About 200 participants, including INSA fellows, eminent scientists and engineers, special invitees, young scientists and awardees, became guests of the institute as part of the 84th Anniversary General Meeting (AGM) of the Indian National Science Academy (INSA). The three-day meeting started yesterday which is primarily being hosted by Physical Research Laboratory (PRL), Ahmedabad and co-hosted by Institute for Plasma Research (IPR) and IIT Gandhinagar.
The afternoon session at the institute was chaired by Dr Chandrima Shaha, Professor of Eminence and Former Director, National Institute of Immunology (NII), New Delhi. She acquainted the audience with the distinguished character of IITGN and how it also sensitises its students towards societal needs and issues.
Welcoming and addressing the distinguished guests, Prof Sudhir K Jain, director, IITGN introduced them to the journey of building IITGN into an outstanding institution which constantly strives to innovate and carve out a new path in the IIT education. Elaborating on the pioneering initiatives, best-in-class pedagogy and internationalisation at the institute to add value to the brightest minds of the country, he said, “We are not here for ourselves, we are here for our students and to add value to them. For us, students come first, always. We also encourage our students to focus on higher education, entrepreneurship, and social service instead of merely going for high-paying jobs after graduation.”
Two symposia, one on Water Futures and another on Ethics in Science Research and Education, were held at IITGN during the afternoon session of the meeting. The symposium on Water Futures was chaired by Prof R N Singh, IIT Gandhinagar. Panelists from some of the leading science and technology institutions of the country discussed the issues relating to water; including the riverine issues, adaptation of irrigated agriculture and hydrologic simulations of the human-natural system. The symposium on Ethics in Science Research and Education was chaired by Prof J P Mittal, Bhabha Atomic Research Centre (BARC), Mumbai, which had the participants putting into light subjects like issues and dimensions of ethics, ethics in publication, ethics in workplaces, gender issues/equal opportunity and ethics in science journalism. Eminent scientists, academicians, and senior journalist participated in this symposium.
Apart from the symposiums, INSA Inspire Apex Committee Meeting and INSA Council Meeting are also being held in parallel as part of the INSA AGM which is being chaired by Prof A K Sood, President, INSA.
