Sci-ROI Connect
Volume 22 | May 21, 2022
Sci-ROI Initiative
Sci-ROI Global is excited to announce that the registration for the next virtual recruitment drive will be opening on May 22nd. We bring to you multiple recruiters from academic and private sectors in India who are looking for exceptional PhD or postdoc level candidates in STEM sectors. Anyone who is currently working outside India in STEM sectors is eligible to apply.

Learn more here.
The Ramanujan Fellowship is a scheme instituted by the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB) under Department of Science and Technology (DST). This fellowship is meant for brilliant Indian scientists and engineers from outside India who want to transition back to Indian academia, and take up scientific research positions in India.

Sci-ROI will be organizing a webinar on 4th June, Saturday focusing on the grant-writing process for this fellowship. We will have invited talks from the faculty who received the Ramanujan fellowship in the previous years followed by a panel discussion with representatives from the host institutions and DST-SERB. We hope to understand the perspectives of all three levels – the applicants, host institutes, and funding agency involved in the application/review process of this fellowship for the benefit of our members.


For more details and registration, click here.
If you are interested to help the next generation of transitioning Indian diaspora to start their career in India, become a mentor for Return2India Mentorship Program and provide guidance and mentoring to fellow STEM professionals planning to transition to India soon.  You can also sign up as a mentee as someone who might need guidance on how to transition physically to India, set up in a new city, look for collaborative opportunities, and new funding resources.

For more information, click here.
To facilitate cross-sector partnerships and networking in India, Sci-ROI@India launched a collaborative database that will capture the information from all current and independent STEM professionals in India who would be willing to have potential collaborations with academic, industrial, non-academic or non-profit partners.

Established STEM professionals across all disciplines in academia, industry, non-profit and non-academic sectors currently working and residing in India can initiate collaborations with other STEM professionals at their current capacity.

Learn more here.
Prof. Umesh Varshney is a professor at IISc Bangalore and his group’s research focuses on mechanistic aspects of protein synthesis and DNA repair using E. coli and Mycobacteria as model systems. As part of the Forerunner series of Sci-ROI@Blogs, Sci-ROI Global Volunteers Sreesha Sudhakar and Rohit Vaidya talk to Prof. Varshney about his research journey in the field of molecular biology, the rewarding experiences and challenging moments, his perspective on Indian research and his advice to early career researchers.

Read more in our latest blog here.
Listen to the Sci-ROI’s first podcast series on ‘Return to India’ stories. We are proud to feature our very own, Dr. Avijit Banik, an active member of Sci-ROI’s Leadership Team as he shares about his transition journey from the Emory University, Atlanta, US to the GITAM University, Visakhapatnam, India as an associate professor. Dr. Avijit is a cognitive neuroscientist with specialization in the field of Alzheimer’s disease. He obtained his Ph.D. from PGIMER, Chandigarh in 2014 and then went on to receive his post-doctoral trainings, from National University of Singapore and Emory University, Atlanta for more than six years, before he moved back to India in January 2022. 

Listen to his transition journey here.
#2: Mentorship programs available for newly-hired faculty

Sci-ROI Global presents a video series featuring experts from Indian academia and industry answering some frequently asked questions related to the transition...

Read more
www.youtube.com

Sci-ROI is inviting members to write blog articles with a focus on STEM sectors in India. We are looking at several ideas such as - New Faculty transition, Established Scientists in Indian academics, Current STEM events, Cutting edge Research in Indian Academia or Industry, Online STEM education, Creative STEM ventures, Start-up stories, Unique Careers and many more.

If you have any idea or unique story which you want to share with our members, please pitch them by writing to us at: research.ops.india@gmail.com
Current Job Opportunities in India
Sci-ROI's job portal is dedicated for helping researchers and Ph.D. scholars accessing job opportunities in India. These job listings are targeted towards research, industry and entrepreneurship that may be of interest to the STEM community. Checkout some new additions to our Job Portal.
Current Affairs
Privileged to contribute to S&T ecosystem: India's new...

Dr. A K Sood is appointed as the Principal Scientific Advisor (PSA) to the Government of India. He succeeds Prof. K. VijayRaghavan. Dr. Sood is a physicist and a Distinguished Professor of at the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru...

Read more
www.newindianexpress.com
Next Gen Scientists Foundation (NGSF) launched their flagship scicomm competition, the NxG science communicator- Multiverse. Build an alternate reality without Nobel laureate(s) and take readers there with your essay and illustrations. First prize INR 10K. There is a need for sustained science communication efforts that penetrate social media to help people make well-informed decisions. NGSF endeavor to build a system that can effectively do this with help of creative Indian life science students identified through their essay competition- The NxG Science Communicator. 

Enter the multiverse here.
Highlight of the Month
Sci-ROI Global hosted the focused webinar last month on “Crafting a Career in Science Communication in India”.

Would you like to know what it takes to create and sustain a career in Science and Medical Communication in India? Ever wondered what the recruiters are looking for, where to find and network for such opportunities and how different is the recruitment process from traditional academic positions? learn all you need to know through this recorded talks and panel discussion about landing your the dream job!
 
Watch the recorded webinar here.
Sci-ROI Global, in association with SNSF (Swiss National Science Foundation), presents an informational webinar on funding opportunities for initiating and sustaining collaborations between researchers based in Switzerland and India. The webinar contains a presentation from Mr. Ryan Timothy, scientific officer at SNSF about the different funding opportunities, followed by Q&A with Sci-ROI Coordinators.

Watch it on our YouTube Channel HERE.
Interesting Reads
Union Minister for Science & Technology, Dr. Jitendra Singh held a high level meeting with    President, DFG (German Research Foundation) Prof. Katja Becker in Berlin to propose a joint "Artificial Intelligence" ('AI') initiative on healthcare and sustainability.

Read more here.
What is PhD by Indian Scientists

Scientists form various India research institutes share their views on what a PhD is, what should it accomplish, why one should pursue PhD and problems faced by a PhD student...

Read more
www.youtube.com
Volunteer's Corner
NITIN KHANDELWAL
Nitin is a 5th year postdoctoral research scholar at UT Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas, TX. His research project is focused to understand transcription factor-regulated-cell type specific contributions to striatal development in autism spectrum disorder. He completed his PhD in Neuroscience from CSIR-CCMB, Hyderabad, India in 2017 before moving to the US. He learned about Sci-ROI a couple of years back from his colleagues and also participated in a few of last years’ events. This year Nitin joined Sci-ROI as a volunteer to help Indian researchers in finding a suitable place for their future career. He is part of the social media and job portal team and will be helping in organizing Sci-ROI events for the year 2022. He is also handling a few leadership roles in the postdoc community at UTSW.

Learn more about Nitin here.
PRADEEP KESHAVANARAYANA
Pradeep is currently a research fellow at the University of Birmingham, UK, working on mathematical modelling of vasculature. He obtained his undergraduate degree in Civil Engineering from NITK Surathkal. After which, he moved to the University of Stuttgart, Germany to pursue M.Sc in Computational Mechanics. Having developed a keen interest in Biomechanics, he went on to the University of Glasgow, UK to work on cell mechanics as part of his Ph.D. Prior to starting his postdoc, he had a brief stint at Agnikul Cosmos, a start-up working on designing and building satellite launch vehicles, located at IIT Madras, India. At Sci-ROI, Pradeep volunteers closely with the graphics and fund raising and helps in outreach in Europe. Apart from work he loves to spend his time in photography, music, and sports.

Learn more about Pradeep here.
If you want to share any information or upcoming event, please write to us at research.ops.india@gmail.com