Aizawl: Zo Humanities and Social Sciences Research Hub began as a dream that its founder, Debbie Lalrinawmi, was not sure she dared to pursue. Its second annual international conference closed in Aizawl on October 9, 2026. The organisation is now a registered company with four platforms and a journal. It is also the first independent research body of its kind in Mizoram.
An idea at the start of a PhD
Lalrinawmi says the idea came at the start of her own PhD research. “I started to see that not many interdisciplinary platforms and events are there in Mizoram as compared to other places,” she said. She wanted to change that and bring international academic discussion within reach of local scholars.
She describes the beginning as a simple scholar’s wish to do good for her society, though she did not dare to act on it. That changed in 2024, while she was writing her thesis at In Lehkha Creative Space in Aizawl. She shared her “silly dream” with the owner, Anita, and ended up telling her a great deal. “Maybe that gave me the courage to take action,” she said.
On April 19, 2024, the initiative was formally launched at the same space. “We officially launched at that very same place with nothing, only a dream,” Lalrinawmi said. “The rest is history.”
A name, a patent and a registration
The first name was Centre for Humanities and Social Sciences Research (CHSSR), launched by Prof. Vanlalhruaia, who was then at Government Aizawl College. But the name had already been patented, which caused problems at the time of registration.
The organisation was therefore registered on March 17, 2025, as Zo Humanities and Social Sciences Research Hub OPC Private Limited. CHSSR was not dropped. It continues as the research wing and is one of four internal platforms, alongside Zo Humanities Event, the Sustainable Green Action Forum and the journal Integrated Perspectives: A Journal of Interdisciplinary Research.
This year the organisation was also granted “participant” status in the UN Global Compact, which Lalrinawmi said the team “muchly appreciated.”
Building without money
The hub received no external funding at its inception, and it has none of the usual institutional comforts. “We don’t have any spaces or resources,” Lalrinawmi said. What it has grown instead is a network, which she calls “imperative” for the organisation.
Its first major step was an international conference organised with Government Saitual College. Day-to-day operations are paid for by the work the hub does itself: research assistance including editing, translation, plagiarism checking and reduction, and formatting, along with journal publication. “I’d like to proudly mention that we don’t ghostwrite,” she added.
What makes it different
Mizoram’s colleges and universities have active research departments, but Lalrinawmi says Zo Humanities stands apart because it is “fully dedicated” to research. The organisation aims to hold at least four international conferences a year, and its journal has been publishing quarterly since this year.
Being autonomous, she said, also makes decisions easier. Any paper that falls under the humanities and social sciences is considered, whether the topic is regional or otherwise. Independence has also shielded the organisation from some difficulties. “Although we tend to come across negative scenes on the grounds that it’s a women-led organisation, many scenes are avoided due to the fact that we are an autonomous body,” she said.
Supporting scholars
The stated aim is clear. “The main aim of Zo Humanities is to provide opportunities to Mizo scholars,” Rodingpuii, a scholar, poet and board member, told EastMojo. The body runs workshops on research methodology and takes up related initiatives to support Mizo scholars.
Lalrinawmi says the main problems scholars in Mizoram face are publication and research opportunities. Zo Humanities is working to open more doors, she said, and the journal is preparing to seek higher indexing. There may eventually be more than one journal. “However, as the saying goes: slow and steady wins the race,” she said.
The research wing has also begun giving grants. Its first recipient is Remruatkima Khiangte, who receives ₹35,000 along with expert guidance. Lalrinawmi said the amount will increase as the company grows.
Though CHSSR focuses entirely on Mizo researchers, she said the other platforms are open to everyone “regardless of gender, race, sexuality, etc.” The vision centres on Zo communities, she said, but “doors are open for everyone as it is an international hub.”
An all-women board, but not by design
The company’s board has five members, all women. Lalrinawmi says this was not a deliberate choice. Board members are recruited on a contractual basis, and the organisation previously had male members who left because of other priorities and personal matters. She said she cannot promise the board will always be all women. The advisory board includes both men and women.
Leading the organisation has still had its challenges. “Although women are liberated as compared to olden times, it seems we needed a different, deeper kind of emancipation,” she said. “As an owner, I have been side-eyed like a troubled woman with too much power. Sometimes, I have to make extra effort to make my/our voices heard.” She stressed that this does not happen every time, and that the team does not dwell on it. Its main focus, she said, is “the good and betterment of society.”
The latest milestone: a conference in Aizawl
The most visible sign of that progress came on October 9, 2026. The second floor of Aijal Club is usually busy with political gatherings, workshops and book releases. At noon that day, it became a room for poets, scholars, singers, musicians and dancers, as the Zo Humanities 2nd Annual International Conference held its closing ceremony. This was the first offline conference the organisation has organised.
“We wanted an international conference of the level that is organised in other parts of the country and the world right here in Mizoram for our scholars, and that is what led us to this day,” Rodinpuii said.
Thanking the performers at the closing programme, Lalrinawmi, who is also Co-ordinator of Zo Humanities Events and Director of the company, said, “The humanities are not just words; it is also about feeling and soul and art.”
The three-day conference featured 41 papers, with topics ranging from disability rights law, constitutional questions around AI-driven facial recognition and the impact of hydropower projects on rural livelihoods to philosophical reflections on human existence in a globalised world. An art exhibition and a book fair ran alongside. The keynote address was delivered by Prof. H. Kalpana (Retd), a former professor of English at Pondicherry University.
The conference also made room for persons with disabilities, even though it was not disability-themed. Children from the school for the blind sang songs and gave recitations, making it one of the few academic conferences to do so. The organisation also presented a Publication Excellence Award to Dr. Dustin Lalkulhpuia for his paper “Land and Identity in Poetry from Northeast India: An Ecocritical Reading.”
Lalrinawmi says she has not tried to claim the credit. “With or without my company, the research community of Mizoram will thrive,” she said. “I just wanted to be a part of it.”
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