Guest Lecture on 17.11.2023

Department of Microbiology and Biotechnology

Title of the event:       Guest Lecture on “Possible Funding Opportunities for Research”        

Type of Event:           Guest Lecture           

Date(s):                       17 November 2023                                        

Venue:                        A.V. Hall                                

Name of Resource person (if any) with designation, address, email address & contact no.:

No. of Participants/Beneficiaries:               100      

Name of the activity Coordinator:               Prof. Nidhi Gupta

Name of Collaborating Agency (if any) with address & contact no.: NA

Objective of the activity:

• To make faculty and scholars aware of the science and technology schemes and funding opportunities available in India for career development in science with specific reference to biotechnology and microbiology.

Summary:

Dr. Manoj Singh Rohilla delivered an expert talk at IIS (deemed to be University), Jaipur on different funding opportunities available in India for faculty and scholars. The event commenced with a warm welcome and introduction of the speaker, followed by an engaging presentation. It was attended by faculty members, research scholars and students of biotechnology, microbiology, zoology, chemistry, botany, environmental sciences, home science, physics, mathematics, statistics, geography, computer science and IT.  

Key Highlights: Dr Rohilla started his talk by discussing the science & technology landscape in India and involvement of various ministries in the development of the S&T ecosystem in the country. He briefly introduced the history of establishment of Department of Biotechnology; Govt. of India and also explained the different funding programs, fellowships, schemes, their eligibility criteria, application processes, and timelines associated with government grants supported by DBT and other scientific departments like DST, CSIR etc.. The following grants and programs were covered:

• DBT HRD Schemes like Post Graduate (PG) Teaching Program, STAR College scheme, DBT-JRF, DBT-RA, MK Bhan Fellowship, Ramalingaswamy Re-Entry (RRE) Fellowship, BioCARe Program, DBT-TWAS Fellowship, Khorana Program, Biotech Industrial Training Program (BITP) and Skill Development Program in Biotechnology.
• Fellowship schemes and grants of CSIR like JRF-GATE, SRF-Direct, Research Associateship, Senior Research Associateship, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Fellowship, HRDG-Nehru Science Postdoctoral Research Fellowship, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology, GN Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biology and Technology, CSIR Young Scientist Award and CSIR Bhatnagar Fellowship.
• Women Scientist Schemes for women between the age group of 27-57 years who had a career break and desired to return to the mainstream. The schemes addressed were WOS-A, WOS-B, and WOS-C.
• Schemes of the Department of Science & Technology like INSPIRE, INSPIRE-MANAK, WISE-KIRAN, FIST, PURSE, SAIF, SATHI, STUTI, etc.

Dr. Rohilla also explained about 16 DBT autonomous institutions in India and the major research areas covered by them. He shared the success story of development of ROTAVAC® which was the first Indian rotavirus vaccine to be prequalified by WHO paving the way for its immediate introduction into India’s Universal Immunization Programme (UIP) and opening it up for sourcing by low- and middle-income countries with GAVI support. Another success story for DBT was to lead the implementation of ‘Mission COVID Suraksha –The Indian COVID-19 Vaccine Development Mission’, by BIRAC, under Atma Nirbhar Bharat. Four COVID-19 vaccines supported under this received Emergency Use Authoriztion (EUA) by FDA. These are: ZyCoV-D (World’s 1st and India’s indigenously developed DNA Vaccine), CORBEVAXTM (Protein subunit vaccine), GEMCOVAC-19TM (mRNA vaccine), and iNCOVACC (India’s 1st Intranasal COVID-19 Vaccine). Dr. Rohilla also introduced the four biotechnology science clusters established by DBT to build synergy and promoting networking in biotech sector across India. The lecture ended by a question and answer session where Dr. Rohilla addressed to different queries raised by participants.

Outcome of the activity:

The guest lecture provided valuable insights and guidance to the academic community. Attendees left with a deeper understanding of the diverse funding sources available and practical tips for navigating the competitive landscape of research funding. Key takeaways were as follows:

• The participants gained insights on various women-oriented government schemes and programs at all levels viz., post-graduate, doctoral, and post-doctoral.
• Apart from the individual-level programs, the addressed organization-level schemes were also an important takeaway for the institute.
• The talk encouraged the incubation center of the institute to promote various science-related startups utilizing the available funding schemes of the government.
• Researchers gained insights into exploring partnerships with private corporations and leveraging industry funding for their projects.

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