Fwd: Announcing RK University's First International Conference on Research & Entrepreneurship
RKU Placements
BACKGROUND
India is home to the world’s largest youth population according to a recent UN report. The 21st century has witnessed rapid technological innovations so far. Unique opportunities now exist in the area of research and entrepreneurship, more so in India, because of our nation’s favorable demographics. According to several credible estimates, the 21st century is indeed going to be the century of Asia, largely because of the unprecedented rise of China and that of other East Asian economies. Renowned experts from around the world strongly believe that India will be playing a major role in the area of discovery and innovation. The critical question being increasingly asked is about the extent to which our nation can contribute to the world of research and entrepreneurship.
RK University, established as the RK Group of Colleges in 2005 and operating as a University with Interdisciplinary Schools since 2011, has been increasingly promoting good academic practices in its classrooms in the form of activity-based learning. Our researchers have also published their work in various international journals so far. In view of the above, RK University has decided to organize an International Conference focusing on various sub-themes that would play a critical role in making the 21st century, India’s century too.
MORE ABOUT THE INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
RK University is organizing its first International Conference on January 5th & 6th, 2016 (http://rku.ac.in/fdsr/conference). The primary focus of this conference would be on highlighting India’s competitive positioning in the world of research and entrepreneurship. Education being the key to nation-building in a youth-dominated developing nation like India, the theme essentially covers the roles of research and entrepreneurship, from classrooms to shop floors to boardrooms, in making the 21st century, India’s century too. This conference theme is in synergy with the various other topical initiatives being undertaken in our country (e.g., the “Make in India” initiative, or the “Digital India,” and “Skill India” initiatives).
Authors are requested to submit their original (unpublished) manuscripts focusing on one or both of the aforementioned areas (research and entrepreneurship), with special emphasis on the corresponding discipline-wise sub-themes (e.g., original research articles in the field of science, engineering, pharmacy, physiotherapy, management, and education, manuscripts offering detailed insights on the role of modern researchers and innovators as entrepreneurs, etc.). We feel privileged to have Dr. Huanchen Wang (an American scientist with published articles in reputed journals such as Nature Chemical Biology and Nature Communications), Dr. Shivani Agarwal, Dr. Shivangi Agarwal (both leading biomedical researchers working at the prestigious Northwestern University in Chicago), Dr. Nithin V. George, and Dr. Uttama Lahiri (technology innovators from IIT Gandhinagar) in our advisory committee. All submitted manuscripts will be peer-reviewed by an appointed committee of subject experts. The last date of registration is Dec. 12, 2015.
CONFERENCE SUB-THEMES
Latest Trends in Pharmacy
Physiotherapists as Healthcare Entrepreneurs
Latest Trends in Science
Management Research for Start-Ups and Family Businesses
Innovative Materials, Methods, and Mechanisms in Engineering
Innovations in Pedagogy
PHARMACY
The field of Pharmacy has witnessed turbulence in recent times, but has nevertheless stood its ground and prevailed in the rough weather. In fact, it is has remained nearly unaffected by the adversities during these times of depression and inflation. The inter-disciplinary nature of the pharmaceutical domain is one of the main reasons behind its survival and growth. Be it research or academics, the interdisciplinary roots of this domain have anchored deep into the ground. Untapped potentials and unexplored horizons continue to beckon us to play our part, small or big, in contributing to the research in this field. In fact, there’s yet another unique aspect of this domain that needs further exploration. It’s called “entrepreneurship.”
The central theme of the first international conference of RK University focuses on research and entrepreneurship. The pharmaceutical sector is undoubtedly going to have a strong say in it! Accordingly, the sub-theme, in order to cover the broad spectrum of our domain, has been simply and aptly titled “Latest Trends in Pharmacy.”
Eminent speakers will deliver talks on pharmaceutical research and entrepreneurship during this conference. Participation is invited from industry personnel, entrepreneurs, researchers, and academicians, in the poster presentation category, with only limited manuscripts being further selected for oral presentations, after undergoing a rigorous selection process by our reputed editorial board. Pharmaceutical Technologists, Pharmacologists, Pharmacognosists, Medicinal Chemists, Pharmaceutical Analysts, Quality Assurance Executives, Regulatory Affairs Officers, IPR Experts, Biotechnologists, and researchers even remotely touching the fringes of Pharmacy, this conference is for you!
PHYSIOTHERAPY
Entrepreneurship is often described as the faculty to convert innovations into business ideas. Healthcare is one of the leading industries in India, and medical tourism has now started gaining a lot of popularity around the world. Physiotherapy is undoubtedly one of the fastest growing research areas with a tremendous potential for entrepreneurship opportunities. Experts belonging to the field of data science, business finance, real estate, and print media are now coming together to establish new physiotherapy facilities across India. Researchers have also started showing keen interest in establishing physiotherapy centers in hospitals and clinics. Tele-physiotherapy and home-based physiotherapy services are now becoming increasingly popular in India. Physiotherapy researchers are now focusing on enhancing the sustainability and diversity of professional physiotherapy practices. This conference will mainly focus on analytical research that is capable of generating various innovative ideas for physiotherapy entrepreneurs.
SCIENCE
The objective of this international conference is to provide an opportunity to researchers, academicians, and professionals to present their original contributions to the area of research and entrepreneurship. More specifically, the School of Science at RK University is hoping to provide a common platform to all the scientists working in the areas mentioned below. Science researchers and educationists will get a wonderful opportunity to exchange their ideas and to showcase their recent discoveries/innovations.
In order to create awareness about the recent developments in the field of scientific research, the School of Science has suggested the following research topics for this international conference:
- Microscopic Study of Materials.
- Drug design, Discovery, and Development.
- Synthetic Chemistry/Medicinal Chemistry.
- Environmental Science.
- Natural products.
- Plant Tissue Culture.
- Recent Advances in Life Science.
- Recent Advances in Computer Science.
- Nanotechnology/Multifunctional Materials.
- Material Science: Synthesis, Characterization, and Applications.
- Advances in Agriculture Science.
- Pure and Applied Mathematics.
MANAGEMENT
The prosperity of any economy largely depends on the amount of success achieved by promoting entrepreneurship, innovation, and the use of newer technologies in businesses. Globalization has brought upon many challenges that can be addressed by promoting entrepreneurship and by supporting start up eco-systems. Small family-owned businesses are initially managed by a few family members. However, as the business grows in size, more and more people start contributing, and many of these contributors/collaborators are not necessarily members of the family. India in general and Gujarat in particular have a rich heritage of small- and medium-sized family businesses, wherein the families and their corresponding businesses are naturally intertwined for several generations. Some of the questions that management researchers might want to address, in the light of the above, include the following:
- How can entrepreneurship education play a role in promoting entrepreneurship?
- What is the role of our government and that of our society?
- Is entrepreneurship all about specific personalities and/or innovations?
- How do we measure and appreciate the value created by entrepreneurship?
- Is the growth of family-managed businesses constrained because of the unwillingness to expand or because of the lack of internal and external financing?
- How does the family environment add value to the business?
- How do mutual trust and admiration lead to better business decisions?
- What are the factors that help sustain family-managed businesses for several generations?
Research in itself is something that cannot be confined to a handful of questions, and the same is applicable to research in the area of entrepreneurship and family-managed businesses as well. Researchers are invited to contribute their original work on any of the above mentioned topics; the aforementioned questions are merely indicative in nature.
TECHNOLOGY
In line with the main theme of the conference (research and entrepreneurship, with special focus on the role of India in shaping the 21st century), we expect engineering and technology researchers to focus on research outcomes based on the use/incorporation of innovative materials, experiments, studies, analysis, and simulation experiments in the field of civil engineering, mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, agricultural engineering, electronics engineering, computer engineering, and information technology. The specific methods and mechanisms used to establish these research outcomes need to be highlighted in the submitted manuscripts. Research communications covering the following fields of study are invited for the engineering track:
Agricultural Engineering: Agricultural Machinery and Equipment, Environmental Control Systems, Conservation Agriculture, Crop Production, Seeding, Tillage, Irrigation Practices, Soil and Water Conservation Analysis, Bio-Fuel Production and Utilization on the Farm, Post-Harvest Processing, Handling, and Storage, Precision Farming Technologies, Remote Sensing and GIS, Farm Operations and Management, Farm Safety and Security, Ergonomics, Precision Agriculture, ICT in Agriculture, Storage, Dehydration, Greenhouse Technology, and Agricultural Extension.
Civil Engineering: Structural Engineering, Fiber-Reinforced Polymer (FRPS), Geo-Techniques, Geographic Information System (GIS), Geo-Environment, Geo-Mapping, Spatial Data, Construction Engineering, Alternate Building Materials, Special Concrete, Engineering Mechanics and Materials, Environmental Engineering, Environment and Sustainable Issues, Bio-Composting, Traffic and Industrial Noise Control, Hazardous Waste Management, Green Building, Hydro-Technical Engineering, Earthquake Engineering, Water Resources, Hydraulics and Hydraulic Structures, Construction Management and Materials, Highway Engineering, and Soil-Structure Interaction.
Computer Engineering: Ad Hoc and Sensor Networks, Data and Web Mining, Neural Networks, Fuzzy Systems, Rough Set Theory, Chaos Theory and Evolutionary Algorithms, Visualization and Multimedia, Data and Information Systems, Internet and Distributed Computer Systems, Semantic Web Technologies and Social Semantic Web, Graphics and Imaging, Bio-informatics, Natural Language Processing, Computational Mathematics, Robotics and Micro-Robotics, Theoretical Informatics, Quantum Computing, Software Testing, Computer Vision, Digital Systems, Pervasive Computing, Computational Topology, Information Personalization, Human-Computer Interaction, Ensemble Modeling, Wavelet Representations, Principle of Concurrency, Software Life-cycle Management, Social Network Mining, Embedded Systems, Pattern Recognition, Signal Processing, Bayesian Statistics, Adaptive Control, Sequential Decision Theory, and Digital Forensics.
Electrical Engineering: Smart grids, Power System Protection, Renewable Power Conversion Technologies, Soft Computing Techniques in Power Systems, Electrical Machines, Power Electronics and Energy Efficient Drives, Power Quality Improvement Techniques, Instrumentation and Automation, Education in Electrical Engineering Emerging Technologies, Power Electronics in Electrical Energy Transmission and Distribution, Digital Control Techniques, System Planning and Management, Energy Markets and Energy Finance, Power System Control and Operation, System Stability and Analysis, and High Voltage and Testing.
Electronics and Communication Engineering: Cognitive Radio, Software-Defined Radio, Wireless Sensor Networks, Energy Efficient Algorithms, Bandwidth Utilization, Data Compression Techniques, Underwater Communication, and Speech recognition.
Information Technology: Software Engineering, Network Security, Image Processing, and Network Protocol Design.
Mechanical Engineering: Manufacturing Technology, Energy Systems, Fluid Mechanics and Machinery, Heat Transfer, Non-Conventional Sources of Energy, Fuels and Combustion, Automobile Engineering, Design Engineering, Applied Mechanics and Materials, Internal Combustion Engines, Nanotechnology, Bio-Engineering, Reliability and Maintenance Engineering, Sustainable Engineering, and Non-Linear Dynamics in MEMS/NEMS, CAD/CAM/CAE.
PEDAGOGY
Effective teaching techniques are indeed necessary for facilitating the process of learning and research. RK University has made pioneering contributions to the field of pedagogy via activity-based classroom teaching and outcome-based learning. Authors submitting manuscripts under this category are expected to focus on innovative pedagogical techniques that can positively impact the field of higher education in India.
CALL FOR PAPERS
Authors are requested to submit original (unpublished) manuscripts highlighting their own research and/or entrepreneurship initiatives in the area of science, technology, pharmacy, medicine, management, or education.
IMPORTANT DATES
Abstract Submission Deadline: October 31, 2015.
Manuscript Submission Deadline: November 28, 2015.
Registration Deadline: December 12, 2015.
ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Dr. Huanchen Wang (National Institutes of Health, USA), Dr. Nithin V. George (IIT Gandhinagar), Dr. Uttama Lahiri (IIT Gandhinagar), and Dr. Shivangi Agarwal (Northwestern University, USA).
CONFERENCE PARTNERS
Indian Society for Technical Education (ISTE) and Institution of Engineers, India (IE).
OTHER HIGHLIGHTS
Invited Speakers, Abstract Book with ISBN, Best Paper Awards, and Certificate of Participation.
REGISTRATION FEE
INR 700 (RKU Faculty Members, Students, and Researchers); INR 1,200 (External Faculty Members and Researchers); INR 2,000 (Industry Professionals).
CONFERENCE COMMITTEE
Dr. Ranjit Goswami (Organizer), Dr. Nikhil A. Gokhale (Coordinator), and Directors/Dy. Directors/Deans of various faculties/schools, listed alphabetically (Dr. Ajit Shukla, Dr. Devang Pandya, Dr. Dharmesh Raval, Prof. Krunal Vaghela, Prof. Mayank Pandya, Prof. Nilesh Kalani, and Dr. Priyanshu Rathod).
REGISTRATION AND SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please click here for registration. We are currently accepting registration fees via cash, demand draft, and net banking. For cash payment, please visit RK University’s accounts office. If you wish to make payments using demands drafts or via net banking, kindly send us an e-mail at the address below after registering online. All abstract and manuscript submissions should be in accordance with the guidelines stipulated by the journal Science (http://www.sciencemag.org/site/feature/contribinfo/prep/science_manuscript_word_template.docx).
Kindly send an e-mail to confe...@rku.ac.in in case you have any questions pertaining to this international conference.
Best regards,(on behalf of the RKU Conference Committee)
Rajkot-Bhavnagar Highway, Kasturbadham
Rajkot-360020, Gujarat
A. RajaniKanth |
M.Tech., (Ph.D.,), MISTE
Training & Placement Officer, School of Engineering
