As part of IFMR GSB’s flagship cultural event ‘Abhyudaya’, the External and Alumni Relations Committee organised ‘KREA TALKS’, featuring speakers from different backgrounds and career paths. Three separate sessions curated exclusively for participating students, the speakers shared insights from their respective domains, elaborating on their successes, failures and motivations. The speakers were Yogesh Chabria (Founder of ‘The Happionaire Way’), Durjoy Datta (Author and screenwriter), and Captain Yashika Tyagi (Kargil War veteran and the first lady officer posted at a high altitude and extreme cold climate.
Category: General Topics
Krea-SAIBSA partnership: First workshop on communication for member schools and students
Krea University and The South Asia IB Schools Association (SAIBSA) have stepped into a significant partnership in the field of higher education and learning. Through this partnership, both entities will work together for a series of exclusive learning and development opportunities for member schools and students. The first workshop for students of grades 9-12 was conducted, focusing on developing Academic writing and skills lead by Prof Anannya Dasgupta (Associate Professor of Literature, Literature & the Arts and Director of Centre for Writing & Pedagogy – Krea University) and Pritha Chakrabarti (Faculty Associate, Centre for Writing & Pedagogy – Krea University).
Catalyst AIC launches Startup-School; hosts Orientation Day for first cohort of entrepreneurs
Catalyst AIC has launched a Startup School for idea-stage entrepreneurs. The rigorous 3-months program focuses on nurturing young, idea-stage entrepreneurs to help them build businesses of the future. In February, Catalyst conducted the orientation day for the first cohort of startups. The event featured a panel discussion on integrating tradition with technology in a post-COVID world, with Nand Kishore Choudhary (Founder-Chairman, Jaipur Rugs) giving the keynote address along with an address from advisory member Sharon Buteau (Executive Director, LEAD at Krea University).
Prof Srajana Kaikini’s recent papers published by noted international journals
Krea faculty Prof Srajana Kaikini — Assistant Professor of Philosophy, Humanities & Social Sciences & Literature & the Arts — has had two of her recent papers published by renowned international journals. Her most recent paper explores strategies within the arts practice, while the other paper talks about COVID-19 and its social impact.
Her paper titled, ‘The Aesthetics Of Risk in Artistic Practice: What is at Stake?’, has been published in the Kunstlicht Journal 41(4) (2020). ASSESSING RISK: ON STRATEGIES FOR HEALTH, SAFETY, AND WELFARE WITHIN ARTS PRACTICE. The journal regularly features academics, authors, editors and artists sharing their insights on art, visual culture, and architecture. Access the paper here.
Her timely piece on understanding disasters and bringing the ethical language of the collective, bearing COVID-19 in mind, was published by Voices in Bioethics, an online journal in partnership with Columbia University Library. Read the article here.
‘The 10 commandments: As You Step Into Your First Job’, with industry expert Chetan Gore
| ‘Inside Marketing 2021′ featured some illustrious marketing professionals, entrepreneurs and leaders from various industries, imparting their wisdom on some of the recent trends in the marketing world. One of the power-packed sessions scheduled exclusively for the students of Krea University was delivered by Mr Chetan Gore — Vice President and Business Head of the FMCG vertical at Reliance Retail. Titled ’10 Commandments: As You Step Into Your First Job’, the power talk included an interaction with students and their understanding of work-life in the context of completing one’s MBA degree. Finding the session insightful, the students had a range of questions for Mr Chetan, right from discussing the ways to find an ideal job, to expanding one’s network and building confidence with seniors and peers at the workplace. |
Student entrepreneurs at Krea launch hygiene kit for COVID-19 protection
Three 2nd-year UG students at the School of Interwoven Arts & Sciences (SIAS), Krea University have stepped into the world of impact entrepreneurship, launching their first product – ‘Pockit: Protect Pack’. A handy hygiene kit, the pack is described as ‘a one-stop pocket-sized solution to keep you safe at your convenience’ bearing COVID-19 in mind.
The idea of developing a pocket-sized hygiene kit that shields one from the novel Coronavirus came to Arnav Jalan, Munirmahedi Paviwala, and Sravan Sridhar back in April 2020, right in the midst of the outbreak and numerous lockdowns. Witnessing how it became increasingly difficult to carry all the essential items, the pocket-sized solution is designed in such a way that it includes a 3-ply mask, two alcohol swabs, and two sanitiser sachets all encased in a weather-resistant, light-weight pack.
Priced at INR 125 per unit, Pockit is open for delivery to over 20,000 pin codes in the country and can be purchased online. Thus far, the two students’ maiden product has already entered the market, now available in four retail stores in Mumbai with larger plans in the offing.
Krea fosters an immersive learning environment, encouraging budding student entrepreneurs to explore their ideas armed with the right tools — passion, resilience and attitude, going beyond domain knowledge and technical skills. Learn more about this ProtectPack here.
Exploring poetry, politics, religion in Muhammad Iqbal & Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s works
In an interactive session with the students and poetry lovers of Krea University, Prof Irfanullah Farooqi (Assistant Professor, Department of Sociology, South Asian University – New Delhi) explored the deep connections between the poetic and the political through select compositions of two iconic poets of 20th century South Asia — Muhammad Iqbal (1877-1938) and Faiz Ahmad Faiz (1911-1984). The session particularly looked at how Iqbal and Faiz had been subjected to a certain kind of religion-ness as witnessed in some of their compositions.
An info-session on India’s National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being
In a highly engaging session with the students of Krea University, Ravi Chellam, who has been involved with wildlife research, education, outreach and conservation since the early 1980s, shared in great detail about rhe National Mission on Biodiversity and Human Well-Being — one of the nine national missions that have been approved by the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council. From elaborating the key features of this unique 10-year programme to sharing the interdisciplinary nature of the programmes and its structures, the information session was packed with insights, giving students an overview of the biodiversity and sustainable use in India.
Addressing the unpaid childcare crisis for women and girls
The learning session on ‘Addressing the unpaid childcare crisis for women and girls: How can we build better after COVID-19?’ held in December last year, as part of the learning series started by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, aimed at fostering learning, exchanging ideas and establishing connections across partners working on evidence, advocacy, policies, and interventions related to COVID-19’s social and economic impacts on women and girls. As part of the larger mandate, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), and IWWAGE at LEAD are collaborating to undertake an evidence review of the current childcare crisis and the road for post-COVID recovery and resilience. A paper is underway outlining the different pathways in which COVID-19 is impacting women’s care burden, with recommendations for policy solutions and measures that could be explored in different contexts by governments, the private sector, and other key development actors, with a focus on low- and middle-income countries (LMICs).
REBUILD: COVID-19 and women in the informal economy in India, Kenya and Uganda
Soumya Kapoor Mehta (Head – IWWAGE) was part of an expert panel organised by the International Center for Research on Women, sharing insights on the impact of COVID-19 on women in the informal sector in India. The panel discussion was part of an upcoming collaborative research, REBUILD, focuses on the current challenges faced by women in the informal economy under COVID-19, with the aim to understand better the social and economic impact of policy responses to the pandemic in India, Kenya and Uganda. View recording here.