Prof. RanjanaAggarwal, Director, CSIR-NIScPR addressing the workshop
CSIR-NIScPR (CSIR-National Institute of Science Communication & Policy Research), New Delhi, organized an International Workshop on ‘Research agenda, Social needs and Open science’ on 8 December 2023. Dr Ismael Rafols, UNESCO Chair, Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science Centre for Science and Technology Strategies (CWTS), Leiden University, Netherlands, was the keynote speaker of the workshop. Dr Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Sr Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, also graced the occasion the programme.
In her welcome address, Prof. Ranjana Aggarwal, Director, CSIR-NIScPR, New Delhi, said that the institute is involved in creating livelihood and fostering skill development in rural areas through CSIR technologies. Recent cutting-edge fields are being worked on by various R&D divisions of the lab. Scientometrics has been one of the institute's strongest areas and CSIR-NISTADS (which was one of the laboratorieswhich together with CSIR-NISCAIR merged to become NIScPR) was instrumental in bringing up this area as a focus area of research and input to policy-making in India, she added.
Further, Prof.Aggarwal highlighted that CSIR-NIScPR is the largest government organization in the nation that publishes more than 15 journals in a variety of research fields in an open access mode as there is no APC involved for publishing and also publishes popular science magazines to bridge the gap between science and society. An online repository National Open Periodicals Repository (NOPR) of CSIR-NIScPR also provides access to older papers from anywhere in the world. She concluded by emphasizing that CSIR-NIScPR is working towards solving problems under the motto "One Earth, One Family, and One Future."
Dr Ismael Rafols, UNESCO Chair, Diversity and Inclusion in Global Science Centre for Science and Technology Strategies (CWTS), Leiden University, Netherlands, delivered the keynote address. DrRafols reinforced UNESCO's recommendation of diverse and inclusive matters for the research agenda for benefit of the whole humankind. He brought forth the usual notion that research agenda tends to favourthe elite and rich though not universal but true to a greater extent. He justified his argument by describing the concentration of research in the global north, being driven by market demands and incentivized by a few narrow academic goals and social groups. DrRafolshighlighted that research agendas are not in sync with SDG goals in higher and middle-income countries. Evidence indicates better alignment in the least developing countries of research with SDGs. He emphasised on the need for more open access to science and having more open infrastructure so that maximum benefit can be achieved by mankind. He concluded by highlighting the need for the inclusion of the citizen in sciences to lessen the misalignment.
Dr Sanjay Kumar Mishra, Sr Advisor, Department of Biotechnology, put forward his initial remark about the subject of the workshop as putting three oceans of knowledge set into one go, namely bibliometrics, scientometrics and informetrics.Dr Mishra urged to take into consideration the social needs of societies, countries and on the global level in research and research agenda to extract maximum benefit out of scientific research to mankind. He also opined that the science advisory role is as important as research output. Usually, science research is generally pro-urban, pro-affluent, there is a need fora new focus, society oriented. Bibliometrics and scientometrics tool can be used to understand the gap in the research for society by scientific communities.
During the second session, Dr Sujit Bhattacharya, Chief Scientist & Dean-Policy Research, CSIR-NIScPR and Coordinator of theWorkshop presented a brief overview of STS (Science, Technology and Society), innovation studies and Scientometrics research, drawing upon the strong linkages among these fields of research. He stressed that the contemporary global challenges have called for the science-technology-innovation agenda to be shaped by societal needs and user-driven approach.
Prof. Saradindu Bhaduri, Associate Professor, Centre for Studies in Science Policy, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, and coordinator of the Trans-disciplinary Research Centre on Frugality Studies (a joint initiative of JNU with Leiden-delft-Erasmus University) gave his presentation on how research agenda, innovation, regulation, and user-driven research conflict with each other. He highlighted some interesting engagements between policymakers and stakeholders. He highlighted how useful and widely used appliances such as stoves suffer from agencies not giving standard certification.
Dr Vivek Kumar Singh, Professor and Head of the Computer Science Department, Banaras Hindu University (BHU), Varanasi, provided an overview of open access and its various forms, such as Gold, Platinum, and Diamond open access. He highlighted the open archive available inIndia such as the IndiaRxiv, eprints by the Indian Institute of Science,Krishikosh by the ICAR, etc. Dr Singh correctly emphasized the need for making research accessible to society because there is a gap in knowledge access in India, and we need to seek for effective policy implementation to address this.
Dr Kavita Shah, Professor, Purdue University, USA, gave a brief insight intothe changing environment she has been observing in India now. The infrastructure and support to research are bringing a positive change for doing high-end research. She felt that this opportunity calls for students and researchers to make their research more aligned withthe challenges faced by society.
Dr Madhulika Bhati, Principal Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR and DrAnuragKanojia, Policy Fellow, Department of Computer Science, BHU, as discussants drew upon the important learning from this workshop. They stressed the important argument and key issues that linked the different presentations together.
Dr Shiv Narayan Nishad, Scientist, CSIR-NIScPR,gave a broad overview of the ongoing project on Social Network Analysis by CSIR-NIScPR. This study led by DrSujit Bhattacharya explores how social network analysis can be developed as a resource material for its application in different fields of study. The project intends to impart training and provide the resources developed in open access.
The interactive session led to many questions and comments that enriched the workshop. Several young researchers among the attendees raised many important issues related to their research and how this workshop has benefitted them to think of open access, aligning their research in the proper direction, etc. At the end of the workshop,DrSandhyaLakshmanan, Scientist CSIR-NIScPR, proposed the vote of thanks. DrKasturiMandal, Principal Scienctist, CSIR-NIScPRmoderated the programme.
