About Dr. Juby Thomas
She is an Indian social scientist. She is an author and a professor. She is also working in the Department of Media Studies at Kristu Jayanti College, Bengaluru. She is a great social scientist.
What are Dr. Juby Thomas’s some greatest milestones in her life journey?
With a decade of teaching, research, and on-field experience, she has achieved some significant life milestones. Dr. Juby Thomas has established herself as a visionary leader in the fields of journalism, academics, and research. In 2021, she won the PRCI’s prestigious Chanakya Award for excellence in research education in the national and international categories. Two of her research works were featured by the United Nations in its academic impact journal during the pandemic. It demonstrates her dedication to society, even during the lockdown. Her competency in writing is well established in both fiction and non-fiction categories. Dr. Juby continues to share her experience with the national academia and is a Board of Examination and Board of Studies member for nine prestigious Indian institutions. Beyond work, she is also a passionate mentor for students and professionals alike and has conducted more than 75 sessions on personality development, leadership skills, life skills, social media addiction, and research methodology in India and abroad. Dr. Juby believes that true excellence comes from fostering growth throughout the community. Her passion for community development and deep network of industrial and professional leadership is a testament to her endeavors to manage academic, research, and vocational training with practical experience.
What is she learning from the challenges she has faced and how did she overcome them?
She had faced challenges in her life. Challenges as an academician: three-year online education has created a massive transformation in the teacher-student relationship. She finds a huge disparity in the kind of attention students require. In addition to the general focus on intellectual support and character formation, long-term survival in isolation, the sudden death of parents, unexpected economic crises, increased conflict among parents, and internet addiction are all serious issues that must be addressed. Others considered online classes a useful way to wake up late and avoid classes. Drawing attention to both categories of students is challenging yet interesting. Challenges as a researcher: There is a huge disparity that exists in terms of funding in social science compared to science, and even the same exists in the government and private sector. But she strongly believes that nothing can stop a passionate researcher; he or she finds a way to sail over the challenges, and that is what research taught her—‘to identify a solution to the problems.’ Challenges as a woman: socially constructed differences between women and men in roles, responsibilities, status, and power still exist in Ind, IA, and breaking that normal social stigma to move forward is her biggest challenge. She comes from a family and educational background of gender neutrality and was shocked to see the kinds of gender-based differences that exist among working professionals. She never experienced body shaming in school or college, and she admires her classmates for their maturity and cherishes fond memories of sitting on their laps in an auto or taxi because she was always an underweight child. But it bounced back on me while she entered into professional life, especially while receiving an achievement or during the selection of any leadership position. They often opined, “She just looks like a student,” or by stating, “She is so young.” Can someone’s hard work, talent, and ability be neglected over such statements and overshadow their efforts through body shaming? Another agony is the unnecessary labelling of “feminism.” If you have short hair, a loud voice, or have the guts to openly tell anyone, “This is not right,” they immediately brand you as a feminist. It’s the reaction of both genders. If you are from a media or literary background, then the labelling is much faster. She has shared views with many female scientists from both science and social science backgrounds who experienced the same social stigma.
The ongoing crisis situations and other developmental issues have had a huge impact on our lives, and research in this discipline can therefore play an imperative role in enhancing the living conditions. Scholars can monitor our socio-economic progress and recommend ways to curb the problems and focus on improving our understanding of the normative patterns of a society, administrative decision making, cultural diversity, and multifaceted dimensions of complicated human behavior. Hence, I decided to dedicate more time and energy to nurturing enthusiastic scholars for the future. As part of this mission, I ensure every postgraduate student in my course completes an independent research article during their course, and this culture should be promoted throughout the country to enhance our living conditions.
