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Center of the Indo-Pacific Region arranged a round table “Social science research in India: Towards the roadmap for India and Russia collaboration in research”. From Indian side, the keynote presentation was delivered by Prof. Dhananjay Singh – the Member Secretary of Indian Council of Social Science Research; Chairman (Additional Charge), Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, Ministry of Education; President of the Association of Asian Social Science Research Councils.

The speaker highlighted the need to “decolonize mindsets” and reconsider most used terms and discourses in Social Science since most of it was coined in the West and, therefore, cannot adequately describe the phenomena related to developing countries.

The participants covered the difficulties in forging “national” theories of international relations, discussed how operating in different language environments affects social science research and whether Russian and Indian audience adequately enjoy access to each other’s fiction and non-fiction literature.

From Russian side, the discussion was joined by participants from Department for European Political Studies, Center for Strategic Planning Studies, Center for Development and Modernization.