The NGSF invites young science writers to bring to light the historical and societal impact of novel discoveries in the field of biological sciences by participating in our essay writing competition-Next Gen Science Communicator.

Topic: “Science in Social and Historical Perspectives”

Eligibility: Applicants must be pursuing a Life Science degree (Up to the graduate level).

Requirements:

• The essay should address a societal/historical issue and the contributions of the science to overcome them. (Focus on lesser known discoveries/Inventions)
• General public is the target audience, so avoid using scientific jargon and convey your story in an engaging tone
• The essay can follow any writing structure. Please cite all references.
• Word count should not exceed 1000 words.
• Submissions should me made through our online submission portal

The Award

The best essays that are simple, engaging and scientifically sound will be published in our blog. Among the published essays we plan to award a cash prize of INR 5000 to four essays – three chosen by the NGSF Team (of scientists and science communicators) and the other based on the number of readership views over a month (Chosen independent of first three). Therefore a possibility to win upto INR 10,000 for the best essay. Publishing essays in our blog has helped authors gain a wide readership. Less than two years since its inception, our website has had 50,000 views from 74 different countries.

For more details click here.

DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance, www.indiaalliance.org) and European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO; www.embo.org) are accepting applications for the India | EMBO Lecture Courses

The aim of a lecture course is to teach participants, primarily PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. These courses will be designed toprovide participants with the background and underlying concepts, thereby making the topic accessible to scientists with diverse scientific backgrounds.

India Alliance will host a webinar on 15th December (3 pm IST), to talk about the lecture courses especially with regard to its remit, eligibility, provisions, requirements, and application forms.

Speakers:

Vasan Sambandamurthy (CEO, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance)

Gerlind Wallon (Deputy Director, EMBO)

Shubha Tole (Organizer India | EMBO Lecture Course)

Stephan Pless (organizer EMBO | FEBS Lecture Course)

Zoi Lygerou (EMBO Course Committee chair)

For more details contact, workshops@indiaalliance.org

‘MANAV-The Human Atlas Initiative’ is a project funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, co-funded by Persistent Systems Limited (PSL), and implemented through the National Centre of Cell Science (NCCS), Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER-Pune) and PSL, Pune.

This initiative aims to develop a proof-of-concept for constructing a biological map of the human body, by capturing and collating macro to micro-level data and knowledge available in the scientific literature and other domains.

Further insights into the project are available on Manav website at https://manav.gov.in/.

Who can attend the webinar?
Students, Teachers, Industry Professionals and all science enthusiasts

If you are a post graduate student with an interest in the pharmaceutical, chemical or digital industry, the Merck Innovation Cup is your chance to gain in-depth knowledge about research and development, to network with top students from around the world and to build a business case together with experienced professionals. Selected top performing participants could get an offer for a permanent employment at Merck.

Who can apply

Advanced students and post docs in the fields of life science, material science, data science and business administration from all over the world can apply:

Sciences: Post graduate students on their way towards a PhD in biology, medicine, biotech, bioinformatics, data sciences, biochemistry, chemistry, pharmacy, physics or engineering.

Business: Advanced MBA students or recent MBA graduates with an interest in the pharmaceutical, chemical or digital business. Not open to healthcare professionals.

For more information click here.

Researchers, students, science communication enthusiasts join the most entertaining and fun scicomm event of the year! Watch how the four amazing finalists will battle it out to become this year’s EURAXESS Science Slammer and win the first prize – a roundtrip ticket to Europe. An expert jury panel will select the winner this year.

Everyone who joins the LIVE event will get a 25% discount voucher (worth 50USD) to access the annual subscription for Cactus Communications’RUpskill training courses for researchers.

Click here to see who this year’s finalists are.

For free registration clickhere.

As you all will recall, since most of you directly participated in the 1st TCGA (The Cancer Genome Atlas)-themed conference in Pune in September 2019. Over 350 delegates comprising of onco-clinicians, basic researchers, bioinformaticians, geneticists, translational researchers, big-data scientists, bioethicists and regulatory experts attended the event.

As a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, even though initially planned, it is not possible to organize a 2nd TCGA-themed conference in Pune in 2020. However, considering the strong interest and several requests from participants and stakeholders alike, Centre for Translational Cancer Research (CTCR, a joint initiative of IISER Pune and Prashanti Cancer Care Mission, Pune ) , Persistent Systems and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)- Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology are jointly organizing the 2nd TCGA-themed virtual workshop and conference on December 3-5, 2020. This online conference will be based on the theme ‘Towards Team Science for Multi-omics Cancer Research in South Asia’.

For more information click here.

‘MANAV-The Human Atlas Initiative’ is a project funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, co-funded by Persistent Systems Limited (PSL), and implemented through the National Centre of Cell Science (NCCS), Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER-Pune) and PSL, Pune.

This initiative aims to develop a proof-of-concept for constructing a biological map of the human body, by capturing and collating macro to micro-level data and knowledge available in the scientific literature and other domains.

Further insights into the project are available on Manav website at https://manav.gov.in/.

Who can attend the webinar?
Students, Teachers, Industry Professionals and all science enthusiasts

The 4-Day Workshop on Introductory Data Science is being conducted by the Bioinformatics Training Facility, University of Cambridge from 14th to 17th December, 2020 (IST afternoons only).

The aim is to bridge the Digital Gender Divide, by means of training Women in Data Science using the open source R programming language. This is the first event under the aegis of DST- KIRAN division We-VIDYA Initiative (Women Enabled for Virtual Induction as Data Youth and AI Professionals), a series of Workshops planned for Women over the next year, including Introductory, Intermediate and Advanced Data Science, AI and Machine Learning.

For More Information and Link to Register, please see the full Course Booklet

Many businesses use EHS management system and may never stop to wonder why. EHS management system protocols are important because they prevent a significant number of illnesses, injuries, and environmental hazards. Organizations like OSHA along with worldwide EHS management efforts have made corporations safer for workers. EHS programs are important because they prevent tragedy and protect the health and safety of workers. OSHA has conducted many studies that show the clear benefits of using EHS programs.

Improving environmental health and safety performance within your organization requires an in-depth understanding of management principles and the leadership skills to drive change. A candidate needs to be able to build leadership buy-in for health, safety, and environmental initiatives, lead teams effectively, and create strategies for integrating EHS principles into the culture of any organization, including in a crisis.

In particular, the COVID-19 pandemic has called for EHS leaders to take on and delegate many new and non-traditional environmental health and safety duties. From testing how to best disinfect disposable masks using radiation to organizing the collection of PPE from labs for distribution at hospitals, EHS professionals are playing a wide range of roles in responding to the pandemic that call for adept leadership skills.

For more information click here.

After successful completion of previous phases, the Ministry has decided to re-run the ARPIT 2019 courses in the year 2020.

Note: The Last Date of ARPIT Registration has been extended to 31st December 2020.

In November 2018, the Ministry of Education launched the Annual Refresher Programme In Teaching (ARPIT), a major and unique initiative towards online professional development of 15 lakh higher education faculty using the MOOCs platform SWAYAM.

For implementing ARPIT, 75 discipline-specific National Resource Centres (NRCs) were identified in the first phase in the year 2018-19 as ARPIT 2018 and 48 in the second phase in the year 2019-20 as ARPIT 2019, which were tasked to prepare online training material with focus on latest developments in the discipline, new & emerging trends, pedagogical improvements and methodologies for transacting revised curriculum.

After successful completion of previous phases, the Ministry has decided to re-run the ARPIT 2019 courses in the year 2020.

The ARPIT 2020 course will start from 1st December 2020 and will run till 31st March 2021. The important timelines may be seen in the attachment.

In order to ensure wider publicity and popularizing the online Annual Refresher Programme for faculty being rolled out by MOE on SWAYAM platform, you are requested to encourage the faculty of your respective institution and share this information with the nearby colleges/institutions for their faculty to get themselves enrolled in their discipline-specific of ARPIT courses on SWAYAM so as to enhance their professional skills. For more details, please check ARPIT courses under SWAYAM.

As per the guidelines/regulations of UGC, ARPIT courses are eligible for equivalence for CAS and all learners (including faculties) who successfully complete the online refresher course will be given a certificate.

‘MANAV-The Human Atlas Initiative’ is a project funded by the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), Government of India, co-funded by Persistent Systems Limited (PSL), and implemented through the National Centre of Cell Science (NCCS), Indian Institute of Science, Education and Research (IISER-Pune) and PSL, Pune.

This initiative aims to develop a proof-of-concept for constructing a biological map of the human body, by capturing and collating macro to micro-level data and knowledge available in the scientific literature and other domains.

Further insights into the project are available on Manav website at https://manav.gov.in/.

Who can attend the webinar?
Students, Teachers, Industry Professionals and all science enthusiasts

Speaker: Dr Anu Raghunathan [Senior Principal Scientist - Chemical Engineering Division, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory, Pune]

The global pharmaceutical industry presently relies on the pharmaceutical supply chain in India and China for the manufacture of much of the active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) for both generic and branded drugs. China provides almost two-thirds of the global APIs but Indian pharmaceutical companies have been found to have better capabilities in formulation development, finished drug manufacturing, and product marketing in regulated markets such as United States and Europe.

The Indian pharmaceutical industry has seen revenue growth of 12% per year and the country is producing about 20% of all generics globally, second only to China. With growing efforts to reduce healthcare costs, generics are projected to represent 92% of all drugs globally by 2022. Both India and China’s pharmaceutical industry has come under scrutiny for the pollution resulting from drug manufacturing. In particular, the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria, or “superbugs,” has been attributed in part to insufficient attention to management of pharmaceutical manufacturing waste.

Read more here.

NeuroNovember is a collaborative youth-led initiative, jointly organized by Project Encephalon and Stimulus, to delve deeper into the fascinating field of neuroscience in our uniquely curated 4-day NeuroNovember Convention. It's essentially aimed at raising awareness regarding the plethora of diverse branches that neuroscience entails. This unique four-day event will span throughout the last two weekends of November 2020 featuring, workshops, panels, sessions, competitions, and various other opportunities to engage in interaction and network with leading speakers, organizations, and ventures actively shaping the future of neuroscience. Visit neuronov.org for more information.

Neuroscience is an interdisciplinary field that encompasses the cognitive sciences, medicine psychology, biosciences, social sciences, and arts. These areas call for studies across different dimensions and ideas of thought, and exploring this interdisciplinarity is a youth-led convention that provides an opportunity for the young explorers of today.

Multiple organizations across the globe have introduced neuroscience activities and education among children as young as grade 3, the same cannot be said for schools in India. This has urged Stimulus and Project Encephalon to organize the NeuroNovember Convention - the first international youth-led neuroscience convention from India.

As the interdisciplinarity in the field develops, the intersectionality of the people in neuroscience becomes a crucial topic to discuss simultaneously. With panel discussions on topics like, Neuroscience for all, Science communication in Neuroscience, and Youth-led Neuroscience initiatives, the convention tries, not only to equip the young explorer of the opportunities that lie ahead, but also the issues that exist within it.

Who can attend: Young explorers including high schoolers, undergraduates, graduates and early career researchers, professors, and entrepreneurs.

Events: Oral presentations, poster sessions, panel discussion, competitions, and talks by renowned speakers who share their unique understanding of Neuroscience and the possibilities that lie within it.

The event is available for all to join, free of cost. However, registration is compulsory.

Join the convention to meet speakers from across the globe, discuss ideas and possibilities in neuroscience, and let your mind be challenged by all that lies ahead.

For more information click here.

ICMR Centre for Innovation and Bio-Design (CIBioD)’ located in Post-Graduate Institute of Medical Education and Research (PGIMER), Chandigarh (India), is a platform to Incubate, Prototype, Commercialize Novel Ideas in Healthcare which are both affordable and scalable.

It aims to promote innovation by creating conducive ecosystem with involvement of multiple premier technology institutes in collaboration with PGIMER with following goals:

CIBioD provides exposure of research methodology to researchers, students and faculty of various institutes to inculcate the culture of innovation and learning as a Social Responsibility Measure.

CIBioD is patterned by an Advisory Board, Task Group and Innovation Council consisting of Medical Professionals, Scientists, Industry Professionals & Investors to guide and execute the activities. CIBioD’s Brain Trust includes 14 different institutes/industry like Panjab University, IIT (Ropar), NIT (Jalandhar), CSIR-CSIO, IIM (Calcutta), Thapar Institute, NCKUH (Taiwan), RMS Technologies, DY Patil University.

CIBioD has already applied for 08 Patents and 10 IPR under processing stage. It offers ‘Promotion of Innovation & Entrepreneurship (PIE)’ programme along with Short Term Attachment Programme. Various projects like Quantitative Sensory Testing (QST) Device, E-Stethoscope (Wireless Digital Stethoscope), EMR (Electronic Medical Record), Intelligent Patient Care System (i-BED), E-OPD, NAMO Gamcha, Ventilator, Tele-Cardiology, Project Muskan, Rakshak Disinfection Tunnel, Swachh Kamal, Aarogya Prahari, Censy, Bachav are at different stages of development.

Click here for more information.

IndiaBiostreams: Webinar on Crafting your Career - Session 4