The Centre for Research and Education for Social Transformation (CREST) was launched as an autonomous institution on April 1, 2008 by the Government of Kerala. It is the successor institution of Centre of Excellence which was established in 2002 by the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode (IIMK), one of the reputed management institutions of the country, with the support of the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes Development Department, Govt of Kerala, India. Since its very inception the Centre has been offering programmes to cater to the educational, cultural and socio-economic mobility of the Scheduled Communities of Kerala.
CREST is an autonomous organization under the Government of Kerala with the mentoring support from the Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, which incubated the Centre of Excellence, the predecessor institution of the CREST and the National Institute of Advanced Studies (NIAS) Bangalore. The Governing Council headed by the Minister for the Welfare of Scheduled and Backward Communities, Kerala as Chairman monitors the activities of the Centre. Dignitaries like the Governor of Kerala, Chief Minister of Kerala and the Speaker of the Kerala Legislative Assembly are the patrons of this Autonomous institution. The Governing Council has representation from institutions like Indian Institute of Management Kozhikode, National Institute of Advanced Studies.
Bangalore, Kerala State Council for Science, Technology and Environment, Thiruvananthapuram and Sree Chitra Thirunal Institute for Medical Sciences & Technology, Thiruvananthapuram as well as Ministry of Social Justice and Empowerment, Government of India, New Delhi. The activities of CREST are facilitated by the Executive Director. The faculty comprises of academics with deep social commitment and a flair for public action.
The faculty consists of experts in Sociology and Social Anthropology, Social Work, Social Psychology and Behavioral Science, Applied Economics, Communication, Management and Entrepreneurship Development, Accounting and Finance, Analytical and Quantitative Sciences and Information Technology.
The Centre was established with the vision to move towards creating a just, equitable and caring society through empowerment of the marginalized and underprivileged, based on the principles of humanism, equality and social justice. Its mission is to help the marginalized and the underprivileged gain confidence, build competence and achieve excellence in all spheres of human endeavor, for their social, cultural and economic development through education, training, research, and consulting.
