Vipassana Research Institute

Reg Office: Green House, Green Street,

Fort, Mumbai-400023
Tel.: 91-22-22665926/22664039
Fax: 91-22-22664607
E-mail: info@vridhamma.org
Website: www.vridhamma.org

Date: 18/09/2023
To,
Mr Pham Phu Thanh,
Dept of Education & Extension, M.A. of Education
Savitribai Phule Pune University.

Dear Researcher Mr. Pham Phu Thanh,

Many Greetings.
Received your proposal for your Ph.D study titled “ A study of Effectiveness of Vipassana
Meditation on Academic stress, anxiety, depression of Teenager students ” dated 08/07/
2023. VRI appreciate your effort and wish to do research in association with VRI. We are
happy to inform you that VRI finds you proposal good and beneficiary for the society and so
have accepted. VRI is sending this approval letter considering that you will follow the terms
and conditions mentioned in VRI research guidelines attached herewith.
Please notice important condition as follows....
1) Pl do take ethical clearance from the ethical committee of the institute or organisation
under which the research will be done. Also do take the informed consent from the
participants
2) Yearly progress report should be submitted to VRI (it can be a copy of the progress
report submitted to the funding agencies if any)
3) The Principal investigator or the Co-investigators should attend and present the research
findings at Seminars/ Research Committee meetings organized by VRI.
4) Acknowledgement to VRI should be mentioned in research paper itself.
5) VRI reserves the right to dissociate itself from any Project that, it feels, has not been
executed or carried out in line as agreed initially.
6) Official copy, soft & hard should be given to VRI to keep in library and archive as well
as on VRI website etc., if VRI wish.

You may please show this letter to concerned coordinator area teacher/centre teacher to get
cooperation for the research in yours selected area.
Wish you all the best for your research project! Do let us know if you wish any help from VRI.

Dr Nikhil Mehta
Director of Research Council, VRI
Mumbai

Recommended Guidelines For Submitting Research Proposals To

Vipassana Research Institute (VRI)
The essential pre-requisite is a recommendation letter from the research scholar’s Area
Vipassana Teacher who has verified the research scholar’s Vipassana credentials. Once
verified by Area Teacher the scholar should sent his proposal to VRI along with the mail or
letter from the Area Teacher. VRI shall then take up the said proposal for its due consideration
and will scrutinized the appropriateness of the project proposal from the Vipassana
perspective.
Only those proposals which are approved by the VRI team following the scrutiny need to be
called for presentation and final approval by VRI for sanctioning the proposal
The Research Project-Proposal should be submitted in the prescribed format as given
hereunder for the scrutiny and approval of VRI:

Section A

▪ Title of the Research Project; Synopsis of Research project

▪ Name & address of Principle/Chief investigator (P I) & Co investigators, Qualifications
& Designations of the Project Organizer cum Chief Investigator and his Research Team
Members, Affiliation, Phone Number , Mobile , e-mail, as also their Vipassana
experience;
▪ Estimated duration of the project
▪ Estimated Expenditure/Budget of the Project and information about the Funding
Agencies;
▪ Project Organizers working in Institutions should submit a “No Objection Certificate”
from the Head of the Institution for carrying out the Project.
▪ Ethical clearance certificate from the organization

Section B

Copy of the Research Proposal submitted to funding agency Or Project Summary 200-
250 words

▪ Relevance of the Project to Vipassana – preferably in less than hundred words;

▪ Methodology in detail
▪ Budget details & Justification
▪ Bio Data of the PI & Co-I

Section C

Rules & regulations of VRI

Ethical Standards: The subject-meditators’ written consent should be obtained for their
participation in the Project. Any investigations that are carried out on the meditators should
follow the ethical standards as practiced by the best professional institutions in the country.

It is better to obtain ethical clearance from their respective organizations. There are standard
application forms for obtaining ethical clearance which include the Informed consent from
participants. The PI need to present the proposal to the Institute Ethics committee and following
approval, the PI gets the ethical clearance.
In case of independent researchers, VRI needs to look into the ethical issues
Presentation of Research Findings:

One yearly progress report should be submitted to VRI (It can be a copy of the progress report
submitted to the funding agencies if any).

The PI /Co-I should attend and present the research findings at Seminars/ Research Review
Committee meetings organized by VRI.

VRI must be allowed to use the final research.

Official copy soft & hard should be given to VRI to keep in library and archive as well as on
website if VRI wish.
Acknowledgement to VRI should be mentioned in research paper itself.
Publication: Publication in standard Journals will be encouraged. VRI will have rights to use
it including keeping it on its website if VRI wish to. VRI reserves the right to dissociate itself
from any Project if found that it has not been executed or carried out in lines as agreed initially.

Research Personnel to be Vipassana Meditators: It is recommended that for the basic

research the scholar should have completed at least one 10-days Course of Vipassana
Meditation, as taught in the tradition of S. N. Goenka, so as to experience and understand for
oneself the process of this technique. In case of in-depth research, research dealing with
theoretical aspect of teachings of Vipassana the scholar should complete minimum of three
10 days courses and one Satipatthana course. In case of a Research Team, Chief
Investigator/Project In charge/Leader/ a team member at least one of them should have
completed the said courses as per the depth/level of the research. The VRI will decide about
the required number of courses depending upon the depth and topic of the research.
NB- VRI does improve its policy time to time as per necessity.