A two-day DST-INSPIRE Subject Expert Committee meeting was held on July 14 & 15 at SRM University-AP campus. Experts in the area of Physical Sciences from across the country gathered at the university to evaluate this year’s INSPIRE Fellowship applications in Physical Sciences.
INSPIRE Fellowship component offers 1000 Fellowships every year for carrying out doctoral degrees in both basic and applied sciences, including engineering and medicine, in the age group of 22-27 years.
The Chairperson of the Expert Committee in the area of Physical Sciences was Dr Dinakar Kanjilal, Professor, Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi. “The fellowship ensures geographical distribution of excellence, and we look forward to more applicants from SRM AP”, Prof. Kanjilal said. Since its inception, SRM University-AP has INSPIRE Fellows as faculty members in the various departments of Sciences.
University Pro-Vice-Chancellor Prof D Narayana Rao, who also is the co-chair of the expert committee, said that it is gratifying to know that the PhD students have chosen to enrol in reputed universities and institutes. The applicants have chosen extremely accomplished scientists and faculty members as their research supervisors. “We are glad that 61 are girl students out of the 116 applications we received”, highlighted Prof D Narayana Rao. He expressed his happiness about the increasing number of women representation in Indian academia.
The other eminent scientists in the INSPIRE Fellowship selection committee included Member Secretary Dr Umesh K Sharma, Prof. Shikha Verma, Dr G. Vijaya Prakash, Dr AnandamayeeTej, Dr Rajendra Prasad Pant and Dr Arjit Chowdhuri.
Innovation in Science Pursuit for Inspired Research (INSPIRE)” is a flagship scheme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India, which aims to attract meritorious youth to study basic and natural sciences at the college and university level and to pursue research careers in both basic and applied science areas including engineering, medicine, agriculture, and veterinary sciences.