IBM I-CARE’2013

A Workshop on Ph.D Paper Writing was organized at IIT Delhi as part of IBM Research Showcase 2013 under the aegis of IBM I-CARE 2013, 5th IBM Collaborative Academia Research Exchange Programme on 18th October 2013.

Mr. Divyanshu Sinha, Assistant Professor (CSE Dept) represented Dronacharya Group of Institutions, Greater Noida at the coveted event which had 100 participants comprising of Research Scholars, Corporates etc. A number of distinguished speakers like Prof. Ashwin Srinivasan (IIT Delhi), Mr. Indrajit Bhattacharya (IBM Research-India), Mr. Prasad Deshpande (IBM Research-India) and Mr. Subrahmanya Kalyanasundaram (IIT Hyderabad) graced the occasion by their presence.

Prof. Ashwin Srinivasan (IIT Delhi) started the first session on ‘How to go about Research in Computer Science & Engineering’. He emphasized the fact that there is no predefined method or formula for pursuing research. Research is based on the method of directive search. He also explained the Modus Operandi of pursuing research. He encouraged the young researchers to read some books before embarking on their journey called ‘Research’. He suggested budding researchers to read books such as ‘The Art of Scientific Investigation’ by Beveridge’, ‘Advice for a Young Researcher’ by Ramon Y Cajal.

The second session was presided by Mr. Subrahmanya Kalyanasundaram (IIT Hyderabad). He focused on ‘Role of Blogs & Discussion Forums in Research’. He termed blogs and discussion forums as interactive avenues for active information exchange between different people belonging to different communities. He laid stress on use of certain popular discussion forums as ‘uniform stack exchange’ which is quite popular among researchers these days to discuss & find solutions to their research problems.

The speaker for the third session was Mr. Indrajit Bhattacharya (IBM Research-India) who laid emphasis on ‘How to write a research paper’. He stressed on the fact that writing a research paper involves a lot of blood and sweat. It involves an extensive literature survey and an in depth knowledge of your research topic or your domain of interest. He said that the novelty of a research paper is decided upon by the audience which may be the readers or a domain expert from that area.

The last session of the day was presided over by Mr. Prasad Deshpande (IBM Research-India) who gave a brief talk on ‘How to present a research paper’. He emphasized that the subject knowledge of a person has a great role to play in his presentation. The body language of the presenter very much shows the amount of knowledge he possesses. He suggested that the presenter of any technical presentation should be ready for all kinds of questions and criticisms from the audience. It is this criticism which enhances the beauty of research.