We are running a series of articles focused on understanding the interaction between mental illnesses and academic life, and the need for greater awareness and research into the same. Next in this series, Debdutta draws insights from his own experiences in graduate school to suggest what institutions and individuals can do to improve mental health conditions within academic spaces.

We are progressively seeing the signs of a burgeoning mental health crisis in academia. In this new series, we will examine the status of mental health awareness and research in the Indian context, and discuss possible strategies and interventions to counter the issue. In this invited article, Hina Lateef Nizami writes about why we need to break free of the habit of normalizing poor mental health and burnout in academic circles.

Kollegala Sharma has been a science communicator for over forty years. His most recent venture is Janasuddi, a weekly podcast about science in Kannada, which is circulated amongst thousands of people. In this invited article, he writes about how his early experiences and interests led him to science communication and what keeps him going.

Narmadha Devi writes about mathematics for children in the Tamil student’s daily – ‘Pattam’, a product of Dinamalar groups. In this article, she discusses the importance of presenting science to children in an interesting, attractive and rational manner in order to build scientific temper for the future.

Gaiti Hasan is a Professor at National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore. In this editorial, first published in Current Science, she speaks about the importance of setting up mechanisms to provide formal mentorship to researchers at all stages in their career, whether they are graduate students, postdoctoral fellows or young investigators.