I routinely meet very happy faculty during my visits to institutions. There is warmth, affection and an eagerness to engage. In universities and colleges where I have been associated for long, I am welcomed almost like a good friend. Seminars, talks and workshops flow beautifully in an atmosphere of learning. While delivering a session, whenever I’m required to draw faculty focus to ‘research’ a few smiles disappear. I emphasise research a little more, and some faces begin to look unfamiliar. Add research targets, and then, I am a kind of villain! I begin to wonder: where did all those flowers and beautiful smiles disappear?
Then, I change the narrative slightly. I say, ‘research need not be forced upon everyone and perhaps it should be pursued only by those with the inclination, curiosity and mindset for it’. I suddenly find happiness miraculously return 🙂 Almost like weary travellers crossing hot sand dunes suddenly spotting water in the distance!
But why does research make so many faculty uncomfortable? The answer may be simpler than we think. Many in their student life have never experienced an environment that kindled curiosity. As students, they learnt to reproduce knowledge and score marks, not necessarily to question it. They were rarely encouraged to ask “Why?”, “Why not?” or “Can there be a better way?”
They may not have found a teacher who lit that spark, a mentor who showed the way, or an ecosystem that allowed them to experiment, tinker, fail and try again. Strong fundamentals may never have developed into the confidence to explore the unknown. Then, one day, they become teachers themselves, and are suddenly expected to innovate, publish and research.
No wonder research can appear like a snake in the grass, waiting to hiss! The irony is that the cycle then repeats itself. A teacher who has never experienced the excitement of discovery may struggle to create that excitement in the next generation. That is the cycle we must break.
Research need not begin with a great discovery or a high-impact publication. It can begin with a small problem agitating and pushing you to innovate. The more one tastes research success, more it drives to cross the next boundary. If an impactful researcher, set an example for others. For example, VC CVRU Khandwa-Dr Arun Joshi leads the research in his university and thereby the entire faculty environment in the university is completely research-charged.
What is the worst that can happen? You may not make a headway. So what?
But imagine if you succeeded even once in your research project. That one success can change your confidence, your teaching and perhaps the direction of your professional life. You may discover that research was never the devil you feared. It was simply a world you had never been properly introduced to. None of your fault.
-Prof JR Sharma: Mentor to Universities
