Sacred Heart College is recognized by Mahatma Gandhi University as research centre for doctoral research in seven disciplines. Botany, Chemistry, Zoology, Physics ,Commerce, English, and Economics are the departments with faculty as research guides. As many as 116 Ph. D degrees have been awarded through these departments in the last five years. In addition, over 400 research articles have been published in national and international research journals by its research departments. Currently, 40 scholars are engaged in research in the college.

Botany: Since its inception in 1988, the centre has produced 23 Ph.Ds spreading over varied branches such as Biotechnology, Biochemistry, Cytology, Phycology, Phytochemistry, Microbiology, Tissue Culture, Environmental Science, Plant Taxonomy, Biodiversity, Pollination Biology, Ethnobotany, etc. The first patent from the college has also being filed and awarded from this research department.

Chemistry: The research activity is targeted mainly on Computational Quantum Chemistry, Molecular Simulations, Reaction Mechanism Studies, Material and Nano science and Drug Design.

Commerce: Research in the areas of Finance, Management, Human Resource Management, Marketing and Consumer Protection are offered at the research center.

Economics: The Research Centre of the Department of Economics is a hub of research scholars. The department offers research in areas like Banking, Agricultural economics, financial economics, insurance, Business economics, industrial economics, Environmental economics, fisheries economics, gender studies, public finance etc. The department has produces 53 PhDs and perhaps it is the largest number in a college in the state. The research wing has published more than 75 papers in leading research journals.

English: The Department of English became an approved Centre for Research in English Studies under Mahatma Gandhi University in 2019. There are two approved research guides who lead the research programme at the centre. Currently, there are five part-time and four full-time research scholars at the centre, who pursue their research leading to PhD. The thrust areas of research are: Medical Humanities/Health Humanities, Critical humanities, Cultural Studies, Disability studies, Refugee Narratives, Translation Studies, Para-Textual Studies and Political Cartoons.

Physics: There are three topics of research being pursued, currently: (i) space science (ii) materials science and (iii) computational physics.

Zoology: Advanced research in the fields such as Arachnology, Neurobiology of Ageing, Ant Taxonomy, Ichthyotaxonomy, Biodiversity and Endocrinology are the thrust areas of research. The Division of Arachnology is the only centre in south India devoted exclusively for the research on spiders and their kin.

Currently we have active researchers working in the following broad areas. You may access the departmental research pages via the links provided below.

Botany

Commerce

Chemistry

English

Economics

Physics

Zoology

There are several laboratories for various programmes offered at SH. Each laboratory is well-equipped to serve the requirements of the respective programmes. 

Details

Research Promotion Policy

Objectives

• To promote research as a process that develops intellectual capital and innovation by encouraging interdisciplinary research and joint and individual research projects covering more than one domain.
• To demonstrate quality by maintaining integrity and ethics in research.
• To integrate research and teaching through instructional and translational research.
• To provide appropriate coordination to all the research activities in the college by attuning the research with the vision and mission and college.
• To create an awareness among the students, teachers and research scholars about the different dimensions of Intellectual Property Rights such as patents, copyright etc and also how to respect the same.
• To provide a proper channel of information regarding the research opportunities offered by different academic, research, industrial or government establishments.
• To help faculties to avail leave for the purpose of research.
• To establish link between various authorised channels or agencies of funding for the purpose of research and provide information regarding the same to the students, scholars and faculty.
• To encourage and facilitate publication in various recognized National/International journals, participation and presentation of papers in various National/International seminars and conferences and participation in academic events like workshops among students, scholars and faculty.
• To facilitate community-oriented researches that would lead to the development of the society.
• To maintain high standards of ethics and integrity by observing that the researchers follow the code of ethics in research as regulated by the UGC and the University to which the college is affiliated (Mahatma Gandhi University).

Promotion of Research

The Undergraduate students of the college are supposed to submit a project work of practical use to the society by the end of their course. These projects can be individual or group works. The Postgraduate students are supposed to submit their dissertations in the final semester. These dissertations are expected to meet the standards of publication. There areseven research departments in the college and they stand as testimonial to the ardent research culture developed in the college over the years. The research processes are regularly reviewed and necessary measures are implemented for the betterment of the same. The research scholars are provided with lab and library facilities and software assistance.

The college has instituted two journals to offer a suitable platform for the faculty members, research scholars and students to publish their research findings and encourage them to bring to the notice of society issues of contemporary importance.

The college library provides software assistance to check plagiarism for both students and faculty members. In order to ensure the originality of the research projects or dissertations, the students are asked to avail a certificate from the library stating the percentage of plagiarism. Any research work that goes beyond the set limit of plagiarism shall not be evaluated. Also, the students are encouraged to present and publish original individual papers.

The college has always encouraged and supported its faculty members to obtain research degrees, by making all possible concessions, with the approval of the authorities concerned and within the framework of the institutional HR policy. The faculty members are constantly encouraged to engage in Minor and Major projects and attain post-doctoral and inter-disciplinary projects.

SHARE- The College has created a forum, Sacred Heart Advanced Research Endeavour (SHARE), to promote and understand research related advancements and application, headed by the Research Dean of the college. SHARE is an interdisciplinary forum, consisting of students, teachers and research scholars, which mentors research initiatives in the college. The forum provides the young researchers with active support through lectures, workshops, seminars and discussions on the frontier areas of research.

SHRI- In order to assist the staff and students with their research the college has introduced Sacred Heart Research Initiative (SHRI). SHRI ensures that the college sets apart an amount to facilitate faculty and student research that would leadto practical community involvement and publication.

Consultancy Policy

The Consultancy Policy of the college aims at extending the research and academic skills of the faculty to different layers of the society for practical purposes. These consultancy endeavours can either be voluntary or paid. 75 % of the income generated through consultancy programmes will go to the concerned faculty and the remaining amount will be used for the welfare of the staff. The college facilitates such activities by making necessary amendments and adjustments in the schedule in favour of the concerned faculty.

Read Research Policy

Consultancy Policy

Heartian Consultancy Catalogue

SHARE – Sacred Heart Advanced Research Endeavour

Sacred Heart Advanced Research Endeavour (SHARE) is an interdisciplinary forum created in 2010, consisting of students, teachers and research scholars, which monitors and mentors research initiatives in the college. It also promotes inter-disciplinary collaboration and sharing of available human and infrastructural resources. The forum not only provides a platform for young researchers to hone their aptitude but also provides them active support through organizing talks, workshops, seminars and discussions on frontier areas of research, fund generation, consultancy work and patenting. The forum also acts as a platform for research guides to share their expertise and experiences and provide mutual help to produce high quality research output. The forum encourages a much-needed culture of teamwork among researchers. It also supervises the allocation of seed money for research. The forum organizes Annual Science Congress involving the presentations of the research scholars of the research centres in the college and project findings of various PG programmes. This platform is used for the review of the progress of the ongoing major and minor research projects of the college. It is also used as a platform to prepare the half-yearly report of the research scholars of various research centres of the college, which is a mandatory requirement of MG University. The activities of SHARE are coordinated by the Dean of Research and supported by the Deans of Science and Humanities.

Objectives

• Coordinate the research projects of students by preparing guidelines for UG and PG research projects.
• Give necessary guidance and support to the research supervisors of various departments.
• Assist researchers to patent their inventions/products.
• Facilitate funding through the seed-money corpus of the college
• Provide necessary assistance to those who apply for minor and major research projects funded by external agencies.
  

Notification 

Sacred Heart Research Endeavour (SHARE) invites applications for major research project proposals (2.5 lakhs) for 2 years and minor research proposals (Rs.50000) for 1 year to be carried out in core areas of Science, Arts, Humanities and Socials Sciences. All the permanent faculty members, both aided and self-financing, having a minimum service of one (1) year are encouraged to apply. Please submit the application to IQAC, both hard copy (2 copies) and soft copy via e-mail, in the prescribed format attached on or before 10.02.2022.
Number of Major Projects: 2 (Rs 250000/- each)
Number of Minor Projects: 5 (Rs 50000/- each)

Prescribed Format

SHRI – Sacred Heart Research Initiatives

This is a programme of SHARE, supported by PTA-SWT. This is to encourage research among the staff and the students. Proposals are invited and scrutinized, and as per the annual budgetary provisions, funds are allocated for various research projects. The amount is given on condition that the successful completion of the project should lead to a publication at least in a national level journal.

DR.M.S FRANCIS

TINTU JOSE MANICKETH