Page 11 - SAU Connect December 2019

The Quarterly Newsletter of South Asian University | Volume 4 Issue 2 December 2019

Workshop on India and the Sovereignty Principle

New Delhi (04.11.2019) SAU DIR News: The
Department of International Relations,
Faculty of Social Sciences, in
collaboration with Carnegie India,
organized a one-day workshop on "India
and the Sovereignty Principle" on 4th
November, 2019 at the South Asian
University. The workshop sought to
understand the salience of the
sovereignty principle for India at a time
when India's capabilities have been on
an upward trajectory. Did enhancement
in India's power lead to changes in the
way India has approached the sovereignty principle in the past? To answer this question, three topics –
diplomacy, hard power, and technology – were used as lenses to understand elements of continuity and
change in the sovereignty principle. DR. A.V.S. Ramesh Chandra, Acting President, SAU, Professor Sanjay
Chaturvedi, Dean, Faculty of Social Sciences, SAU, Dr. Rudra Chaudhuri, Director, Carnegie India, and Dr.
Nabarun Roy presented a series of introductory remarks. The Keynote Address was delivered by
Ambassador T.C.A. Raghavan, Director General of the Indian Council of World Affairs. Presentations were
made by Dr. Karthik Nachiappan (NUS, Singapore), Dr. Jayashree Vivekanandan (SAU), Dr. Raphaelle
Khan (Institute of Strategic Research, Paris), Dr. Nabarun Roy (SAU), Dr. Abhijnan Rej (Independent
Researcher), Raghuveer Nidumolu and Rudra Chaudhuri (Carnegie India), Arun Mohan Sukumar
(Observer Research Foundation), and Tarunima Prabhakar (Independent Researcher). The workshop
was convened by Dr. Nabarun Roy, Department of International Relations, SAU.

Conference on Humour and Performance of Power

Colombo, Sri Lanka (27 & 28.06.2019) SAU Sociology News: The Department of Sociology, South Asian
University and the International Centre for Ethnic Studies, Colombo in association with Open Society , ,
Foundation, Society and Culture in South Asia and Dakshin: South Asia Research Collective organized a ,
two day international conference on 27 and 28 June 2019 Colombo, Sri Lanka. The conference, focused in
on the theme 'Humour and the Performance of Power in South Asia: Anxiety, Laughter and Politics in
Unstable Times,' and presented 16 research papers based on work in Sri Lanka, India and Bangladesh.
Conference travel was partially supported by the India Sri Lanka Foundation. The conference also saw the
participation of a number of SAU graduate students. The Sri Lanka launch of the book, Sociology and Social
Anthropology in South Asia: Histories and Practices edited by Ravi Kumar, Dev Nath Pathak and Sasanka
Perera was also held during the conference , followed by a panel discussion with the participation of Sri
Lankan anthropologist Malathi De Alwis, Delhi-based sociologist Rashi Bhargava and SAU's Dev Nath
Pathak. The discussion was chaired by Mario Gomez, ICES's Executive Director. Professor Sasanka Perera
coordinated the conference.

Conference on Soft Computing
Liverpool, UK (2-4.11.2019) SAU FMCS News: 9th International Conference on Soft Computing for Problem
Solving (SocProS 2019), was held at Liverpool Hope University, UK during September 02-04, 2019. The
conference was jointly organized by Dr. Jagdish Chand Bansal, South Asian University Delhi, India,
Professor Atulya Nagar, Liverpool Hope University UK and Professor Kusum Deep, Indian Institute of
Technology Roorkee, India. The conference was attended by more than 80 researchers from various
countries of the world.

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