Sadhana Joshi is a Distinguished Professor and Head, Mother and Child Health Division in Interactive Research School for Health Affairs (IRSHA) of Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be University), Pune. She has been working tirelessly in the field of maternal nutrition for close to 30 years. Her lab currently works on preeclampsia, a kind of hypertension in pregnant women that has dire effects on maternal and fetal health if not taken care of in due time.

We spoke to LS Shashidhara, Professor, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER) Pune (Currently, on Lien at Ashoka University), about the impact the current situation has had on the way scientific research is conducted in our country, and the lessons scientists can take away from it for the future.

We spoke to Jyotsna Dhawan, Emeritus Scientist at CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad, about the impact the current situation has had on the way scientific research is conducted in our country, and the lessons scientists can take away from it for the future.

A catastrophe at the scale of the COVID-19 pandemic affects us not only at the physical level but also leaves an indelible imprint on our mental well-being. We spoke to Biju Viswanath, faculty at the Department of Psychiatry, National Institute of Mental Health and Neuro Sciences (NIMHANS), Bengaluru, about possible mental-health-related consequences of the present situation and what individuals and families can do to cultivate resilience.

The low number of women in leadership positions in science is a cause for concern for the scientific community worldwide. On International Women’s Day, we interviewed a few women in science from different career levels to understand the most common factors that hinder women in science and some possible ways to improve this situation.