— Sharanya Kannan
The three day long conference finally came to an end with the valedictory ceremony. This also happens to mark the end of a decade since the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences started its Annual Academic Conference series. These conferences have given numerous research scholars the opportunity to present their works in different themed disciplines. The panel discussions and keynote lectures provide students with different perspectives and shape the world of academia differently while simultaneously paving the way for a more fruitful and open minded journey. The conference has tried to create an environment for meaningful discussion and deliberation on pragmatic issues that we as citizens of the world face
today. The 10th edition of the conference dealt with the idea of Spatiality. All three days of the conference were loaded with discussions on the dimensions of physical, psychological and virtual space and their transformation after the pandemic.
The Valedictory ceremony commenced with a quote by Nelson Mandela, “Education is the greatest tool that can change the course of mankind”. This is concurrent with the aim of the conference as it serves as a method to overcome some of the world’s onerous problems through academic research. This was followed by the presentation of the Conference Report by the conference secretaries Sathya Priya and Dakshana. The report was an outline of the various discussions and speeches that took place along with some key takeaways from the domain of Spatiality. From the the apparent forces shaping the built and social environments to the intersubjectivity underlying spatial understanding, they covered it all in their report. It extensively covered the broad aspects of all discussions and served as a conclusive summary of the events that took place in 7 panels, 5 keynote speeches and 3 days of intellectually stimulating discourse. Additionally, the Conference Secretaries expressed their gratitude towards the department and the faculty advisors, Prof. Santosh Abraham and Prof. Merin Simi Raj.
This was followed by concluding remarks from Prof. Santosh Abraham, the faculty advisor of the Annual Academic Conference 2021. He elucidated some of the difficulties of holding a conference on a virtual platform. He also congratulated the team that worked relentlessly towards making this conference a huge success, which it was. Prof. Abraham also took this opportunity to congratulate all scholars who presented their papers and commended the riveting discussions that their work stimulated. As expected, the closing note contained a ray of hope that next year the Conference could take place in physical capacity at the campus. This brought the Annual Academic Conference 2021 to an end.
Article 19 