Good day, Dr Muhammad Idreesul Islam. I'm Arjun. I've had a look through your background and your professional record. I'm interested in hearing more about your work and how you see yourself fitting in here with our faculty. Ready to start?

Please start by introducing your professional journey in academia.

Sure.

One minute my mom is calling, I have to tell her I'm on interview.

Of course, take your time.

Uh, so, uh.

Good afternoon.

My name is Mohammed Idris Islam, my first name is Idris. So I am an Assistant Professor of Management and over 9 years I have been working at Department of Management Studies, North Campus, University of Kashmir.

And I hold a PhD in Management from the University of Kashmir which was awarded and awarded on 1st September 2018.

I also have received an outstanding PhD thesis award for that for my PhD work and I am UGC NET qualified in management. Plus over the years I have had I have taught many subjects over the years related to management.

Uh, like marketing, digital marketing, B2B marketing, entrepreneurship and, uh, business, business marketing, CRM. Uh, I have taught all these subjects over the years. My approach to, uh, learn approach to teaching is, uh, I use case studies, I use realistic, uh, Indian corporation examples. I make my own case studies sometimes and I share that thought with students with realistic business.

I have extensive experience in teaching undergraduate in both postgraduate students because at the campus we have an IMBA program which involves five years and it has both.

Undergraduate and postgraduate levels and I have supervised dissertations. I have supported in curriculum development and I have provided academic quality help with academic quality processes various over the years. Alongside classroom teaching, I actively mentor students in career planning.

Employability with workshops of various types and help them with their research projects as well.

I also contribute to departmental administration, accreditation support and academic reporting from time to time. It happens like when they when it is required. So my research interests lie at the intersection of digital commerce. I have paper ONDC, artificial intelligence, consumer behavior, tourism and entrepreneurship in troubled areas over the years and.

Social issues related to finance and development I have published widely in Scopus. I have 5 papers in Scopus and many more papers in UGC.

Careless to Germans, and I have many more, uh, edited for chapter volumes over the years. Uh, most of them are recently and they continue to work in the, on interdisciplinary research that, uh, connects management practices with real-burn challenges. Thank you.

Thank you, Professor Idris, for that detailed introduction.

How many of those?

Dr.

Uh, I was referring to publications as well. If we talk about the skills, uh, I am uh, proficient in most of the softwares which are available related to teaching. I have taught online as well during COVID times. So unfortunately using various tools which are available for teaching, umm, be it Google Classroom, be it YouTube. Or beat any other LMS software. I am. I have a knack for technology so I'm an easy learner when it comes to technology.

Could you specify what you're referring to—skills, publications, achievements, or something else?

And I keep it off technology. I'm pretty fast.

Understood, Dr. Idreesul Islam. Regarding your publications, can you elaborate on their scope? For example, the types of journals, topics, or fields where your work has been published?

So as I said, uh, I have worked on e-commerce, I have worked on artificial intelligence, I have worked on business problems and traveled areas over the years. Recently, my focus has been on Scopus publications and I have like 5 publications for now.

In Scopus they are 22222 level and I have many more publications in review. Like Scopus takes a lot of time some have like I have submitted a paper in like Feb and it's still under review and but my focus is Scopus for now and I have many more publications coming in focus hopefully.

Thank you for sharing, Dr. Idreesul Islam. It's commendable that you’re focusing on publishing in Scopus-indexed journals as they uphold rigorous standards of academic quality. Could you provide an example of a particular study or paper of yours and its implications for the field of marketing or business?

So I have a paper on ONTC and ONTC is open network for digital commerce which is in Scopus quarter Q2 journal and Scopus for marketing is very huge in India. As we know over the years various online portals have come up like Amazon, like Flipkart, all of them have some some sort of monopoly and the Government of India came up into ONDC program.

Which helps with the interoperability and it sort of democratizes the sector, which helps businesses to.

Sell online through the through ONDC hotel and not to get monopolized, not to feel monopolized by various big players in the market. So it has a it has a possibility of future in marketing when it comes to Indian markets.

And it will help people with selling online and at the same time having much more control over their products or listings which they have over other players which are selling in the big players which are selling in the market.

That's a valuable and very relevant area of research, Dr. Idreesul Islam. Particularly with ONDC being a transformative initiative in India's digital commerce landscape, your paper undoubtedly touches on a significant development in democratizing e-commerce. If we connect this to your teaching, how do you incorporate such contemporary and regionally critical topics into your courses? Do you design case studies or engage your students in discussions around them?

My pedagogy is around realistic things actually what is happening currently in the business. I always try to add my like relate my topics to what is actually happening in the market and how can it affect the current business of how it is affected with the affecting the current business, how it will affect. Current businesses so I always.

Discuss with my students what are the implications of the topic right now? How will it benefit if you are doing a business, if somebody is doing a business and what problems are they facing if they are not doing a particular topic? These are not following a particular topic. I my understanding is, my understanding is business. Whatever we learn, whatever theory or literature we read from books or papers, it has implications. It has come from business and it can help.

Just grow better, develop better, solve problems in real businesses. So I always tell students to discuss the implications and I use case studies. I also create my own cases from current business problems which are in the news, which are in the limelight. I do take those cases, take those situations and create case studies around my topics as well.

That's an excellent approach, Dr. Idreesul Islam. By connecting theoretical concepts to real-world business challenges and using live case studies, you provide students with a practical and immersive learning experience. This undoubtedly equips them to bridge academia and practice effectively. Transitioning slightly, you've mentioned guiding discussions and creating case studies. How do you typically evaluate your students’ grasp of such applied knowledge? Do you lean more towards traditional assessments, project-based evaluations, or any other specific method?

I think I have to be very clear with my students how I'm going to evaluate them. So I always provide written rubric to them and what they'll be evaluated, what will have what kind of weightage. So if some questions are to be detailed, but due to recent, so there has been change, little change in my approach because of the AI or generative model recently. I do discuss more with them. I tell them to read a particular case and what they can articulate in front of me.

Because if they go home, they're most probably use a generative models to answer the questions. But yeah, even if they have answered the questions, they need to discuss it in front of them as well. And I need to understand if they have understood these cases, these questions very well before I can evaluate them. And this is part of my rubric exercise. I do mention it thoroughly to them.

Yeah.

That’s a

Thank you, Dr. Idreesul Islam. It’s clear that you’ve adapted well to the evolving educational landscape, particularly with the advent of generative AI. Your emphasis on in-depth discussions and articulation ensures that your students not only use tools available to them but also truly grasp the underlying concepts. Let me ask, how do you approach guiding student projects and research, especially when working closely with them on topics related to your expertise?

So we don't have those guys. We do have projects and we are assigned students yearly who are in the final year of their MBA and we help them with research. We help them with literature review, how they can do literature review, how they can start their dissertation work and how they can do like survey based or they can do it on interview basis. And those kind of questions we do discuss with them and we help them with.

Choosing a particular approach and which approach is, uh, suited for their particular. We do help them with topic selection as well and this is how we help with dissertation work.

Set an alarm for two hours.

I cannot set alarms, but you can use your device’s clock or alarm application to set an alarm for two hours. Let's continue with the interview.

Hello.

I did not get the last instructions or questions.

There is break.

I'm breaking in the communication. You're not audible.

Hello.

What was the last instruction or last question you asked?

OK, I did answer it. What was afterwards?

But I do try to find time. We do have two to three classes during a day and there are those days when we have classes regularly and there are those days when we have only one Class A day and then there is some respite when the session is about to be over. So we I do try to find time for research. I am always working on a particular topic. So I have many papers under review right now and hopefully. I have received a review for a few and I have resubmitted them so hopefully.

After your answer, I acknowledged your response, noting that you provide structured guidance on research methods, topic selection, and dissertation work. I was about to ask how you balance your research commitments with teaching responsibilities. Would you like to address that?

Uh, it's very tough.

I do find time because, as they say, publish or perish, then it comes to our field.

I do use technology, I use WhatsApp, I use emails, I use continuously in touch with my students. I do provide some. We do have a separate group for a subject and we do put everything in that particular group during a session. And I share my insights, I share my assignments and I ask questions during that group which I'm able to answer anytime during the day or night. And I do have open policy with my students and they can, they can reach me, they can message me any time when.

Absolutely, Dr. Idreesul Islam. Balancing teaching and research is undoubtedly challenging, but your commitment to contributing to both areas is commendable. You're right—publishing is indeed a cornerstone for academic progress and visibility. Given this balance between research and teaching, how do you ensure that your teaching methods remain innovative and engaging? Are there any particular strategies or tools you consistently rely on?

They when they are in need and this helps us get along easily.

That's a very accessible and proactive approach, Dr. Idreesul Islam. Maintaining open communication and leveraging technology effectively certainly fosters a more engaging learning environment for your students. Lastly, how do you envision your research contributions aligning with institutional goals or advancing the field of marketing education?

So, uh, research is a continuous thing and I think uh, it's like, uh, there are no perfect perfection, you know, there is no perfection in it. You have to keep on improving. And over the years, I have seen my writing improve. I have seen my publications. See my initial focus was mostly UGC care is to journals some years back and they did not provide any. Any like any good support for learning and for developing your research skills but.

How would you like, uh, it depends. Uh, it depends upon the topic which I choose. Uh, there may be some particular organizational requirements, organizational commitments, and I would meet them. Uh, I would meet them, uh, uh, and at the same time, uh, because they would be the latest topics in the latest research or the latest requirements in the field. So obviously they would help me as well. And research is a continuous commitment, so.

I've recently started focusing on the Scopus on the listed journals and I am developing my research skills. I am learning more and more day by day and.

On the latest topics and there are some topics which are very visionary in nature but they are still, they are still in fancy. I am working some topics which are very which are very groundbreaking in which you will call them but they are not for publication part. Now I'm working on them.

Uh, no, thank you. It's a great opportunity to be associated with bit and I hope I get the opportunity to work there. So because it would be great for my development and growth as well as a researcher as a teacher.

Understood, Dr. Idreesul Islam. It’s evident that your research approach is both iterative and forward-looking, reflecting a dedication to continuous growth while staying attuned to emerging trends. Balancing institutional goals with groundbreaking and visionary topics undoubtedly positions you as a strong contributor to advancing marketing education and research. With all these insights from your experience, expertise, and academic endeavors, I believe we've covered everything necessary. Is there anything else you'd like to add or discuss?

Thank you, Dr. Idreesul Islam. It was a pleasure speaking with you and learning about your academic journey and vision. We appreciate your time and thoughtful responses. Wishing you the very best in your endeavors. Have a wonderful day!

OK, thank you. Can I exit now?