Prof.Ranjana Aggarwal, Director of CSIR-NIScPR felicitating the students with certificates

“Science has no boundaries and passion is the prerequisite to be a scientist. Through path-breaking discoveries & inventions, scientists address the challenges of the general public.” Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director of CSIR-NIScPR (CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication & Policy Research), New Delhi, shared these thoughts during her inaugural address in a Student-Scientist Connect Programme organised by CSIR-NIScPR.

The programme was conducted under the Jigyasa programme of CSIR in which 33 school students from Jaipur, Rajasthan visited NIScPR, Pusa campus, New Delhi, on 3 November 2022. 

While interacting with the students, Prof. Aggarwal stressed the importance of building a career in basic sciences and enthralled the students with experiences from her own scientific and academic career. She conveyed how the country’s problems may be solved by developing indigenous solutions. She also encouraged the visiting students to be passionate about the same. Further, Prof. Aggarwal cited a few key examples of how CSIR-NIScPR is a unique platform of communication-policy research encourages participation from the public in scientific events and on similar grounds, she asked the students to partake in the current and future events being hosted by the institute.

Science students (of classes 11-12th) along with their teachers of the Rajdhani School, Kanwarpura, Jaipur, were hosted at the Pusa campus of CSIR-NIScPR during a Student-Scientist Connect Programme of CSIR’s Jigyasa initiative. The students were familiarised with the contributions and technologies of CSIR laboratories that form a part of our daily life activities and were encouraged to be a part of such S&T innovations that contribute to nation-building.

Shri CB Singh, Head, Jigyasa, Training and HR Division of CSIR-NIScPR provided insights into the significance of Jigyasa’s student-scientist connect programme. He explained how Jigyasa contributes to promoting  scientific temperament among students through lectures, webinars, and training programmes in association with different CSIR laboratories all across the country. Mr Singh emphasised the importance of the recently launched CSIR Online Virtual Laboratory Portal that provides simplistic explanations for the scientific phenomenon and applications driving the everyday activities of humans.

Dr R.S. Jayasomu, Chief Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR, took the discussion further with his valuable talk related to a Career in Science Communication. He elaborated on how CSIR-NIScPR operates in imparting scientific knowledge back to society and thus is a unique CSIR institution. His talk also introduced the students to CSIR-NIScPR magazines andthe ‘Wealth of India’ encyclopedic series that imparts authentic knowledge of the vast plethora of India’s flora, fauna and mineral reserves.

Dr Suman Ray, Principal Scientist and PI-Jigyasa, CSIR-NIScPR, delivered a brief presentation on the achievements of different CSIR laboratories since the induction of CSIR in 1942. This was followed by the students’ visit to the Printing Section, AyurVatika, Raw Material’s Herbarium and Museum facilities housed at the campus.

Earlier, students also visited the Popular Science Division where Ms Shubhada Kapil briefed about the popular science magazines namely Science Reporter (English), VigyanPragati (Hindi) and Science Ki Duniya (Urdu). The students were made aware of the significance of the popular science magazines in taking science to the masses in a language they can understand. The students were also motivated to contribute to these popular science magazines.

On this occasion, Director, CSIR-NIScPR, distributed a special issue of the Vigyan Pragati magazine to all the visiting students and felicitated the students with certificates of participation.