Research Collaboration for Young Scholars of Indian Education: Case Study of a Global Conclave

The aim of the first "Global Conclave of Young Scholars of Indian Education" held in New Delhi in 2011 was to help build bridges for research collaboration primarily for young scholars of Indian education to collaborate with their partners across borders. This paper draws on an "intrinsic case study" of this "global conclave". Historically, established scholars from the global North or Western countries have initiated partnerships for research collaboration with individual scholars in the global South or Eastern countries, often for data mining or to test out theories. Within this context of unequal power relations in research collaborations, the concept note of the "global conclave" was a bold attempt by the organizers to create a forum for young scholars of Indian Education to collaborate for research across borders. However, based on the case study, this paper identifies several issues with regards to specific social, academic and institutional culture within India which might actually cause barriers to building bridges for research collaboration, both at the individual level and institutional level. The success of research collaborations can be discussed in terms of solidarity, emotional energy, trust, agency, power, and ethical praxis. Each of these aspects of successful collaboration could be adversely affected because of the differences in social, academic and institutional cultural practices among scholars within India compared with their counterparts abroad. Therefore, this paper suggests further critical inquiry into each of the issues identified as potential barriers for successful research collaboration in order to improve the quality of research collaborations in the future.