Science Communication and Public Engagement: The Power of Diverse Voices in Research

What the event covered

Taylor & Francis is delighted to extend an invitation to a series of events in collaboration with the Indian National Science Academy. The focus of the series is: Integrating science and society for sustainability.

This webinar is the first of the series. It delved into the importance of science communication and public engagement, highlighting the role of researcher voices in bridging the gap between scientific advancements and the wider society.

The webinar also covered:

Keep an eye out upcoming events within this enlightening series.

About the speaker

Professor Ashutosh Sharma is an Institute Chair Professor at IIT Kanpur, President of the Indian National Science Academy (2023-25), Co-chair of S20/G20 and a former Secretary to the Government of India heading its Department of Science and Technology (January 2015- 2021).

He was a Professor (1997-), and the Head (2003-05) of Chemical Engineering, and the founding Coordinator of Nanosciences Center and Advanced Imaging Center at the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur. Ashutosh received his PhD from the State University of New York at Buffalo (SUNYAB; 1988) working with Professor Eli Ruckenstein – a recipient of the US Medal of Science, his MS from the Pennsylvania State University (1984) and B.Tech. from IIT Kanpur (1982).

Dr. Gagandeep Singh is currently working as a Senior Publisher in STEM for CRC Press, Taylor and Francis, in India. He has been a part of the organization for nearly ten years. He has published more than 500 books in various areas during these years and has signed more than 700 books. He also leads an editorial team based focusing on Math, Statistics, Chemical, Plant and Life Sciences, and Medicine in India and Sub-Saharan Africa regions.

He holds a PhD in Forensic Chemistry and a Master’s in Forensic Science and has published 25 research papers in peer-reviewed international journals with one patent and national award to his name.

Dr. Karishma Kaushik is a physician-scientist who has led and been involved in a range of initiatives across the scientific landscape in India. After her MBBS and MD in Clinical Microbiology from the Armed Forces Medical College, Pune, Karishma moved to the US to pursue a PhD. She completed her PhD at the University of Texas at Austin and returned to India as a Ramalingaswami Re-entry Fellow. She ran her independent research group at Savitribai Phule Pune University from 2018-2023.

In this new role as Executive Director, IndiaBioscience, she looks forward to expanding the impact of IndiaBioscience, by facilitating the scientific ecosystem across India, and fostering partnerships between communities in India and across the world.

Dr. Swati Nayak is a scientist with CGIAR International Rice Research Institute. She is also the 2023 Borlaug Field Award Winner from World Food Prize Foundation. Swati is currently working as South Asia Lead for Seed systems, with International Rice Research Institute. She is also global lead for cereal seed systems under CGIAR initiative Seed Equal. She is part of IRRI’s Rice Breeding Innovation Platform and works in the domain of scaling, mainstreaming multiple promising, climate resilient, high yielding, nutrition rich varieties/ germplasm across multiple market segments keeping in mind farmer preference, value chain stakeholder and consumer demand. She works towards ensuring that genetic gain is delivered in farmer field and seed markets are developed and quality seeds are available for farmers and their preferred varieties.

Swati is an experienced professional who has expertise around leading and driving programmes around scaling innovations, delivery systems, technology transfer and extensive public private partnership strategies that focus on accelerating impact and scale of agriculture technology. She has extensive experience around engagement of women and community, in technology scaling and targeting programmes. She has academic background Agriculture extension (technology transfer), rural management and Agriculture science and have experience on evaluating diverse extension methodology including the usage of disruptive technology for accelerated impact.

Play the recording