Jyothi Nivas Hostel which was home to thousands of students during the last 60 years was completely converted into a research block to promote research in a big way. This hostel was renamed as Abraham Panampara Research Centre (APRC) and named after one of its eminent Indian Principals in the year 2012. This centre has separate cabins for each research guide and Ph.D. scholars in all the research departments are given facilities in this center including working space, computers with internet facility 24x7 on all days. In addition to this, this center houses central analytical Instrumentation Center and Instrument fabrication center.
Central analytical Instrumentation Center has analytical instruments such as FTIR spectrophotometer, UV-Vis Spectrophotometer, Impedance analyser, Photoacoustic spectrophotometer and Birefringence analyser for the benefit of our students as well as the students from neighboring institutes. Through the Instrument fabrication center, few apparatus are being designed and fabricated. Particularly, Photoacoustic spectrophotometer fabricated in this center was already sold to other research institutes such as SSN research center and Loyola College, Chennai and few are in the pipeline.
The following five online journals have been started from January 2017 with complete online submission system. The first four journals have been already assigned ISSN, while our request for assigning ISSN for the fifth journal is pending before the ISSN office in New Delhi. Each journal is unique with separate editorial board comprising subject experts from different Research Institutes in India and abroad apart from some of our own staff serving as editorial board members.
Turnitin antiplagiarism software (One of the World's best) was procured during February 2017. Papers are accepted for publication in these journals only after they are screened for their originality and subsequent review by acknowledged experts in the related fields. Ours is the only Arts and Science College in Tamilnadu to possess this software. Articles published are peer-reviewed, refereed and published completely free of cost.
All PG, M.Phil dissertations and research papers are checked for plagiarism much before even the UGC circulated the draft proposal for curbing plagiarism in higher educational institutions. This is probably the first of its kind among Universities and Colleges in the whole of India to ensure quality and excellence in academic integrity amongst the academia.
Sacred Heart Fellowship (for students) is instituted from the academic year 2017-18 to help the students to choose research as a career after their post graduation. PG final year students are granted this fellowship after initial screening by scrutiny committee appointed by the Principal followed by evaluation by anonymous expert committee members before they give oral presentation. Ten students have received Sacred Heart Fellowship during this academic year (2017-18).
Don Bosco Research grant (for staff) is instituted from the academic year 2017-18 to promote research among the staff in a big way. Staff members are granted this fellowship after initial screening by scrutiny committee appointed by the Principal followed by evaluation by anonymous reviewers and subsequent oral presentation. Seven faculty members from different disciplines have been awarded Don Bosco Research grant during this academic year (2017-18).
Papers published by staff and students in Scopus indexed journals are given cash incentives from the academic year 217-18 onwards to encourage them to publish quality research articles.
Staff members are constantly requested to apply for minor and major research proposals to different funding agencies. Proposals are being submitted and this has begun to bear fruit with the sanctioning of few minor and major projects.
To give further fillip to promote research, summer Internship programme has been organized in our campus during May-June 2017. As many as 14 students from both outside and inside the college benefitted out of this programme. This will be a regular event during every summer from now onwards with more departments offering this programme for the benefit of the student community.
Every department has Research Forum with the top five students having a strong desire for research from every class constituting it. They are encouraged to attend and present papers in conferences/seminars to get more interest and flare for research. Their activities are regularly monitored and supported by a dedicated research forum coordinator in each department. In order to bring in competitive spirit, prizes, cash awards and certificates are given every year for both the students and staff.
Research Forum students are periodically taken to Institutional/Industrial visits to research Institutions and Laboratories /Industries to further create interest in research.
Students are constantly motivated to apply for summer fellowship programmes in different national institutes. Few of our students have already been selected for this fellowship in institutes such as IISc Bangalore, NPL New Delhi, NCL Pune for two months during the summer.
Final year Post Graduate students in science are encouraged to apply for financial assistance with Tamilnadu State Council for Science and Technology (TNSCST), Government of Tamilnadu. Though every year, few students are submitting project proposals, this year a whopping 30 students have applied for this scheme. Few students have received the grant in the recent past and we anticipate receiving more this year.