‘PhD café’ is a one-of-a-kind seminar series for PhD researchers life sciences across India; the series will host ~60 pre-selected PhD researchers (in advanced stages of their PhD and close to graduation) to present their work to experts and the wider community in various fields of experimental biology.
The sessions are structured based on fields of work, with five days of virtual sessions and online interactions. The sessions will provide PhD researchers an opportunity to present their research work to the community, as well as seek inputs, feedback, and suggestions from senior scientific colleagues on different aspects of their work. At the end of their presentation, the PhD researcher would have had a pre-defense sort of experience, with scientific as well as professional inputs to advance their careers.
Supported by the Company of Biologists, this online series will showcase experimental biology-related work being done by PhD researchers in India; with potential immediate and long-term gains for the broader life science ecosystem in India.
Important Dates
Dates: 23 September — 27 September 2024
Mode of engagement: Online
Meeting link: To register to listen to the talks, please find the meeting link here.
Meeting Focus Areas
Meeting Format
Research in interdisciplinary areas and areas not limited to the fields below is encouraged.
Each talk of 20 minutes + 10 minutes of Q/A. Talks should be structured to have not more than 12 content slides + 1 title slide + 1 last slide = 14 TOTAL for each speaker.
Please note: Talks and Q/A will be sticking to time slots.
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IMPORTANT: Virtual meeting links
Link to listen to scientific talks can be found here.
Link to join networking sessions each day can be found here.
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NEW: Full schedule
The session-wise schedule of speakers with title talks can be found here.
Plant Biology
Speakers:
Yogesh Pant, IIT Mandi; Hrutuja S Shirsat, Dr. Vishwanath Karad, MIT-World Peace University, Pune; Sushmitha J, ICAR-IARI, New Delhi; Supriya S Kammar,JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research, Mysore,
Postdoc careers in India (Facilitator: Pratik Chaudhari, TIFR Mumbai)
Open to all
Cellular Biology
Speakers:
Shamima Khatoon, CSIR-CDRI, Lucknow;
Kalyani Rajendra Aswale, BRIC- National Institute of Animal Biotechnology (NIAB);
Soujanya Vinayagamurthy, CSIR- Institute Of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi;
Shreyas Niphadkar, inStem, Bengaluru; Sanjana Sarkar, CDFD, Hyderabad;
Prajnadipta Panda, Indian Institute of Technology Mandi
Neurobiology
Speakers:
Satyajit Ghosh, IIT Jodhpur; Ankit Sharma, JNCASR; Sabnam Sahin Rahman, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi; Papri Das, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi; Janani T, PSG Institute of Advanced Studies, Coimbatore
Non-academic career paths after a PhD (Facilitator: Aditi Jain, American Society for Microbiology)
Open to all
Microbiology
Speakers:
Simran Chhabra, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Faridabad;
Sudhanshu Mudgal, Amity University, Haryana;
Sakshi Poddar, National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER), BBSR;
Shiksha Sharma, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay;
Sreepadmanabh M, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore;
Souradeepa Ghosh, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur
Molecular Biology
Speakers:
Satyam Singh, Indian Institute of Technology Indore;
Sweety Meel, NCBS-TIFR;
Debraj Manna, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore;
Ajit Kumar, CSIR-IGIB, New Delhi;
Priyamvada, Vellore Institute of Technology
Building your professional networks as a PhD researcher (Facilitator: Snehal Kadam, Hull-York Medical School, UK)
Open to all
Animal Biology
Speakers:
Venketesh Kumar Panda , KIIT Deemed To Be University, Bhubaneswar; Sushmita Nandy, St. Xavier’s College (Autonomous), Kolkata; Anwesha Acharjee, IISER Kolkata; Dimple Acharya, Institute of Bioinformatics And Applied Biotechnology (IBAB), Bangalore; Anirban Sardar, CSIR Lucknow
Membrane Biology
Speakers:
Suman Saurav, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Haryana; Kinjal Sanghrajka, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research; Avinash Kumar Gautam, Jawaharlal Nehru University
Postdoc careers out of India (Facilitator: Sravanthi Nadiminti, Leibniz-Forschungsinstitut für Molekulare Pharmakologie, Germany)
Open to all
Medicine and Physiology
Speakers:
Sonal Fande, BITS Pilani, Hyderabad; Payal Gupta, Regional Centre for Biotechnology, Haryana; Tanvi Sharma, Panjab University; Akshatha NS, JSS Academy of Higher Education and Research; Soumya BS, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru
Ecology and Evolutionary Biology
Speakers:
Pavithra Venkataraman, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay;
Nayan Chakraborty, Simons Centre for the Study of Living Machines, National Centre for Biological Sciences, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Bangalore, India
Transferable skills to develop during a PhD (Facilitator: Arushi Batra, IndiaBioscience)
Open to all
Developmental Biology
Speakers:
Umanshi Rautela, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi;
Akshaya Ashok, Manipal Academy of Higher Education, Bengaluru; Vishwadeep Mane, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru; Olivia Majhi, Banaras Hindu University
Applications for speakers are invited from PhD researchers in the life sciences (‘PhD researcher’ refers to those currently enrolled in a PhD program in India), preferably those in the advanced stages of their degree.
Researchers pursuing their PhD from any recognised institute / university / college across India are eligible to apply. We particularly encourage applications from state universities, central universities and private institutions, as well as PhD researchers from geographically diverse regions of India.
While a PhD researcher at any stage in their PhD can apply, we particularly encourage applications from senior PhD researchers and those with a sufficient body of work. There is no age cut off.
Application form
Interested PhD researchers can apply using this application form.
In the application form, please select the field of biology closest to your area of research. We encourage interdisciplinary research and areas not limited to the fields mentioned.
Applications open on: 1 August 2024
Date of closure of applications: 20 August 2024
For queries / clarifications, please email us at hello@indiabioscience.org.
Applications from PhD researchers will be screened (by a committee) and up to 6 speakers will be selected for each session.
Shortlisted speakers will be informed by email by 1 September 2024.
PhD speakers will be expected to confirm their participation to give a talk by 10 September 2024, after which waitlisted candidates may be offered a slot.
Following their acceptance, shortlisted PhD speakers will be required to pay a registration fee of INR 1000 to confirm their slot. Payment mode and details will be shared on email. IndiaBioscience can provide each speaker an invoice and payment proof for reimbursement purposes. The registration fee is non-refundable.
Speakers are encouraged to share a PDF version of their slides by email by 20 September 2024. For data protection and privacy reasons, a speaker may opt to share their slides at the time of the presentation, however in this case, technical operations/challenges will be the responsibility of the speaker. All speakers will be given the allotted time of 20 min for their talks and 10 mins for Q/A.
Select screenshots of talks will be shared on social media and via the IndiaBioscience newsletter; if you do not want a screenshot of a particular piece of data to be taken or shared, you may please indicate this clearly on the slide.
Please note: Talks should be structured to have not more than 12 content slides + 1 title slide + 1 last slide = 14 TOTAL for each speaker. Talks and Q/A will be sticking to time slots.
A schedule of the talks, titles of the talks, and speaker names will be shared here by 18 September 2024.
The PhD café series will host invited experts in various fields of experimental biology as mentors to provide suggestions / feedback to PhD researchers. In doing so, this will provide PhD researchers a ‘pre-defense’ type of experience.
NCCS, Pune
Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
The PhD café seminar series will be a virtual event, open to anyone wanting to attend the talks.
This is designed so to ensure geographic diversity in participation and accessibility to PhD researchers and the life science community across India. This is particularly important given the vast size of India as a country, and travel cost and logistics related challenges for PhD researchers in the country.
The virtual nature of the seminar will also minimise the ‘carbon footprint’ of the meeting, including fuel consumption related to air and road travel and plastic materials for food packaging, and in conference kits, badges and paper notebooks.
The proposed PhD café meeting will follow a ‘no garland’ model of scientific meetings, with accessibility, sustainability and diversity at its centre.
PhD speakers may request a certificate (indicating they gave a talk) at the end of the seminar series via the feedback form.
All IndiaBioscience Meetings, Workshops, and Conferences are subject to a Conference Code of Conduct.
IndiaBioscience is dedicated to providing an inclusive and harassment-free experience for everyone, regardless of gender, gender identity and expression, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, caste, or religion. We do not tolerate harassment of event participants in any form. All communication should be appropriate for a professional audience including people of many different backgrounds. We expect participants to follow these rules at all event venues (virtual or physical) and event-related social events.
Speakers and Presenters: Sexual language and imagery are not appropriate for the event venue, including talks and posters. Sexist, racist or exclusionary jokes are not acceptable.
Participants: Harassment includes offensive verbal comments related to gender, sexual orientation, disability, physical appearance, body size, race, caste, religion, sexual images in public spaces, deliberate intimidation, stalking, following, harassing photography or recording, sustained disruption of talks or other events, inappropriate physical contact, and unwelcome sexual attention.
Sponsors: Sponsors are also subject to the anti-harassment policy.
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Action: Attendees asked to stop any harassing behaviour are expected to comply immediately. If an attendee engages in behaviour that violates this code of conduct, the conference organisers may take any action they deem appropriate, including warning the offender, expelling him or her from the premises with no refund or expelling them from the virtual event (i.e. webinar, workshop, course etc).
Conference staff members are there to help participants contact appropriate authorities, provide escorts, or otherwise assist those experiencing harassment to feel safe for the duration of the conference. We value your attendance.
Contact: If you are harassed, have noticed that someone else is being harassed, or have any other concerns, please contact: ryim@indiabioscience.org
License: This Conference Code of Conduct was modified from the Code of Conduct for JSFOO 2014 and Code of Conduct for YIM 2015, available under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License, and the Geek Feminism Wiki, created by the Ada Initiative and volunteers, available under a Creative Commons Zero license.
The Conference Code of Conduct for IndiaBioscience events is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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