Chennai: Indian Institute of Technology-Madras has launched the ‘Indian Network for Memory Studies’ (INMS), the first formal national network in the field of Memory Studies in India and Asia, which has been formed under the aegis of the international Memory Studies Association (MSA), Amsterdam.
The INMS will coordinate complex engagements with ‘memory’ from different institutes including cultural studies centres as well as neuroscience laboratories and industry research on AI and related fields.
The Network was inaugurated virtually in a recent event witnessed by around 600 participants from India, Iraq, Finland, France, Germany, Mauritius, Sweden, U.K., and the US.
The Indian Network for Memory Studies is founded by Dr. Avishek Parui and Dr. Merin Simi Raj, Assistant Professors (English), Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, IIT Madras, who will also be its Chairpersons.
Dr Parui is also a nominated member of the Advisory Board of the International Memory Studies Association. The Indian Network for Memory Studies has emerged from the Centre for Memory Studies, IIT Madras, which has been funded by the Ministry of Education, Government of India. The other funding to the current projects in this research cluster comes from XR Lab, TCS Chennai, and Anglo-Ink, Chennai.
Addressing the inaugural event, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi, Director, IIT Madras, said, “I wish this effort a speedy success. This Network has already built a commendable critical mass which reflects its relevance and reach Success in this case will be to get the activities going, establish lot of collaborations, conferences, workshops and form a community of people working in this field. For India, memory studies can be very important, for a lot of historical developments are captured only in memories and not on documentation.”
Further, Prof. Bhaskar Ramamurthi said, “The fact that there are so many participants from India too has shown that this network has not come a day too soon. There is enough work going on in India to warrant the creation of such a Network. There is a good base for creating this network in India and it can plug into the huge global network.”