Dempo Research Foundation fellowship announced NT News Desk Panaji Jan 28: The Dempo Research Foundation today announced that a six-member panel of experts has selected Mr S Gasper D'Souza, creative designer with the Navhind Times, as the Dempo Research Fellow for the year 2005-06. The fellowship includes a grant of Rs 1 lakh to Mr D'Souza who will be engaged in a photographic study of the fishing community in Goa over the next one year. The project will visually document the activities and customs of various fishing cvommunities spread across Goa, both along the coastline as well as the rivers. It will have an accompanying text. The panel, which selected Mr D'Souza out of 20 applicants, felt that his was a path-breaking and unique project. It will be the first for such a photo-documentary of any community in Goa. Mr D'Souza says that although his work will be based on painstaking research, it will be presented through photographs and text in such a way that it will be both accessible and understood by the common man. The research work will be published by the trust as a monograph which will be sent to universities and colleges in Goa as well as India and abroad. Mr D'Souza has produced a number of photo essays on social issues in the past and as a photojournalist, he is keen on using the medium to highlight social issues. He was awarded the first prize at the photography competition organised by the Center for Women's Studies (Goa University) for the National Conference on Women's Studies in May 2005. Some of his work can be viewed on the internet at www.gasperdesouza.com.
The panel of experts, which was headed by Mr Shrinivas V Dempo, Chairman of the Dempo Group of Companies, included Dr Bailon de Sa, former vice chancellor of the University of Ghana, Dr Manohar L Sardessai, Konkani poet and former head of department of Frence at the Goa University, Mr Chandrakant Keni, Mr Mario Miranda, well-known artist and cartoonist, Dr Ajit Shirodkar, former vice president, Bayer (India) and horticulturist and Dr Shanker Mahamai Kamat ex-director of archives and archaeology. The panel received 20 applications for the Fellowship on various aspects of cultural traditions, migration, tourism, politics, folklore, Konkani language and other subjects. Four of these were short listed by the panel after a series of deliberations, and called for presentations. The Dempo Charities Trust established the Dempo Research Fellowship to fill a gap that exists in the field of research in Goa. The Trustees observed that there are a number of Goans, outside the campus of the University or colleges, who endeavour to carry out studies on subjects related to Goa and Goans. Due to lack of support, both financial and academic, these scholars often fail to complete their studies. The trustes established the Fellowship to provide non-university institutional assistance to these scholars. The trust encourages research in all fields but is restricted to Goa, because the focus of the trust is to strengthen and consolidate the intellectual foundations of Goa.