Humans in Education

When I moved from India to the northern countries as a student, it taught me lots of things. The most valuable thing I have learned and enjoyed is adopting and embracing the local culture as well as being open to other cultures with an open mind and curiosity. Here, I would like to mention a few key advantages. At the same time, we can always maintain a balance between new cultures and retain elements of our own culture. Trust me, this blending is super amazing, well-rounded, and will enrich your experience.

🌍 Experiencing different cultures can broaden your perspective and challenge your beliefs, which can lead to personal growth. It encourages adaptability, resilience, and the ability to thrive in various environments.

🌏 Embracing different cultures promotes a sense of global citizenship in us! It fosters an understanding of interconnectedness and the importance of collaboration and cooperation on a global scale.

🌎 Understanding and respecting the customs and traditions of the country shows cultural sensitivity. This is not only important for personal relationships but also to navigate various social and professional situations.

(Pic. : From our French language class with our teacher Ezabelle who loves Indian Paratha too much!)

Disappearance of Core Engineering Branches:

A few months ago, We heard the news that AICTE lifted a moratorium to remove the imbalance between core engineering and emerging technical disciplines. Many engineering institutes have completely removed core branches or limited the seats.

By shunning core engineering branches, aren’t we compromising our workforce on technological innovation, manufacturing, and infrastructure, energy and environment, regulatory, and safety concerns? Isn't it more crucial for us to develop our core engineering industries as a developing nation rather than turning into just a service hub? As Prof. Bhuvnaswari said, it is like having all the side dishes like dal, vegetables, sambar, and rasam, and not having rice or roti (main dish).

While specialized and emerging fields within engineering may gain prominence, I believe the core engineering branches are still foundational and versatile, making them essential in areas of technology and industry. With time, the core disciplines have continued to adapt to the changes and integrate new technologies, ensuring their relevance for the foreseeable future.

Many times, I receive numerous inquiries from fellow students seeking information about pursuing a Ph.D. in France. Therefore, I am sharing my insights and experiences to address their queries. These are the five key things from my experience. They can be different for different people.

Here are five key points about pursuing a Ph.D. in France:

1️⃣ In France, a PhD is an employment. It's not a studentship:
In France, Ph.D. students are considered employees (often referred to as a "contrat doctoral" or "allocation de recherche.") when they receive a specific type of funding or salary. This employment status can come with various benefits and responsibilities, as mentioned earlier, including taxation, social security contributions, and the ability to count it as work experience.

2️⃣ Duration and Structure:
Ph.D. programs in France typically have a duration of three to four years. They often include a combination of coursework, research, and dissertation work. It's essential to understand the program's structure and requirements before enrolling.

3️⃣ Unemployment Benefits:
Ph.D. students who are considered employees during their studies may be entitled to unemployment benefits after completing their Ph.D., provided they obtain a certificate at the end of their contract to Pôle emploi from their university or research institution. This amount is decent enough to live well in France. (For Indian citizens, the duration of this amount is 2years).

4️⃣ Publications:
To get a PhD degree, you must have to publish a journal paper in a peer reviewed journal. And you have to present your research work in at least one international conference. Now, this can again be different from the USA and different countries. But, you must have to publish one in a high impact journal.

5️⃣ Research Institutions:
France is home to many prestigious research institutions and universities, such as Sorbonne University, École Normale Supérieure (ENS), and CNRS (National Center for Scientific Research). These institutions have a long history of producing groundbreaking research.

Overall, the quality of research and also, the quality of life as a researcher in France is quite high as the country has a strong tradition of scientific and academic excellence.

Centre national de la recherche scientifique Sorbonne Université Ecole normale supérieure

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfMS-g45ok4

Can you move from industry back into academia?... YES! It is the route Param Rajpura (IIT Gandhinagar) has taken. This video is all about his views and experience on that.

Industry to Academia: Can you make the move? #career Can you move from industry back into academia?... YES! It is the route Param Rajpura (IIT Gandhinagar) has taken. This video is all about his views and exper...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6SLgBnhruaE&t=15s

Ancient Indian Sport "Malkhamb" by Yogesh Malviya | Dronacharya Award Winner’20 | HIE

This video is about our recent visit to the French Institute of Pondicherry (Institut Français de Pondichéry, IFP). It is a research institution under the joint supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). Established in 1955 under the terms of the Treaty of Cession of French Territories in India, FIP is the largest of the 26 research centres under these umbrellas. It is also part of the Research Unit USR 3330 “Savoirs et Mondes Indiens” of the CNRS, along with the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) in New Delhi. In this video, Mr Kannan MUTHUKRISHNAN (Researcher, Department of Social Sciences) talks about the French interests in Indian culture and heritage and the objectives and function of the social science department of IFP.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1j-wBP9sE4&t=199s&ab_channel=HumansinEducation

CNRS

French interest in the Culture and Natural Heritage of India! | Talk with Kannan MUTHUKRISHNAN, IFP This video is about our recent visit to the French Institute of Pondicherry (Institut Français de Pondichéry, IFP). It is a research institution under the jo...

Situated on the beautiful Rock beach, the French Institute of Pondicherry (IFP), UMIFRE 21 CNRS-MEAE, is a research institution under the joint supervision of the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the French National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). It is the biggest of the 26 research centers that fall under this aegis. In addition, it collaborates with the Centre de Sciences Humaines (CSH) in New Delhi as part of the CNRS Research Unit USR 3330 "Savoirs et Mondes Indiens".

The FIP was established in accordance with the terms of the Treaty of Cession of French Territories in India and opened its doors on March 20, 1955. It began by studying Indian civilization and culture, and in particular the history and religions of South India, under the direction of its first director, Jean Filliozat.

A Department of Ecology was established in the 1960s, taking over the first research cell established at the Institute's inception, to gather data on the circumstances and evolution of the environment in South India (vegetation, soil, climate change, etc.), with a focus on the Western Ghats, one of the world's 34 hotspots for biodiversity.

The Institute expanded its interest in the development and dynamics of Indian society with the creation of the department of Social Sciences in 1988.

The 1990s saw the establishment of the Laboratory of Geomatics (LIAG), which would later become the Department of Geomatics in 2022 due to the growth of research and the need to support it with cutting-edge techniques and tools. It provided the Institute with cutting-edge tools for the representation and analysis of the temporal and spatial relationships between these entities and their surroundings. The introduction of Geomatics as a standard tool greatly aided in the discovery of new research areas.

CNRS French Institute in India Ministry of Education FRANCE 24 Consulate General of France in Calcutta

In this Episode, Nakranisir shares his take on life. His innovative teaching methods make onerous Physics concepts easier for students to imbibe and make learning fun. Let's get an insight into the Physics teacher with a penchant for hard work!

26 Quickfire Questions with all time favorite Physics Teacher | M. M. Nakranisir In this Episode, Nakranisir shares his take on life. His innovative teaching methods make onerous Physics concepts easier for students to imbibe and make lea...

Ph.D. Defence: Low-frequency Absorbing Acoustic Metasurfaces: Deep-learning Approach and Experimental Demonstration

The advent and development of acoustic metamaterials/metasurfaces in recent years has overturned conventional means in all aspects of acoustic waves propagation and manipulation. In the context of the sound absorption, it has offered an unprecedented expansion of our ability to attenuate the low-frequency sound beyond the classical physical limits. The main aim of this dissertation is to conceive and design acoustic metasurfaces for extreme low-frequency absorption (

Ph.D. Defense Ceremony : CNRS, France 1 year ago! On December 15, 2021, I defended my Ph.D. thesis titled "Low-frequency Absorbing Acoustic Metasurfaces: Deep-learning Approach and Experimental D...

Our favorite teacher, Chetansir (Founder, Samatva academy of science) shares his take on life and his views. Witness his expert rendition of the Hindu hymn "Vaishnava Jana To".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZcHDa-YsD8w&ab_channel=HumansinEducation

26 Quickfire Questions to Our Favorite Teacher | Chetan Tank Student's favorite Physics teacher, Chetansir (Founder, Samatva academy of science) shares his take on life and his views. Witness his expert rendition of th...

Here, you go! Really a cool tool to draw your neural network architecture parametrically instead of manually. The most convenient and easiest tool to draw your neural network schematics and deep learning architectures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6IzkSqzI9Mk&ab_channel=HumansinEducation

Reference for citation:
LeNail, (2019). NN-SVG: Publication-Ready Neural Network Architecture Schematics.
Journal of Open Source Software, 4(33), 747, https://doi.org/10.21105/joss.00747

Link:
https://alexlenail.me/NN-SVG/LeNet.html

Neural n/w and Deep Learning Schematics using NN-SVG (Easiest way!) Here, you go!The most convenient and easiest tool to draw your neural network schematics and deep learning architectures.Reference for citation:LeNail, (2019...

In today's episode, our guest is Dr. Harshad Mishra. Harshad is a postdoctoral researcher in Magnomechanics at the University of Aalto. In today's talk, He talks about his research journey, current research group, scholarship opportunities for postdocs in Finland, and his experiences.

What I love most about this talk is his advice about applying for the postdoc position. I too firmly believe that instead of applying for the adverted positions only, it is always more beneficial to write individual professors of the same field as it saves a lot of time and opens all directions of opportunities!

Here are the links to scholarships for the postdoctoral researchers Harshad talks about,

Academy of Finland:
https://www.aka.fi/en/research-funding/funding-opportunities-at-a-glance/funding-for-individual-researchers/

Marie Curie Fellowships:
https://marie-sklodowska-curie-actions.ec.europa.eu/actions/postdoctoral-fellowships
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLc15L0Utnc&ab_channel=HumansinEducation
Aalto University

Candid Talk with Dr. Harshad Mishra | Postdoctoral researcher at Aalto University, Finland In today's episode, our guest is Dr. Harshad Mishra. Harshad is a postdoctoral researcher in Magnomechanics at the University of Aalto. In today's talk, He t...