VIT-AP University, in collaboration with Cambridge University Press as a knowledge partner, is organising Athena — An Annual International Conference of VIT-AP School of Social Sciences and Humanities (VISH) virtually. The two-day conference commenced on December 11.
The conference was inaugurated by Dr Lajwanti Naidu, Assistant Director (Strategy), Andhra Pradesh Tourism Authority, in the presence of VIT Founder and Chancellor Dr G Viswanathan.
During her address on Day 1 of the conference, Lajwanti Naidu expressed that the need to restructure lives and careers post-COVID is a challenge for any scale of organisation. She praised VIT-AP for taking a commendable step for the future by introducing a programme in Humanities — BA-MA in Public Services — which include courses on Sociology, Anthropology, Geography, Psychology, International Relations, History and Economics. "Teaching these courses will make the students better human beings," she added.
Vice-Chancellor Dr SV Kota Reddy, in his speech, said that scholars and faculty members from various reputed institutions will be presenting research papers on the theme 'Reimagining the Paradigm of Humanities and Social Sciences in the Post-COVID World'. Dr G Viswanathan advised the students that they need to know economics, history, management and policy besides Science and Technology.
International and national guest speakers, including Professor Stanley Brunn, Professor Emeritus, Department of Geography, University of Kentucky, USA, Dr Gavin Bui, Associate Professor of Applied Linguistics, Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, Wieke Vink (activist) Co-Founder of Shape Your Europe (SYE), Dr Haripriya Narasimhan, Associate Professor of Anthropology, IIT Hyderabad and Dr Vikas Kumar, Associate Professor of Economics, Azim Premji University, Bengaluru, are participating in the conference.
