INTRODUCTION TO THE INSTITUTION:

Maniben Nanavati Women’s College , established in 1972, is affiliated to SNDT Women’s University, Mumbai and is one of the pioneers in the field of imparting higher education to women. The College offers a wide range of programmes and courses at undergraduate and post graduate levels. Along with academics, the college offers a conducive environment and resources for imparting value education, skill development programmes, research culture. Internship and placement opportunities to students to prepare them for being intelligent, efficient , productive and socially responsible global citizens of tomorrow.

HISTORY AND BACKGROUND:

In 2002 , the College started its in-house academic publication – Anveshan- to encourage teaching faculty to publish research papers. In our endeavour to reach out to more teachers and encourage serious research, our college took a big step forward that of officially registering Anveshan as Research Horizons at New Delhi, under the Reg no. MAHMUL0Z135/13/2005TC dated 7th Nov. 2005. Eventually Research Horizons was upgraded as an International Research Journal with ISSN and currently it stands enlisted with the EBSCO, USA.

In 2009, the College established Research Cell to encourage the teaching faculty members to undertake research projects in their own areas of specialization as well as in interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary studies. The College started an In-house as well as Intercollegiate Research Paper Competition which waeventually named as Anveshan Research Paper Competition. The College has won accolades at AVISHKAR State Level Research competition for three consecutive years and reached up to National Level.

Major and Minor research projects funded by UGC and other bodies had been one of the striking features of the Research Cell. Encouraging teachers to undertake Ph.D and M.Phil. studies had been one of the main objectives of the Cell.

The students of Post graduate Departments of Psychology and Commerce work on dissertation projects in Semester IV which carries a weightage of 4 credits as a partial obligation to their degree programme. The College has a well established Ethic Committee that reviews each research proposal for dissertations as well as others.

With a view to expand and widen the scope of activities of the Research Cell, the IQAC recommended the establishment of a well established research centre that would support high impact research projects that are socially relevant, locally need based, nationally important and of global significance.

VISION:

To be a premier research centre enabling global development by strategically partnering with research endeavours guided by excellence and innovation.

MISSION:

• To provide scientists and researchers with a stimulating and supportive research environment.
• To engage whole-heartedly with society by establishing avenues that lead to growth in all sectors
• To promote multi-disciplinary training to researchers seeking advanced tools and techniques aimed at improving methodologies
• To encourage a forum to share questions and findings in various disciplines
• To enable access to knowledge from experts in various fields.

AIMS:

• Establishment of a world-class multidisciplinary research centre
• Innovation would be the driving philosophy
• Culture specific research will be encouraged
• Application based research will be highlighted
• Research support for faculty and students will be provided
• Transfer of knowledge will be enabled smoothly
• Consolidation and mobilization of data that will be shared
• Enhancement reputation of the institution and its members
• International presence to ensure globally relevant research
• Management resources effectively for the overall functioning
• Contribution to national policies, well-being, economy

OBJECTIVES:

The purposes of establishing a Research Centre are to:

• Promote and facilitate collaborative and/or interdisciplinary research and enhancement of research networking capacity and infrastructure.
• Increase and effectively manage the resources and research support for its members and the wider university community.
• Provide education and training in research and related skills, especially for graduate and undergraduate students and thereby enhance the academic programs of their constituent academic units.
• Contribute to the university’s strategic educational and research missions and to support synergies between research, teaching and learning.
• Transfer and mobilize knowledge gained through research for the benefit of society, via a variety of mechanisms as appropriate.
• Enhance the reputation of the institution’s members, the constituent academic units, and the university through the quality of its work.

SCOPE:

The Research Centre carries out a broad programme of research and development in all fields with the aim of identifying, creating and sustaining the well-being of this planet and all it’s inhabitants.

ACTIVITIES:

• Publication of Research Horizons
• Training students for Anveshan, the MNWC Intercollege Research competition
• Training students for Avishkar, the State, Zonal and National Research Convention
• Funding Short Duration Research Projects of scholars: one in-house, one external, one student project every year.
• Research can be conducted in English and in any Indian regional languages.
• Publication of findings and knowledge sharing.
• Converting research reports into documentary films for wider dissemination.
• Smt. Kantaben Shah Memorial Lecture (Annual) to be conducted during the winters of each year.
• Seminars/Workshops/Trainings for Capacity Building (only research based) for faculty and students.
• Workshops on writing styles – academic/journalistic/report writing etc.
• MOU’s with National and International Institutions.
• Tie-up with Pukar, an independent research collective and urban knowledge producing institution based in Mumbai – 2 students from each department.
• Obtaining research grants from GOs, NGOs and Private/Public Foundations
• Functioning of Ethics Committee as per ethical guidelines of the institution.

ADVISORY BOARD:

• Smt. Himadri Nanavati – Chief Patron
• Smt. Angela Shah – Patron
• Shri Pratapbhai Patel- Patron
• Dr. Yogini Sheth – Member
• Dr. Vibhuti Patel- Chief Advisor & Expert
• Dr. Rajshree Trivedi- Director

EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE:

• Dr. Rajshree Trivedi – Director
• Dr.Cicilia Chettiar- In Charge
• Dr. Anuja Deshpande-Co-In-Charge
• All Heads of Departments and coordinators-Members

Sub-Committees:

a) Ethics Committee:

• Dr. Rajshree Trrivedi
• Dr Malathi Iyer
• Dr. Rita Patil
• Darshika Maiya Advocate
• Ms. Medhivinee Namjoshi
• Dr. Anuja Jayaraman
• Dr. Anuja Deshpande
• Dr. Cicilia Chettiar
• Dr. Priyanka Sharma

b) Anveshan:

• Prof. Vibhuti, Patel-Expert
• Ms. Sheetal Sawant,
• Dr. Swati Partani
• Ms. Neha Bhansali
• Dr. Priyanka Sharma

c) Research Horizons:

• Dr Swati Partani-Executive Editor
• Dr. Sejal Shah
• Dr. Ravindra Katyayan
• Ms. Sheetal Sawant
• Dr Priyanka Sharma.