Amartya Sen Research Centre (ASRC)

With the inauguration of the Amartya Sen Research Centre in 2022, located at IB 184, Sector III, Salt Lake, Kolkata 700106, the Trust envisages to carry forward research activities and socially-oriented public action inspired by the vision and seminal contributions of Prof. Amartya Sen, its Chairman. The Centre holds on to the idea that improvement of the quality of people’s lives requires not only governmental and policy actions, but also, crucially, broader public action by ‘ordinary’ citizens. Hence, debate, discussion, and active collaboration with some key members of the public, namely, schoolteachers, parents, students, health workers, grassroots bureaucracy, midday meal workers, the local youth and so on constitute some of the Centre’s regular activities.

Furthermore, organizing training workshops on various socially relevant issues in order to equip young scholars with capabilities to pursue research-informed action constitutes one of the Centre’s core activities. The Centre is slated to evolve as a vibrant space for academia and culture and has started to host various national and international seminars, conferences, workshops and meetings.

The ASRC is also equipped to

– provide a space for hosting public discussions, training-sessions, workshops, book release programmes, and screening of documentaries

– bring together schoolteachers and grassroots healthcare and preschool workers who can interact with the research-teams to gather and develop instructional and informational resources

– utilize its auditorium for programmes by Pratichi and other socially oriented organizations, where large audiences could listen to and interact with users, civil society actors, scholars, researchers, writers and others from the arts and academia

– house a training hub for hands-on skills formation on solar energy harvesting at the community and grassroots levels