Chandrayaan-3 to herald India’s quantum leap in the global arena: Jitendra Singh

Speaking as the Chief Guest at the 11th India Alliance Annual Conclave 2023 in Hyderabad, Singh highlighted the increasing demand for India’s partnership in frontier sectors of science and technology by developed countries.

India Alliance is a unique partnership between department of biotechnology and Wellcome Trust, UK with a focus on building strong, world-class, biomedical research human resources in India at a scale where the country can make a global impact.

Jitendra Singh said, the impactful journey of India Alliance over the last 15 years has strengthened the research and funding ecosystem of India and enabled successful implementations and interventions to bring impactful changes in the biomedical and clinical research ecosystem in the country.

He informed that in 2019, on completing 10 years, India Alliance launched the Team Science Grants and Clinical/Public Health Research Centres to find solutions to the problems of modern society requiring interdisciplinary and collaborative research.

Highlighting the upcoming milestone, the minister acknowledged the 15-year successful partnership between DBT, Government of India, and Wellcome Trust. Through generous funding schemes, the India Alliance has played a pivotal role in retaining research talent in India, promoting career progression and professional development for Indian researchers, and enhancing capacity building, technology, policy, and practice.

The India Alliance has invested in research management capacity building, benefiting over 589 research scientists across 137 organizations in 48 cities in India. The alliance has fostered collaborations nationally and internationally, contributing to India’s competitiveness in science and research on a global scale.

Jitendra Singh highlighted the alliance’s collaborations with countries such as the USA, UK, Australia, and France, and its partnerships with organizations like the European Molecular Biology Organization (EMBO), Cancer Research UK, and the African Academy of Sciences. These collaborations have catalyzed international cooperation and facilitated interdisciplinary scientific meetings in underserved areas of research.

The Minister also emphasized the India Alliance’s efforts to bridge the gap between basic, clinical, and public health research. He commended the alliance’s response during the Covid-19 pandemic, with grant holders actively participating in diagnosis and treatment, and its initiatives like the Developing Indian Physician Scientists (DIPS) workshops, which promote scientific curiosity among young doctors.

Singh noted with satisfaction that India Alliance’s attempts into strengthening clinical and public health research has started to bear fruit. He informed that Grant holders‘ research has influenced therapeutic options for the treatment of severe scrub typhus, unearthed novel methods to evaluate nutrient bioavailability, impacted One Health approaches in rabies research, and developed tele-health interventions for tuberculosis treatment.

The minister concluded by saying that at the Conclave, India Alliance-funded researchers will present their significant research findings, covering a wide range of topics including biomedical advancements, antimicrobial resistance, infectious diseases, maternal and child health, and veterinary research.

He said, the conclave will also delve into critical discussions on public engagement initiatives and explore the potential of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare, by fostering collaboration, networking, and visionary dialogues to address key challenges and unlocking new opportunities for innovation and progress.

Updated: 15 Jul 2023, 01:11 AM IST