IRMA 30th Anniversary Conference on Social Science Research and Public Involvement Dates: 15-16 December 2009 Organised by: Institute of Rural Management Anand, Gujarat, India Call for Papers The Institute of Rural Management Anand (IRMA) announces the conference on 'Social Science Research and Public Involvement' to be held as part of 30th anniversary celebrations. Established in 1979, to address the inequality issues in rural India, IRMA has combined knowledge production and public action in a symbiotic rhythm. In more recent times, the scenario of higher education has become complex. Specialization has come at the cost of 'appropriateness'; collaborations and financing patterns have eclipsed the right questions; usability of knowledge is diluted in the struggle between truth and power; information abundance has made it difficult to distinguish wheat and chaff in the knowledge world; marketization of research has produced paradoxical effects; Apart from these concerns, public action agenda and policy making has often been ideology-driven than evidence-driven. The nature of social science research needs to be revisited for its relevance and revitalization. IRMA invites papers on wide-ranging topics around this conference theme (as delineated in the concept note in the conference website). The paper abstracts are to be sent to 30irma[at]irma.ac.in before 25 October 2009. Important themes are: - Collaborations in Social Research - Financing of Social Research - Social accountability in knowledge production and dissemination - Social science research in vernacular languages - Evidence-based policy making - Revisiting methods - Learning from evaluation research - Politics of knowledge creation Important Dates - Last date to receive abstracts 25 October 2009 - Decision on abstracts 2 November 2009 - Full Papers to be sent by 30 November 2009 - Conference dates 15-16 December 2009 Please send the abstracts to: 30irma[at]irma.ac.in Travel, Boarding and Lodging Facilities Authors of the selected full papers will be reimbursed with travel allowance, and free boarding and lodging facilities for the stay during the conference. Further Details http://cssp-jnu.blogspot.com/2009/10/irma-conference-on-social-science.html ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anup Kumar Das New Delhi, India http://anupkumardas.blogspot.com/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Connect more, do more and share more with Yahoo! India Mail. Learn more. http://in.overview.mail.yahoo.com/ -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.