Composition of the committee:

1. Dr. Shashibhal Pandey, VP, Science, Overall In-charge RDC
2. Dr. Darshana Patil, Chairperson
3. Dr. Kajal Bhojwani, Co-Chairperson
4. Dr. Lakshmi Girish, Member
5. Dr. Ashish Jain, Member
6. Dr. Kishori Tarfe, Member

Objectives-

• To organise research promoting events to encourage, motivate and to assist students and Faculty.
• To develop research culture among students and Faculty.
• To promote healthy research environment in the college.

Following are the various activities conducted by RDC for the year 2021-2022.

1. An Online Inter-Collegiate Seminar on ‘Virtual Study Tour to Neral-Juma Patti’ was organized on 20th August 2021. Dr. Aruna Rai, Former Head, Department of Botany, Smt. C. H. M. College, Ulhasnagar was invited as resource person for the seminar. Madam started her session with geographical location of Neral and Jumma Patti. Many scenic pictorial views were shown by her. She then discussed about the floral diversity of the area and the diverse types of plants found in the area like total parasites, root parasites, insectivorous and plants of medicinal significance. She also mentioned about the plants endemic to Western Ghats and to Mumbai Presidency. She showed photographs of many plants with detailed discussion about the botanical names and the significance of each of the plants.

2. An Online National Level Seminar on “Intellectual Property Rights” was organized on 21st October 2021. The objective of the seminar was to make participants familiar with laws, rules and regulations related to IPR, especially patents. To motivate students and faculty to innovate and protect their innovations and rights. The resource persons for the seminar were Lt. (Dr.) K.H. Nagare, Assistant Professor, B. K. Birla College (Autonomous), Kalyan; Dr. Dinesh Wanule, Asst. Professor, B. K. Birla College (Autonomous), Kalyan and Ms. Pooja Menon (Chief Operating Officer, MYCRAVE consultancy and services, Vadodra). Dr. Nagare in his talk mentioned about the patents he received and also made a brief idea about the concept of patent. He also emphasized that the patent is filed not only for science subjects but it can be for any discipline. Dr. Dinesh Wanule did his presentation on the topic Patent Law 1970 – in which he explained various aspects of patent including definition, salient features of the patent act, 1970, and covered all the sections of the patents, and amendments made in patent act before and after independence. He also covered various topics such as procedure for filing a patent, applications for patent, publication and examination of applications, and what can be and what cannot be patented. This was followed by a talk by Ms. Pooja Memnon, in which she made a comparison between physical and intellectual property, what all can be included under patent. With the help of examples and case studies she explained about infringement, trademarks, various examples of ideas and designs patented etc.

3. An online Guidelines talk on “Writing a successful research project for funding from Government of India” was organized on 27th November 2021. The main objective of the guidelines talk was to provide knowledge to participants about writing a successful research project for funding from government of India. The resource person for the work shop was Professor (Dr.) Sunita Shailajan, Principal Investigator DST-SERB (Gol), Freelancer Technical Consultant -Quality Council of India, Steering Committee Member -DBT-Star College scheme, Former Head, Department of Botany, Ramnarain Ruia College, Matunga. She started with the question what is Research? It’s advancing knowledge, collecting information, reporting new findings etc. Then she elaborated on – importance of research, Why a research proposal is important and Which topic should be selected, How one should start with research , idea of conceptualized, understanding thrust areas, What makes a good proposal?, How to structure proposal? Madam also discussed various projects showing her expertise and gave a detail account of various funding agencies like DBT, DST, NMPB etc.

4. An online State Level Workshop on Research Methodology was Conducted by Commerce & Business Management department, Commerce Association & Research Development Cell on 07th December 2021. The objective of the work shop was to introduce students to the different aspects of Research, terminologies used in Research, Preparation of Research projects and brief guidelines on Research paper preparation. The resource person for the work shop Dr. Kiran Menghani, Faculty, Anna Leela College of Commerce, Mumbai. She discussed on various aspects of research viz. Introduction and Meaning of Research, how to select research topic, how to start with research proposal, how to frame hypothesis, contents of research etc.

5. An online Intercollegiate talk on Hydroponics- A Scientific Approach to Soilless culture was conducted on 15th December 2021. The resource person for the talk was Dr. Shama Zaidi, Sr. Manager, R & D, Aries Agro Ltd. Mumbai. A very detailed account on the technique of hydroponics was given by explaining the history, advantages and disadvantages of hydroponics, different substratum used in the technique, nutrient requirement etc. In her presentation she covered a detailed information about the different water-based systems as well as substrate-based systems. With the help of lot of examples, she could convey the topic very effectively to the participants. With the help of ppt. and actual photographs she could generate the interest and curiosity in the minds of audience.

6. An online talk on “Open Access Resources: Important Source in Research” on 23rd December 2021. The objective of the talk was to create awareness amongst the participants about the current development of and future trends around Open Access resources available for research. The resource person invited was Ms. Kadambari Manjrekar Librarian, VPM's B.N.B. College of Science (Autonomous), Thane. She enlightened the various aspects of research. This included how to search for authentic thesis, dissertations, journals, books etc. which are the primary sources of every researcher. She mainly demonstrated various websites and directories that can facilitate researchers in accessing important articles, journals, bibliographies, theses, books etc.. The resource person also taught the technicalities of those websites and directories including the Mendeley software. Besides this, she also provided some insight regarding the identification of genuine publishing houses as there are some fake ones who charges money but fails to publish thesis on time or sometimes never publish. This would be helpful for anyone mainly PhD holders who has to publish their research work without which they can’t move ahead towards the research career.

7. An Online Inter Collegiate Orientation Program on “16th Avishkar Research Convention” was conducted on 27th January 2022. The objective of the orientation Program was to motivate the UG, PG, Research students and teachers for participation in the University Research Convention Avishkar and to guide them for preparing presentation and to make them aware about Mumbai University guidelines for the same. The resource person for the program was Dr. Vaishali Nirmalkar, Co-coordinator, Zone III, Avishkar, District- Thane. With the help of power point presentation, she explained in detail about the overall conduct of Avishkar research convention, various categories, levels, eligibility criteria, guidelines for poster preparation, power-point presentation etc. Through lot of examples from previous Avishkar competitions, she guided the students how to prepare a good poster and power-point presentation. While discussing the eligibility criteria she explained the do’s and don’ts which the students should keep in their mind while preparing for their presentations. She also mentioned about the gap analysis, rationale of the topic, research methodology, expected outcomes, SWOC analysis etc.