Seventeen scientists from scientific institutions across India have been awarded the Swarnajayanti Fellowships for their innovative research ideas and the potential of creating an impact on R&D in different disciplines.
Scientists selected for the award will be allowed to pursue unfettered research with freedom and flexibility in terms of expenditure as approved in the research plan. The scientists with proven track records, and selected through a rigorous three-layered screening process, will pursue basic research in frontier areas of science and technology.
The Swanajayanti Fellowship scheme was instituted by Govt. of India to commemorate India’s fiftieth year of Independence. Under the scheme the awardees are facilitated by the Department of Science & Technology, GOI with support for all the requirements for performing the research including a fellowship of Rs 25,000/- per month for five years. In addition, DST supports the awardees by giving them a research grant of Rs 5 lakh for five years. The fellowship is provided in addition to the salary they draw from their parent Institution. In addition to fellowship, grants for equipment, computational facilities, consumables, contingencies, national and international travel and other special requirements, are covered based on merit.
Four scientists were awarded for their work in life sciences. They are as follows:
Dr Siddhesh S Kamat, Indian Institute of Science Education & Research Pune: He studies the biological mechanisms of lipid signalling pathways in the mammalian nervous and immune system. He aims to provide new insights and therapeutic paradigms for orphan and/or emerging human neurological and immunological diseases.
Dr Sridharan Devarajan, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru: His area of work is Cognition, Computation and Behaviour encompassing ‘how does our brain enable us to pay attention selectively to some things and to ignore others or what happens in the brain when we make important decisions’. His research focuses on understanding the neural basis of cognitive phenomena such as selective attention and decision making.
Dr Niti Kumar, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow: Her research is focused on understanding protein quality control machinery in human malaria parasites for exploration of alternative drug targets for malaria intervention. She is also involved in antimalarial screening for the identification of scaffolds effective against drug-resistant malaria
Dr Nitin Gupta, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur: He works to understand the remarkable capabilities organised by the brain — from seeing to singing, from remembering to running. His research involves the electrical activity of neurons help them interact forming circuits which encode innate behavioural preferences.
(Edits by EP News Bureau)