of contemporary relevance and rigorous methods employed in social sciences research.
Establishing an academic forum for students of the social sciences to receive a critical review of their work.
THEMES
In doing away with an overarching theme, we wish to encourage submission of high-quality research in the fields of psychology, economics, sociology, anthropology, gender studies, and public policy. Papers presented at past editions of the Seminar have been multi-disciplinary in nature.
Keynote Address
Dr. Sharlene Fernandes (Post-Doctoral Researcher at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill)
Sharlene is a Cognitive Psychology researcher with over 8 years of experience in using primarily quantitative (lab and online experiments, surveys, economic games, crime data) and some qualitative research methods (in-depth interviews, surveys) in academic and applied settings to understand how moral values, personality traits, and emotions shape people’s behavior in criminal, legal, and economic contexts. Her Ph.D. research examined how people make moral decisions in economic games. She has focused on studying how individuals with elevated psychopathic traits (e.g., those who lack empathy, are callous, and lack inhibitory control) make decisions about fairness and punishment. While studying moral cognition in students and adults, and working with prison samples, she became interested in applying social science research to technology. She has briefly worked as a UX researcher, developing a stronger understanding of ethical concerns regarding fairness and maintaining trust, privacy, and safety for vulnerable groups when they interact with technology. As a postdoctoral researcher at the University of North Carolina – Chapel Hill, she currently explores people’s interactions with artificial intelligence (including ChatGPT) and examines, with Dr. Kurt Gray, the parallels between human moral cognition and AI.
Her talk will focus on exploring the space between right and wrong, through her journey in moral psychology. Throughout her career in psychology—working in research settings in India and the U.S.—she has explored the gap between moral understanding and moral motivation. From studying individuals with psychopathic traits to conducting experiments on fairness and punishment in economic games, she has sought to uncover what drives people to cooperate, punish, or act with empathy. In this keynote, Dr. Fernandes will share insights from her research journey and personal experiences working in interdisciplinary labs. She will also reflect on how being immersed in different academic and cultural environments has shaped her perspective on morality, human behavior, and the role of psychology in improving social outcomes.
SEMINAR SCHEDULE
ELIGIBILITY
Undergraduate students, Postgraduate students, PhD students, and recent graduates (within one year) are also welcome to apply
Date and Time
30th November, 2024 (Saturday 9AM to 2PM)
Venue
Hybrid (Online and In-Person in Mumbai)