Research visit by Prof. Hossain to the Mrinalini Datta Mohavidyapith, Kolkata, India!

 

To strengthen academic collaboration between institutions in India and Finland, prof. Kamrul Hossain has conducted a research visit to the Mrinalini Datta Mohavidyapith – an affiliated college under the West Bengal State University, Kolkata. The visit took place from 15-22 June 2023. The aim of the visit included academic networking, brainstorming project idea; building a framework for a collaborative project; and speaking at an International conference. Although the primary location of the mobility has been the Mrinalini Datta Mohavidyapith, several networking meetings were held, including a meeting at the Department of Anthropology, West Bengal State University, to seek opportunities for enhancing academic and institutional collaboration.

The visit culminated in several concrete actions to develop a sustainable collaboration between scholars from India and Finland. One such initiative has been creating a framework for a possible project having several Indian Universities on board, where the University of Lapland and its Arctic Centre will act as a collaborative partner. The proposed project aims to organize an International conference in Arunachal Pradesh in 2024, with the Dera-natung government college as the conference host. The Conference would bring social science perspectives into climate change discussions, highlighting the consequence in the Eastern Himalayan region while comparing with the Arctic. Several funding sources have been identified, including the Indian research council. The partners will work on the funding application to submit by September 30, 2023.

Another concrete outcome of the visit was to deliver a speech as an invited speaker at an International conference on June 19, 2023, organized by the Mrinalini Datta Mohavidyapith in collaboration with Rishi Bankim Chandra College, Noihati. The conference title was "Intellectual Property Rights: Issues and Challenges." At the Conference, prof. Hossain spoke on protecting Indigenous peoples' Traditional Knowledge, highlighting the challenges within the existing IPR regime. He suggested the interplay of traditional knowledge within the framework of biodiversity and human rights regimes, concluding that a meaningful implementation of human rights can be an avenue for protecting indigenous peoples' traditional knowledge rights as part of a right to profess and practice culture.