Merck announces Remarkable Merck Young Scientists Awards 2023

Merck recently announced the winners of Merck Young Scientists Awards, Season-3 to recognise young scientists in India.

Held at Bangalore, the annual awards recognise the work of young scientists who are driving positive change in the lives of millions across India through their cutting-edge research in life sciences. 

Reportedly, the third season of the Merck Young Scientist Award Program garnered an overwhelming response with over 1500 registrations from nearly 800 institutes across India, resulting in over 500 high-quality applications.

This year’s award programme invited applications from three distinct categories, namely:

• Biological Sciences

• Chemical Sciences

• A special category dedicated to Sustainability Research (green chemistry, renewable/alternate energy, sustainable materials and manufacturing), reflecting the growing significance of environmental consciousness in scientific research

The committee selected three winners each from the biological and chemical sciences categories and 1 winner in the sustainability research category. Here are the winners and runners-up:

Winners

• Biological Science Winners: Dr Harsha Bajaj, Dr Debarka Sengupta, Dr Saroj Kumar Nandi

• Chemical Science Winners: Dr Uttam Kumar Ghorai, Dr Santanu Panda, Dr Shobhna Kapoor

• Sustainability Winner: Dr John Mandal

Runner-up

• Biological Science Runner-ups: Dr Mahipal Ganji, Dr Aravind Kumar Rengan, Dr Neha Bhardwaj

• Chemical Science Runner-up: Dr Shibdas Banerjee, Dr Sandip Murarka, Dr Chinmoy Kumar Hazra

• Sustainability Runner-up: Dr Archana Singh

The winners received a prize of Rs 350,000, comprising a cash award of Rs 250,000 and a travel award of Rs 100,000. Additionally, seven runner-up recipients, were awarded Rs 100,000.

The Merck Young Scientist Award applications are reviewed by the panel of experts. The jury panel was chaired by three scientists: Dr Anurag Agarwal, Dean, BioSciences and Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, Dr Radha Rangarajan, Director of CSIR-CDRI, and Dr Srinivasa Reddy, Director of CSIR-IICT. The jury has twelve members including: Dr Kavirayani Prasad from IISc, Dr Chepuri Ramana from NCL, Prof Krishna P Kaliappan from IIT-Bombay, Prof Yogeeswari Perumal, Dean of BITS-Pilani, Prof Chinmay Mukhopadhyay from JNU, Prof Pankaj Seth from NBRC, Prof Nihar Ranjan Jana from IIT Kharagpur, Dr Ghanshyam Swarup from CCMB, Dr Beena Pillai from CSIR-IGIB, Prof Tharmalingam Punniyamurthy from IIT Guwahati, Prof S Dasappa from IISC Bangalore, and Dr Taruna Madan, Scientist G and Head, Development Research, Indian Council of Medical Research.