Monmouth University Honors School student Lenien Jamir, and Rekha Datta, Ph.D., professor of Political Science and Freed Endowed Chair in Social Services, recently presented a co-authored paper at the Interdisciplinary International Conference on Morality, Spirituality, Culture, and Society: East and West, in Kolkata, India. Jamir, a junior political science and sociology student, was the only undergraduate student presenter at the conference.
Following the presentation of their paper, “Confluence and Anomaly of East-West Perspectives on Development: The Advent of Tata Steel on Local and Adivasi (Indigenous) Communities in India,” Datta and Jamir received an invitation publish their piece as part of a peer-reviewed collection. Their work is currently undergoing revisions for an edited volume to be published by an international academic publisher.
“Writing this paper was an amazing experience. It was my first time traveling to an international conference and it did not disappoint. I had the opportunity to meet many other academics from different parts of the world,” Jamir said.
Datta and Jamir have collaborated on a student-faculty research project before their international presentation. In 2022, Jamir worked alongside Datta on a similar project through the Provost’s Summer Scholars Program. Jamir presented their work last November at the National Collegiate Honors Council International Conference and is scheduled to present during the University’s Student Scholarship Week, from April 17-23.
“I love doing projects like these and collaborating with my professors—it’s an experience you cannot get in a classroom and you learn so much. I’m very grateful to Monmouth for encouraging an environment where everybody feels welcomed, especially in the political science and sociology department. All of the professors genuinely want students to succeed and are always there to help and listen. This encourages us to create relationships with them, which leads to conversations like the one I had with Professor Datta, which also led to the conference,” Jamir said.
