Events

The Chicago School of Thought

A Virtual Workshop Series on Emerging Methodologies in the Social Sciences and Humanities

The "Chicago School of Thought" virtual workshop series was launched by the UChicago Center in Delhi on April 2025 as a series of online, web-based conversations, to highlight and generate interest in the breadth of research methodologies - established and emerging - across disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities. Featuring distinguished academic experts from India and Chicago, the talks aim to creating a series of engaging, insightful and thought-provoking discussions around methodologies while undertaking research across disciplines such as Political Science, Anthropology, Law, Social Work, Linguistics, Economics, as well as Mental Health research. 

The webinars are recorded and are available for viewing on the UChicago Center in Delhi's YouTube Channel.

The inaugural episode of the Chicago School of Thought virtual workshop series sheds fresh light on various canonical as well as emerging new-age methodologies for research in the political science. 

View the event recording here.

The second session of the Chicago School of Thought virtual workshop series focuses on critical research methodologies in the field of social work. Featuring Professor Lisa Moore (University of Chicago) and Professor Shewli Kumar (TISS, Mumbai), this session explores the ethical, emotional, and practical complexities of conducting research with marginalized and vulnerable populations, including LGBTQIA+ communities, survivors of gender-based violence, women from underserved backgrounds, elderly individuals, and people with disabilities.

Key topics include researcher positionality, informed consent, self-reflectivity, and the importance of grassroots activism alongside academic inquiry. The speakers also address the use of autoethnography, the role of newer technologies like AI in social research, and the importance of community support for both participants and researchers. This session is essential viewing for anyone engaged in or studying ethical, community-based fieldwork in the social sciences.

Watch the recorded session here. 

In this third session of the Chicago School of Thought virtual workshop series, we delved into key discussions and debates around research methods in the discipline of Linguistics. We were joined by two renowned and distinguished faculty of Linguistics from the University of Chicago and the University of Delhi, discussing the field's methodologies and historical development. The discussion explored how ancient Indian grammatical traditions have influenced modern linguistic theories, while also covering the evolution of linguistics from being viewed as a branch of mathematics to a psychological science. The conversation touched on various aspects of linguistic research, including empirical methods, computational models, and the role of context in understanding language, while also addressing the relationship between AI and human judgment in linguistic analysis.

Watch the full session here.