Research Activities FY 2019-20

Programme of Research Projects Undertaken in 2019-20

  • Transformational Global Leadership
    • In 2018 MSS prepared a research paper and a proposal in association with WAAS for a project in collaboration with the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) to develop strategies to fill the global leadership vacuum. The project was approved and was inaugurated during a high-level meeting held at Baku, Azerbaijan titled in April 2019 entitled “Global Leadership in the 21st century.”
    • This project was jointly launched by WAAS and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG) in June 2019 to accelerate progress on pressing challenges and emerging opportunities, and accelerate implementation of the SDGs. This multistakeholder, multi-sectoral project will culminate in a major conference at UNOG on October 27-28, 2020 on the occasion of the UN’s 75th anniversary celebration, followed by a final report to the UN, development of university level courses and media outreach strategies. MSS is a core partner in this project.
    • In November 2019 MSS participated in two executive briefings at UNOG for UN agencies, UN member states and leading international NGOs. In December MSS collaborated in launching an online survey of these agencies and other collaborating partners in order to identify fundamental principles and effective strategies that can be applied to consciously accelerate the process of global social transformation. MSS staff have been providing administrative and research support for the project.
    • On March 5-7, 2020, MSS participated in the 2nd World Sustainable Development Forum (WSDF) at Durango, Mexico. A meeting with 35 representatives of international youth groups, including Fridays for the Future, enabled WAAS to enlist the active participation of youth groups in GL-21.
    • Part I of an online roundtable on “Catalyzing Rapid Social Transformation” was held electronically on March 11, 2020 over a webinar to discuss topics included in the Dubrovnik Roundtable originally scheduled on March 8 evening to March 11 afternoon and subsequently postponed due to the Corona Virus threat. A second online meeting, Part II, has also been proposed at a later date to cover other topics of the original agenda. MSS presented at the conference.
    • Publications: An article titled “Global Leadership in the 21st Century” [1] by Garry Jacobs, Donato Kiniger-Passigli and David Chikvaidze was published in the May 2019 issue of Cadmus Journal.
  • MSS Staff:
    • Chitra Krishnamoorthy – Research on Landmines and Jody Williams and history of leadership in human rights movement
    • Avanthikaa Subramanian– History of the Environmental Movement
    • Ranjani Ravi—Role of WHO
    • Janani Ramanathan—Role of Civil Society and Youth Movements
    • Subiksha Senthil—Korean Popular Culture, Oral Rehydration Solution and Jonas Salk.
    • Vani Senthil – study of international organizations trying to create a framework to achieve the SDGs
    • Vasugi Balaji, Hariny Narayan and Shashini Kumar—Administrative assistance, organisation of online videoconferencing and website management.
  • Accelerating India’s Economic Development 
    • MSS is collaborating with the Global Institute of Integral Management Studies (GIIMS), Kerala, and Ramesh Kumar, an entrepreneur, to develop a comprehensive plan to accelerate India’s economic development. The project, termed “Double It,” will first do a comprehensive research study of Indian companies that have exponentially increased their income and explore the ways and methods through which they have accomplished, which may later be published as a book.
    • The Double It! Executive Program is designed to support the Prime Minister’s objective of accelerating India’s economic growth and double India’s GDP as a complement and supplement to policy changes designed to stimulate investment, improve the business climate and encourage establishment of new enterprises.
    • The Foundation Program of the project was held at Taj Vivanta in New Delhi on 18-19, February 2019. Garry Jacobs is Project Leader and Chief Consultant of the Project. Four other MSS Staff participated in the event.
    • Publication: Garry Jacobs’ interview appeared in the Economic Times on January 8, 2020 and was titled “Rapid Social Transformation is Key to Sustainable Growth.”
  • MSS Staff:
    • Janani Ramanathan—Project leader
    • Avanthikaa Subramaniam and Chitra Krishnamoorthy—research on Indian companies that have doubled profits over the last few years
  • Psychological History of the World
    • This major research project will trace the underlying movement of ideas, values, aspirations and social forces that propelled various movements and events in history based on the social evolutionary perspective developed by Sri Aurobindo.  Events will be looked into with a telescopic view of the advance of human civilization and culture from its origins in the distant past to the emergence of city-states, regional kingdoms, empires, nations and the global community. The project is expected to provide insights into the progressive evolution of human consciousness expressing through different stages of transition from physicality to mentality.
    • Weekly web meetings are being held regularly to trace the evolution of the Indian Independence Movement to its social, cultural and psychological origins.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Vidya Rangan—Project Director – research on Sri Aurobindo’s Foundations of Indian Culture
      • Saraswathi Mukkai—research on Indian History and study of Freedom at Midnight
      • Ranjani Ravi—research of The Human Cycle by Sri Aurobindo and other earlier historical writings
      • Garry Jacobs – research on Sri Aurobindo’s Ideal of Human Unity
  • Theory of the Firm
    • MSS Staff contributed a chapter titled “Transdisciplinary social theory of the firm” for a book on the Theory of the firm in January 2020. It examines the theory of the firm from the perspective of society and looks for a theory that is consistent with the fundamental principles of social reality. It views the firm from the perspective of an integrated transdisciplinary science of society. It examines the relationship between the individual firm, business community and the wider society, and considers the concept of value from the perspective of its social impact and overall benefit to human wellbeing. The book is yet to be published.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Garry Jacobs— Primary author of the chapter
      • Ranjani Ravi—Research on the social theory of the firm
  • Future Capital Initiative
    • The Future Capital initiative is focused on restoring the right relationship between consciousness and capital, as creative force and constructive resource. The project was initiated in collaboration with the World Academy of Art and Science, United Nations Office for Partnerships and UNCTAD.
    • A principal objective of FCI is to support and accelerate existing transformation initiatives while also identifying and promoting new and emergent initiatives aimed at improving the quality and speed of implementation of the UN SDGs. MSS staff are represented on the FCI organising committee.
    • The inaugural gathering of 50 founding members of the Future Capital Initiative was held at the United Nations in New York, September 12–13, 2019, in collaboration with WAAS, the UN Office for Partnerships, and the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). MSS staff was part of the invite-only event.
    • A Roundtable organised by WAAS on “Future Capital: Financing Global Development” was held at The World Bank, Washington D.C. on September 16-17, 2019, in which MSS staff participated.
    • MSS staff participated in a roundtable discussion at the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik, Croatia on November 18-20, 2019 to explore the psychological and social foundations of money, the financial linkage between economic and political equality, and the utilization of money as an instrument for either concentration of power or the wellbeing of all.
    • MSS staff have started collaboration a project titled “The TAO of Finance” which seeks to study proposals related to development of a cryptocurrency using Distributed Ledger Technology to finance investments needed to achieve the UN SDGs. 
    • MSS Staff:
      • Garry Jacobs – Project Director
      • Ranjani Ravi– Study of cryptocurrencies and how they could be used to achieve SDGs
      • Chitra Krishnamoorthy— Study of the evolution of banking and finance
  • Science, Technology and Society
    • WAAS is facilitating the development of a new field of Symbiotic System Science in collaboration with IEEE to promote the development and application of advanced technologies in a harmonious manner that supports human-centric economic and social growth and wellbeing. MSS staff provide research and administrative assistance to the project.
    • The 18th International Conference on Cognitive Informatics and Cognitive Computing (IEEE ICCI*CC 2019) was held at Politecnico di Milano University, Italy on July 23-25, 2019, in which MSS Staff presented a paper. MSS also provided organisational assistance for the event in collaboration with IEEE.
    • Following this event, another conference was organised by the Politecnico di Bari University, Bari, Italy, on October 6-9, 2019 on the theme “Systems, Man, and Cybernetics.” MSS staff presented a paper at the conference.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Garry Jacobs – Project leader
      • Ranjani Ravi and Janani Ramanathan– Study of Cognitive Computing
      • Ranganayaki Somaskandan—Website administration and conference management
  • Future of Education in the 21st Century
    • MSS is collaborating with World University Consortium on a research project to evolve a new model for higher education that more effectively prepares youth for participation in the highly competitive work environment and increasingly complex social environment of the 21st century. The research involves development of methods to shift the emphasis from rote memorization to understanding and independent thinking, from abstract theory to contextualized knowledge, from passive to active pedagogy, from fragmented disciplinary to transdisciplinary perspectives, from competitive to cooperative learning environment, from repetitive to creative educational activities.
    • Building on a breakthrough conference at the University of California, Berkeley, in 2013 and the Future Education Conference at the University of Roma TRE, in Rome, Italy, in November 2017, the World Academy of Art and Science (WAAS) and the World University Consortium (WUC) joined hands with the Ministry of Education of Brazil, UNESCO and Fundação and Faculdade CESGRANRIO to conduct the “Third International Conference on Future Education–Latin American Perspectives” to identify practical measures to meet the needs and aspirations of major stakeholders – youth, students, teachers, employers, workers, research institutions, universities, governments and civil society. The event was conducted on November 12-14, 2018 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in which MSS staff participated and presented papers.
    • MSS staff participated and presented at the conference titled “Educating for the future” organised by the Altius Society, UK. The conference was held in September 2018 at Oxford. 
    • On October 4-6, 2019, the 6th Altius Conference gathered eminent scientists, politicians, social thinkers and students at the Oxford Union under the title “Organizing Society for the 21st Century”. MSS staff participated in the event.
    • The 4th International Conference on Future Education was organized in Belgrade, Serbia from November 11-13, 2019. It examined effective strategies and policies required to accelerate a paradigm change in education. MSS staff presented at the conference.
    • The Society’s Primrose School has been widely recognized as one of the most advanced institutions for childhood education in Pondicherry and one of the pioneers in early childhood education in India. MSS staff have been conducting extensive research on the education system needed for the 21st century to meet the challenges the world today, with especial focus on evolving new methods of pedagogy. The current paradigm is more lecture-centric and teacher-oriented. MSS staff, through new pedagogical methods, have been exploring how the 21st century needs new ways of teaching in which the teacher is merely the facilitator and how education should become more student-centered. To achieve this, smartboards were installed in all classes at the school to aid students’ learning. MSS research staff have also been helping teachers in higher grades create flashcards.
    • Publications: An article titled “All the Education We Need” by Janani Ramanathan was published in the October 2019 issue of Cadmus Journal [3]. Garry Jacobs was interviewed by Cord Magazine in December 2019 and the interview was published under the title “Stop Imitating And Start Innovating” [4] on 20 December, 2019. A paper by Garry Jacobs and Janani Ramanathan, co-authored with Tim O’Riordan and Olivia Bina, has been accepted for publication in the June 2020 issue of the international journal Environment: Science and Policy for Sustainable Development.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Janani Ramanathan – Project leader – Study of new methods of pedagogy in higher education
      • M. Chandrasekaran — www.wunicon.org website design and development and survey of online education courses
      • Vani Senthil – Flashcards research and coordination with the teachers
      • Vasugi Balaji – early childhood education
      • Avanthikaa Subramanian – Teacher training programme design
      • Ranganayaki Somaskandan – www.wunicon.org website development
      • Srimathi Venkatasubramanian – Facebook site development
  • Democracy, Peace and Global Governance
    • MSS continued its research project on the future of democracy and global governance in 2019-2020. A preliminary report on the Society’s research on political economy, neoliberalism and democracy was presented at an international conference at Kyung Hee University in Seoul, Korea on September 21, 2017 in which Irina Bokova, former Director General of Unesco was also a speaker.
    • A three-day roundtable on Future of Democracy was conducted at the Inter-University Centre, Dubrovnik on April 3-5, 2018 by WAAS and World University Consortium in collaboration with Dag Hammarskjold University College of International Relations and Diplomacy (Croatia), Mother’s Service Society (India) and the Person-Centered Approach Institute (Italy).
    • On May 28-29, 2018 the Parliament of Georgia hosted an International Conference in Tbilisi “2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development—Exploring challenges and lessons learnt for the next level of ambitious implementation”. Conference participants included nine ministers and senior officials of the Government of Georgia, the regional representatives of UNDP and World Bank, representatives of OECD, the Inter-Parliamentary Union, and other international experts. MSS staff presented at the event.
    • The Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization, a WAAS Centre of Excellence, organized an exploratory workshop in good governance in the Levant at Bucharest on October 29-30, 2018. The meeting brought together international and national members of the Institute’s Scientific Council who are WAAS Fellows together with external experts and research staff of the Institute. MSS was represented by Garry Jacobs who presented a paper and served on a panel at the event.
    • Two roundtables on “Governance & Law: Challenges & Opportunities” and “Future of Democracy: Challenges & Opportunities” were held on November 5-6, 2018 and November 7-9, 2019 at the World Bank in Washington D. C and Ethical Markets Media, in St, Augustine, Florida respectively. The roundtables explored the foundations of democratic governance, the challenges confronting democracies today, the impact of globalization and neoliberalism on democratic societies and politics, the continued struggle over the distribution of power and rights in modern societies, the challenges posed by technological advances and social media, the impact of resurgent nationalism and populism, proven remedies and alternative approaches available to enhance the institution’s effectiveness and reinforce underlying democratic principle, and evolutionary alternatives that might gradually supplant the forms of democracy prevalent today. MSS staff presented at the roundtables co-organized by WAAS and WUC.
    • WAAS collaborated with the Inter-Parliamentary Coalition for Global Ethics (Global Institute and Alliance for Peace Beyond Borders) and the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization (ISACCL) and conducted on March 7-9, 2019, a High Level Forum in the Italian Senate in Rome on the theme “The Levant Initiative for World Peace”. MSS staff spoke at the event.
    • The Kopaonik Business Forum, held on March 3–6, 2019 at the Kopaonik Mountain, in the central part of Serbia, was the largest annual meeting of businessmen, economists, experts, researchers, scholars, politicians and diplomats in Southeastern Europe. This year, its topic was “Serbia Ten Years after the Great Recession: The Imperative for the Robust Growth.” The organizer of the event was the Serbian Association of Economists. Garry Jacobs delivered a keynote address based on the research findings of MSS on social and economic development.
    • Commemorating the 30th anniversary of the end of the Cold War, the Institute for Advanced Studies in Levant Culture and Civilization (ISACCL), in partnership with the Romanian Foundation for Democracy and with the support of the Romanian Government and the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, organized the International Conference on “30 years since the Collapse of Communism in Eastern Europe: The Role of Cultural Diplomacy in Approaching Protracted Conflicts”, in Bucharest in April 2019. MSS staff participated in the event.
    • On June 4-6, 2019 the Russian Academy of Sciences, the Russian Ministry of Science and Higher Education and Lomonosov Moscow State University in collaboration with UNESCO conducted an international conference on “Topical Issues of global studies: Russia in the Globalizing World.” MSS staff participated in the event.
    • Publications: A paper titled “Ideas that Changed the World” [5] by Ashok Natarajan was published in Cadmus Journal Volume 3 Issue 6 in May 2019. “Beyond the Nation-State: Failed Strategies and Future Possibilities for Global Governance and Human Wellbeing” [6] by Garry Jacobs was published in the October 2019 issue of Cadmus Journal. “Advantages and Disadvantages of Global Unity & Disunity” [7] by Ashok Natarajan was published in the October 2019 issue of Cadmus Journal.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Latha Chandrasekaran – history of democracy
      • Shashini Kumar—study of the future of the United Nations
      • Hariny Narayan—research on evolution of peace
  • Business Management
    • MSS staff have been researching on the process of entrepreneurship and business success to identify the social, psychological, technological and organization factors responsible for their success. MSS will continue collaborating with the Global Institute for Integral Management Studies, Kochi, Kerala to develop a new curriculum for teaching principles of business management. MSS staff will continue to conduct training programs for GIIMS faculty and for Sainath Technologies, an environmental protection firm.
    • MSS staff was invited to deliver a two week MBA level credit course on Organizational Theory at Caucasus University, Georgia in November-December 2018. This course examined the fundamental principles, vital processes and effective power of organization applicable to all fields of activity with emphasis on business and economy and all levels of life from the individual enterprise to the economy, society and global community. It drew on cases studies from business, history, biography and literature to explore the sources of the energy, efficiency, power, innovation and creativity that enable organizations to multiply results and self-multiply themselves. It was designed to help students from different backgrounds, disciplines and levels of experience understand the principles and process of growth, innovation and creativity that govern all human activities.
    • The World Academy of Art and Science, in collaboration with the Club of Rome, organised a two day roundtable on March 21-22, 2019 at the Inter University Center, Dubrovnik, Italy, on “Emerging New Civilization Initiative,” a meeting of concerned and committed individuals and organizations to share insights and explore pathways to a new civilization initiative that recognizes the systemic interconnectedness of people, nations, sectors, activities, challenges, forces and consequences presiding over global development and seeks solutions and processes that transcend the limitations of the current paradigm and giving shape to pathways toward a better future for humanity. MSS staff participated in the event.
    • MSS staff will also teach post-graduate MBA students at the Caucasus University, Georgia, a 32-hour course spread over 11 sessions from May 2020-July 2020 on the Theory of Organization. 4 MSS staff will be involved.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Garry Jacobs – Project Director
      • Vani Senthil – Research on organizational theory
      • Janani Ramanathan—Curriculum designer for PG level course on business management
  • Mind, Thinking & Creativity
    • MSS is collaborating with WAAS and WUC to create a comprehensive outline on Mind. The research involves identifying different systems of thinking, the nature of the human Mind and its evolution, the limits to thinking and rationality etc. MSS staff will continue research on the nature and evolution of mind and their role in human and social evolution. A research team is working on designing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on the theme based on the comprehensive outline.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Garry Jacobs – Project Leader
      • Avanthikaa Subramanian – Study on Superstitions
      • M. Chandrasekaran – Sri Aurobindo’s insights into the nature of mind
      • Subiksha Senthil – study of Ideas in the 21st century
      • Shashini Kumar—Designing MOOC based on the outline
  • Human Character, Life and Social Evolution in Pride & Prejudice
    • The Society continued its research on social evolution and human character in Jane Austen’s Pride & Prejudice.
    • MSS Staff:
      • Janani Ramanathan– major responsibility for research on Jane Austen and her novel, developing content for the websites, editing of the commentary for publication, delivery of seminars and correspondence with English Literature faculty.
      • M. Chandrasekaran – Sri Aurobindo’s contribution to literary criticism, psychology and relevance to life
      • Shashini Kumar – editing of audio seminar recordings and hosting of web content

Srimathi Venkatasubramaniam and Hariny Narayan – identification and preparation of video clippings, dubbing of the movie into Tamil for use during lectures and seminars.