The National Institutional Ranking Framework (NIRF) instituted by the Ministry of Human resource Development, India renders a systematic assessment in ranking the Institutions of Higher Education in India. Since the inception of NIRF ranking, academic institutions urge their faculty members to come up with research publications and patents. This drives many teaching faculty members to yield themselves out of apprehensions to publications in predatory journals. To address this issue, a survey was executed with a small-scale and informal discussion group with the faculty members of MCC that subsequently indicated that our faculty were desperately in need of awareness on research methodology and research metrics. This ideation evolved on 12th MAY 2020, was further conceptualized in bringing together about twenty-five faculty members from across academic domains in Madras Christian College in an informal forum with an aim to deliberate on the nuances of research methodology in digital dispensation during the Covid-19 pandemic situation through virtual platform. This informal act of discussions accompanied by lectures among peers gave way to the formation of Madras Christian College Research Colloquium (MCCRC), a formalized virtual Community Learning on the campus during the lockdown, paving the way for capacity building among faculty group that is heterogenous in nature. In a meeting of the Deanery of Research and Development held on 22nd of October, it was unanimously decided to bring in this component under the umbrella of Deanery of Research of MCC. The scope of MCCRC is to (i) equip each other by enriching the research skills, (ii) expand interdisciplinary collaborations across the departments, (iii) redefining pedagogy through research-based methods (iv) brainstorm domain specific administrative issues through crowd resourcing v) solicit innovative ideations from students as human resources.
