In an age where research culture in Indian universities often remains confined to faculty chambers and doctoral theses, Vivekananda Global University (VGU), Jaipur, is rewriting that narrative with deliberate, institution-wide intent. Its annual three-day research extravaganza — Sodh Prayas — is far more than a scheduled fixture on the academic calendar. It is a bold, transparent, and joyful declaration that research belongs to everyone: from the first-year undergraduate to the seasoned professor.
The 2026 edition of Sodh Prayas unfolded across three unrelenting days — running from 8 AM until 9 PM — transforming every hall, corridor, and courtyard of the VGU campus into a live laboratory of ideas. The scale was staggering: 12,386 students and 610 faculty and staff members stood up to present their research work across a rich tapestry of categories — oral presentations, paper presentations, product demonstrations, and transdisciplinary projects (TDPs) — covering science, technology, management, law, agriculture, design, journalism, healthcare, and social sciences.
■ A FESTIVAL OF IDEAS, VETTED BY THE NATION’S BEST
What distinguishes Sodh Prayas from routine academic reviews is its unflinching commitment to external validation. This year, 218 external jury members — comprising distinguished academicians, industry veterans, and subject specialists from institutions across India — evaluated the research on display. These jurors did not merely grade submissions; they engaged critically with presenters, offered feedback anchored in international research standards, and in many instances, sparked conversations about future collaborations.
The doctoral community was held to particularly exacting standards. PhD scholars were required to formally present their semester progress reports before their Doctoral Research Committees (DRC) and Research Advisory Committees (RAC), with committee members remaining actively engaged throughout all three days. This mechanism ensures that no research scholar operates in isolation or drifts from their defined academic trajectory.
All 134 UGC and CSIR-funded Junior Research Fellows (JRFs) and Senior Research Fellows (SRFs) also participated in the exercise — a mark of how seriously funded scholars treat this platform as a legitimate professional milestone.
❝ “Sodh Prayas is not merely an event — it is a visionary initiative to develop a strong research culture and connect our community with global research platforms.” — Er. Onkar Bagaria, CEO, VGU ❞
■ REWARDING EXCELLENCE: ₹20 LAKH IN AWARDS, ₹32 LAKH IN INCENTIVES
Recognition is the engine of culture, and VGU has invested substantially in building one. Awards worth ₹20 lakh were presented to outstanding participants across all presentation categories at Sodh Prayas 2026. Beyond the awards, the university distributed ₹32 lakh in structured research incentives to faculty members — a figure that reflects a systematic, performance-linked approach to encouraging academic output.
The incentive framework was designed with precision. Paper publication awards were tied to Q1 journal rankings, impact factors, and citation counts — ensuring that recognition follows genuine quality. Separate incentives were provided for research grants secured from national bodies, including the Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF), DST Rajasthan, and the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR). Faculty members who delivered consultancy projects — architectural, management, and technical — to corporates and government bodies under the SFURTI scheme were also recognised.
■ SEED CAPITAL & INSTITUTIONAL BACKING: ₹1.86 CRORE INVESTED IN IDEAS
At the core of any genuinely research-driven university lies the institutional willingness to risk capital on ideas before they yield results. VGU has done precisely that. A seed fund of ₹1.86 crore was allocated to faculty members for their individual and collaborative research projects — enabling researchers to move from concept to prototype, from hypothesis to evidence, without the friction of financial uncertainty.
This year also witnessed the establishment of two new endowed research chairs — a landmark in VGU’s academic evolution. The Dr. K. Ram Chair for Research on Rural Development and the CA Anil Bafna Chair for Research on Family Business reflect the university’s recognition that great research must also be socially purposeful and rooted in India’s most pressing economic realities.
■ THE NUMBERS BEHIND THE NARRATIVE: VGU’S RESEARCH FOOTPRINT
Sodh Prayas was also a moment of institutional stocktaking. VGU today stands on a formidable research foundation: 2,853 Scopus-indexed publications and 396 published patents — achievements that reflect decades of disciplined academic investment and are increasingly placing the university on national research rankings radar.
The university’s research partnerships span a wide ecosystem. Active collaborations with SIDBI and ICSSR have translated into funded social science and developmental research. VGU’s association with the prestigious BITS Pilani SATHI Project further anchors it within India’s emerging technology innovation network.
TDP Officer Dr. V. Sairam used the Sodh Prayas platform to address one of the most critical gaps in Indian academic research — the commercialisation of patents. His sessions on bridging the laboratory-to-marketplace gap drew significant engagement from PhD scholars and faculty innovators alike.
■ LEADERSHIP VOICES: SOLVING PROBLEMS, BUILDING FUTURES
Dean of the Research & Development Cell, Prof. Amandeep Gill, Section Officer Rahul Sharma, and Associate Dean Dr. Deepali Singh held candid, open forums with researchers — addressing publication bottlenecks, grant application challenges, and the often-underappreciated complexity of interdisciplinary collaboration. Their accessibility and willingness to engage with ground-level concerns reinforced the culture of transparency that Sodh Prayas is designed to foster.
Pro Vice Chancellor Prof. Dr. D. V. S. Bhagavanulu set the tone from the highest level: ‘Research is the academic soul of any university. In today’s competitive and technology-driven era, innovation and research are the real foundation of nation-building.’ His address encouraged researchers to pursue socially relevant, solution-oriented inquiry.
■ BEYOND THE DATA: RESEARCH HAS A HUMAN SIDE TOO
Recognising that doctoral life can be an isolating and mentally demanding journey, VGU organised a special cultural evening exclusively for PhD scholars and their research guides — a rare institutional gesture that acknowledged the human being behind the research. The evening provided space for reflection, connection, and the kind of informal mentorship that rarely finds its way into formal academic frameworks.
PhD scholar Ram and student Anoop both spoke with visible conviction about how Sodh Prayas had reshaped their relationship with research — giving them not just a platform to present, but a mirror to evaluate the quality and direction of their own work. Their voices represented thousands of other first-time presenters who walked away from Sodh Prayas not just with feedback, but with a firmer sense of academic identity.
■ THE BIGGER PICTURE
Sodh Prayas is VGU’s most eloquent answer to a fundamental institutional question: How do you build a research-first culture across an entire university — not just in elite departments, but from the first-year undergraduate to the doctoral candidate? The answer, it turns out, is radical inclusion, transparent evaluation, meaningful financial investment, and the wisdom to celebrate ideas before they become results.
When more than 13,000 individuals — students, scholars, and teachers — stand up to present their work before 218 independent judges, something fundamental shifts in the institutional psyche. Research stops being an elite pursuit. It becomes a shared identity. And in that transformation lies VGU’s most significant achievement of 2026.
❝ “Every corner of this campus was full of ideas. That is what Sodh Prayas means — research as a way of life.” ❞
