The Tuesday Interview | ‘Industry partnerships, new funding sources key to future research’

After leading a series of successful pandemic-related research projects, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) is entering a phase of increased academia-industry collaboration and taking up new, critical responsibilities that include knowledge support to India’s science and technology missions. Its director, Prof Govindan Rangarajan, spoke with DH’s R Krishnakumar on democratising science, identifying financial resources to encourage future generations of researchers, and the institute’s continuing engagement with interdisciplinarity. Excerpts:

Your years at the helm of IISc have also been marked by the pandemic. How would you describe the tenure in terms of challenges and opportunities? What is the outlook as we ease out of the COVID years?

The COVID-19 pandemic was a huge challenge for us, just as it was for other institutions. But we are extremely proud of the fact that the entire IISc community rose magnificently to the occasion. Frontline workers and staff members continued to work through the many lockdowns. Faculty members and students also adapted well to the online mode of teaching.

Our researchers have also contributed to the larger battle against the pandemic. Many of our faculty members and students chose to pursue COVID-19-related research – both basic and applied. Over 40 projects have been carried out in diverse areas: diagnostics and surveillance, hospital assistive devices, modeling and simulation, sanitation and disinfection, and vaccine development. The projects include an affordable and accurate RT-PCR test, oxygen concentrators and generators, mobile testing labs, low-cost ventilators for hospitals, a contact-tracing app, drones to disinfect places that are otherwise hard to reach, and a vaccine candidate against the virus which can be stored at room temperature, and is ideal for transportation to remote regions.

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The COVID-19 pandemic also made us realise the importance of clinical research and healthcare, and it greatly motivated us to establish a postgraduate medical school and hospital.

IISc’s operational status as an Institution of Eminence (IoE), starting late 2018, has also coincided with most of this phase. Can you share how this status – with autonomy and financial support – is repositioning IISc in terms of human resources, infrastructure and global collaborations?

In October 2018, IISc entered into an MoU with the then Ministry of Human Resource Development (now Ministry of Education) to operationalise its status as an IoE. The status has given IISc, already India’s premier institution of research and higher education, a significant fillip to its aspirations of being counted among the best in the world.

When the IoE programme was announced, the vision we had in mind covered several important advancements: Calibrated growth of human resources for research, boosting globalisation, emphasising research in frontier and futuristic areas, strengthening new and existing research facilities, and ensuring an efficient, smart, attractive campus with modern facilities.

We have initiated several programmes to increase our global reach. We have instituted the Satish Dhawan Visiting Professorship to host outstanding researchers from around the world, and the CV Raman Postdoctoral Fellowship, a highly selective programme to encourage exceptional young researchers. We have also been benchmarking ourselves through periodic international reviews of departments and divisions.

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The IoE scheme has enabled us to kick-start cutting-edge research in interdisciplinary areas by providing seed grants to different faculty groups. In the last few years, we have started new MTech and PhD programmes in areas like bio-engineering, earth and climate sciences, robotics and autonomous systems, and electronic product design. IoE funding has also enabled us to recruit facility managers for high-end research facilities, and expand infrastructure for hostels and housing.

How do you see the potential of interdisciplinary research in India? What have been your takeaways from this coming-together of competencies where startups and private industry are also emerging as key partners?

You have raised two important issues: interdisciplinarity and industry partnerships in research. Let’s take interdisciplinarity first. We neatly divide science into different subjects in our schools and colleges. And research is also typically done in departments dedicated to different disciplines. But nature has no boundaries.

Many years ago, IISc recognised the importance of interdisciplinarity and we set up a division dedicated to such interdisciplinary research. It currently has 10 departments and several cross-departmental initiatives in areas as diverse as bio-engineering, robotics, data sciences, energy and nanotechnology. This priority is also reflected in many of our new academic programmes – for instance, PhD in Earth and Climate Sciences and MTech in Artificial Intelligence. Our focus on thematic research brings together researchers with different skills and expertise, as well as approaches to problem solving.

The second issue raised is that of collaborations. Many grand challenges like climate change, energy shortage, food security and healthcare cannot be addressed by researchers working in silos. We need to have collaborations not just across departments and academic institutions but also between academia and industry – both established ones and startups. Collaborations are required for us to be able to share know-how, data and resources in order to take on these challenges.

The Foundation for Science, Innovation and Development (FSID) on campus has initiated more than 500 projects with industries over the years, and incubated over 70 startups in different domains. We have signed several MoUs with Indian and international institutions. We are also working closely with many industry partners to set up centres of excellence and dedicated research labs in areas such as 3D bioprinting, networked robotics and cybersecurity. Many of our new initiatives, like the AI and Robotics Technology Park (ARTPARK) established with support from the central and state governments, are examples of spaces that enable industry-academic collaborations for deep science and technology problems. If we want to do meaningful research and solve the problems confronting us, we require both interdisciplinarity and collaboration with industry.

The Office of the Principal Scientific Advisor has set up the Policy Analytics and Insights Unit (PAIU) at the IISc. How is the unit shaping up and once functional, what would be its scope and areas of application?

The Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India (OPSA) has established the PAIU at IISc to provide data and research support to the office’s key initiatives such as the Prime Minister’s Science, Technology, and Innovation Advisory Council, various research and innovation governance initiatives including the National Research Foundation, and international initiatives such as the G20-Chief Science Advisers Round-table, matters of Quadrilateral Security Dialogue, Indo-US initiative on Critical and Emerging Technologies, and some of the other key initiatives which demand a dedicated policy analytics and insights-driven knowledge support to OPSA. By the end of May 2023, the core team of PAIU will be in place and the operations will begin.

What is the institute’s vision on taking science and scientific research closer to the people? Can there be an extension of the Open-Day idea that entails a larger awareness/outreach programme?

The role of a research institution like IISc does not begin and end with research. We need to make sure that we communicate our research and its social relevance directly to people. After all, we rely mostly on the generosity of the taxpayer to carry out a good part of our research. More importantly, we have a responsibility to increase scientific literacy among people. This includes not just communicating the latest breakthroughs but also the process of science. Towards this end, we have many initiatives: a quarterly magazine called Connect, a research newsletter called Kernel, regular press releases on new research publications, active social media updates, and books published by IISc Press.

But by far, the most popular outreach initiative is Open Day which we usually have on the first Saturday of March every year. On Open Day, IISc’s departments throw their doors open to the public. This year, as many as 80,000 people visited our campus on Open Day. However, it is not possible for any one person to cover all the exhibits and witness all the experiments in a single day. Moreover, not everyone can visit IISc’s campus that day. But it would be difficult logistically to extend the duration of Open Day. So we are exploring other ways to engage with people.

Our students have also been actively engaged in scientific outreach. A group called Science for Rural India has been visiting schools in and around Bengaluru to teach children scientific concepts using simple, homemade experiments. Notebook Drive, another student-run initiative, has not only been distributing books to schoolchildren but also actively organising scholarship initiatives, mentorship programmes, Children’s Day celebrations, science fairs, robotics and computer training, and more.

Looking at student intakes in niche and emerging streams and the interest in research, how hopeful are you of future generations approaching scientific research as a rewarding/lucrative career option in India?

We have absolutely no doubt that there are several young people with curious minds who want to take up research. But we would also need to ensure that there is enough funding for research for the next generation. It is therefore crucial that we find new sources of funding – particularly from industry, philanthropists and our alumni.

The Government of India has launched several schemes to encourage students to consider research as a career option. There are dedicated grants for women scientists, Indian scientists abroad who want to return to India, and so on.

In recent years, many companies have also been emphasising deep science and technology research. Therefore, I have no doubt that there will be many avenues that students can explore outside traditional academic spaces too.

There is also growing awareness among young students about diverse research paths available to them. Many institutes are offering more flexibility in allowing students to pursue projects and collaborations that are outside their core departments, or even as part of broad industry-academia partnerships. This will also help strengthen students’ skills and expose them to a wider variety of challenging problems they can cut their teeth on.

This is also a time of narratives that tend to pit scientific temper against traditional wisdom and by extension, its cultural interpretations. Is the conflict worrisome?

Science, driven by curiosity and scientific temper, seeks to understand how the world works. Traditional wisdom draws from accumulated knowledge over several centuries. My view is that the two need not be in conflict with each other as long as our education system promotes a broad-based curriculum and encourages critical thinking. At the same time, we need to ensure that we have an intellectually honest engagement between modern science and ancient wisdom.