India Newsletter – May 2017
In the third edition of our India Newsletter, we cover all the latest news updates from the Royal Society of Chemistry's activities in India.
Our president’s tour of India
Sir John Holman engaged with a wide spectrum of Indian scientific research, education outreach and industry, during his first visit to the country since assuming the presidency.
During his week-long tour in January and February 2017, Professor Holman visited India’s financial capital, Mumbai, and two Northeastern cities, Guwahati and Shillong, to participate in different programmes involving students, early career researchers, scientists, and top industry representatives.
Read the full story on our news page
Future of the Chemical Sciences
A panel discussion was held at the 11th CRSI-RSC symposium at Gauhati University on 2 February 2017.
Scientists from India and the UK are unanimous in their belief that the chemical sciences are changing and becoming more inter-disciplinary, but are concerned that chemistry was not attracting the best talent.
These views were shared at a panel discussion on the future of the chemical sciences, jointly organised by the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Chemical Research Society of India at Guwahati.
CRSI President Sourav Pal said, “Chemistry is too compartmentalised today and education will be more interdisciplinary in future. Funding will be driven by societal needs.”
“We can’t predict the long-term future, but we can prepare for it… That’s why we ran the Future of the Chemical Sciences initiative. It was all about challenging ourselves to think beyond the status quo,” said our president Professor Sir John Holman.
The panel discussion, chaired by Royal Society of Chemistry External Relations Manager Dr Alejandra Palermo, was held on the side-lines of 11th CRSI-RSC symposium and 20th CRSI National Symposium in Chemistry. The discussion was aimed at the Future of Chemical Sciences (FCS) initiative, exploring chemical science trends in India and worldwide.
The transcript below highlights key proceedings from the panel discussion.
Professor Sir John Holman, President, Royal Society of Chemistry (JH): We can’t predict the long-term future, but we can prepare for it.
That’s why we ran the Future of the Chemical Sciences (FCS) initiative. We all know in theory that in 10-to-20 years the world will be radically different. But we seldom have the time to think about what that might mean in practice. FCS was all about challenging ourselves to think beyond the status quo.
The Royal Society of Chemistry ran a robust, iterative scenario-planning process. We involved a really diverse group of people from right across our community, as well as from government and the social sciences. Eminent scientists such as George Whitesides and Ben Feringa were involved in the process.
First, we identified themes that are already shaping our world. Big companies do this all the time; but they usually keep the process internal. Some themes directly impact the chemical sciences, for example: how might chemistry be taught and funded in the future? Others picked up on changes the wider world: how will an aging population affect the workforce and career patterns?
Using the same planning techniques as these companies, four possible scenarios for chemical science in the future emerged, which will set the scene for our discussion:
Scenario one: chemistry saves the world – a world wherein chemistry is celebrated and improves quality of life.
Scenario two: push button chemistry – chemistry is automated and decentralised in this scenario. Chemistry will be difficult to regulate as there will be minimal human interface and most of the work will be done by machines.
Scenario three: a world without chemists – chemistry ceases to exist as a discipline, and is absorbed into other disciplines. Expect very limited chemistry related discoveries.
Scenario four: free market chemistry – there is no government funding for chemistry and the funding gaps are filled by industry. Chemists would have to focus on the funders’ problems, and this scenario gives scope for the development of entrepreneurs and consultants.
Dr Alejandra Palermo, Royal Society of Chemistry, Panel discussion Chair (AP): Chemistry is becoming more interdisciplinary. How does chemistry fit into the new order?
Professor Sourav Pal, Chemical Research Society of India (SP): Chemistry will definitely change but a world without chemistry will not happen. Chemistry will be absorbed into other disciplines and devices/systems will be more important than molecules. Chemistry is too compartmentalised today and education will be more interdisciplinary in future. Funding will be driven by societal needs.
However, chemistry is not attracting the best talent in India and there is a need for more problem-based learning. Although the Indian government has initiated many programmes such as INSPIRE to attract best talent to sciences, the results are not tangible.
AP: How do you measure success?
Professor Graham Hutchings, Cardiff University (GH): The UK’s Research Excellence Framework has changed its mind-set about quality of science in the UK. It is not just about the impact factor (IF) of the journal in which one publishes but emphasis on interdisciplinary research, which has higher impact on society.
Professor Deepa Kushalani, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (DK): Papers published are still an active measure of academic success in India. H-index and IF are still important for our researchers. The problem with measuring success of science is that it isn’t really something that can be done meaningfully in the short term. However, doing science needs short-term aspects such as students and grants. Sometimes, we have seen a bias against researchers in India; double-blind publication could help.
GH: Double-blind could be done the other way round by publishing referee reports.
Professor Richard Zare, Stanford University (RZ): The double-blind reviewing system has not been successful. Consideration of the researcher’s track record is also important and needs to be considered during the review.
Professor Arun Chattopadhyay, Indian Institute of Technology Gauhati (AC): We need to make the world flat as resources are unevenly distributed globally. Although knowledge is more available, creation of knowledge is not. Chemists are not ambitious compared to other disciplines. Resources decide the outcome of the competition and we should expect the trend to continue.
AP: Lack of diversity has been a big issue in academia the world over.
DK: Lack of gender diversity in Indian academia is due to both parties – men and women. Parents tell daughters to study but never encourage having a career and contributing to society. Women are expected to get married, follow their husband and sacrifice their careers. This is a recipe for a “good Indian woman.” This can be attributed to cultural issues in India. The government doesn’t offer any sort of paternity leave so the concept of shared child rearing cannot be enacted.
RZ: Departments and institutes need to create a more family-friendly environment with childcare facilities and leave. Diversity should also include unrepresented and marginalised groups. There will be benefits to institutes and society from diversity.
Professor S Chandrasekaran, former President, Chemical Research Society of India: The RSC and the ACS have set the tone for everything that is happening in chemistry today, particularly publishing. Societies will need to adapt and diversify activities in the future and support younger scientists working positively in more interdisciplinary manner. For example, societies can facilitate interactions, and address misuse of open access (OA) by predatory journals, which damage the credibility of science and ethics in publishing caused by lack of awareness.
There is a need to expand RSC initiatives such as the Pan Africa Chemistry Network (PACN) and improve public understanding of science and its contribution to society. Academic and industry communities have failed to interact with each other and there is an urgent need for collaboration.
Professor Prodeep Phukan, University of Gauhati: Fundamental chemistry is important but it is expensive. How do we convince policy-makers or politicians to invest more in science?
JH: Politicians often listen to the loudest voice. They need to be educated of the importance of blue skies research, and the government needs to be updated regularly to stay aware.
AC: Politicians have been fair to academic community and have supported us.
JH: International mobility is currently and an issue especially after Brexit. International mobility is a key to developing good science. Stopping international mobility is as good as stopping science.
Further information
• Find out more about the future of the chemical sciences initiative
• Download the full Future of the Chemical Sciences report
• Read Chemistry World’s feature: Imagining tomorrow’s chemistry world
A spotlight on our chemical engineering journals
In 2016, we launched two new chemical engineering journals with the aim of bridging the gap between chemistry and chemical engineering research. Both journals have now published over 100 high quality papers.
Molecular Systems Design & Engineering
Led by Juan de Pablo from the Institute for Molecular Engineering, University of Chicago, and launched as a collaboration between the Royal Society of Chemistry and the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE), Molecular Systems Design & Engineering is an interdisciplinary journal bringing together biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, computational and materials science.
The journal provides a hub for cutting-edge research into how understanding of molecular properties, behaviour and interactions can be used to design and assemble better materials, systems, and processes to achieve specific functions.
Featuring a broad range of materials and applications, from MOFs to hydrogels, and from solar cells to drug delivery, Molecular Systems Design & Engineering crosses the boundary between chemistry and chemical engineering, and with it we hope to stimulate closer collaboration between the communities.
Read the journal
Reaction Chemistry & Engineering
Chaired by Klavs Jensen of Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Reaction Chemistry & Engineering’s scope covers all aspects of making molecules for the benefit of fundamental research, applied processes and wider society.
From fundamental, molecular-level chemistry to large-scale chemical production, Reaction Chemistry & Engineering brings together communities of chemists and chemical engineers working to ensure the crucial role of reaction chemistry in today’s world.
The journal represents a move away from traditional scientific disciplines towards a focus on solving technological problems and global challenges. At the core of the journal’s mission is the development of reactions that are faster, cheaper, more sustainable or even just simply possible where they weren’t before.
Read the journal
Contribute to these journals
There is some truly great research being done in chemical engineering disciplines across India at the moment, and we are keen to showcase as much of this research as possible in these new journals.
For more information, use the links above to visit our journal homepages, or contact the journal teams:
Email the Molecular Systems Design & Engineering team
Email the Reaction Chemistry & Engineering team
ChemComm trials double-blind peer review option
From 3 July 2017, for a period of 12 months, ChemComm will be offering authors a choice on how their manuscripts will be peer reviewed.
We have listened to your valuable feedback and seen growing interest in double-blind peer review – where both authors and reviewers remain anonymous – within the community. In response to this feedback, ChemComm will trial a new approach, to investigate the extent to which our authors value having the option of anonymity.
Read the full story on our news page.
Kaleidoscope – a collection of emerging Indian researchers
Some of the top research articles from emerging investigators in India are available to read in this recent collection of Kaleidoscope. All the authors who contribute to this issue are in the early stages of their independent careers and article topics include organic synthesis, physical organic chemistry, supramolecular chemistry, chemical biology and materials.
Royal Society of Chemistry and American Chemical Society commit to ORCID integration
ORCID provides an identifier for individuals to use with their name as they engage in research, scholarship and innovation activities, ensuring authors gain full credit for their work.
Along with ACS Publications, we recently signed their open letter, committing to unambiguous identification of all authors that publish in our journals. The action reasserts the commitment of both organisations to enhancing the scholarly publishing experience for researchers worldwide who are involved in chemistry and allied fields.
Make the most of Chemistry World’s evolution
Since its re-launch in August 2016, Chemistry World has become a more dynamic, modern, and accessible magazine.
Bringing you all the latest research, news and views spanning the global chemical science community, Chemistry World also has a flourishing website which is updated daily with new articles, podcasts and videos and hosts their entire archive of over 14,000 articles.
Registering an account allows you to set up personalised newsletters. Choose what to receive, and how often, to get articles, updates and special offers specifically for you. Chemistry World now operates through a subscription model, but is free to all Royal Society of Chemistry members. Just don’t forget to create an account.
New book launches
The Royal Society of Chemistry publishes professional reference books, textbooks and popular science books across all fields of the chemical sciences. We welcome new book ideas – for further information about submitting a book proposal please contact us or visit the books page of our website.
Monographs in Supramolecular Chemistry series
Functional Supramolecular Materials: From Surfaces to MOFs
Author: Rahul Banerjee, CSIR National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
Features chapter contributions from:
• Pradyut Ghosh, Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Kolkata
• Pritam Mukhopadhyay, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
• Tapas Maji, Jawarharlal Nehru Centre for Advances Scientific Research Chemistry, Bangalore
Specialist periodical report
Organophosphorus Chemistry, Volume 46
Authors: David W Allen, David Loakes, John C Tebby
Contains the following contributions from researchers in India:
• Phosphazenes Vadapalli Chandrasekhar and Ramakirushnan Suriya Narayanan, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur Suriya Narayanan, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
• Green synthetic approaches in organophosphorus chemistry: recent developments Goutam Brahmachari, Department of Chemistry, Visva- Bharati
Find out more about this book
National Science Day
The RSC Deccan Local Section celebrated National Science Day with a Role of Chemistry Applications one-day workshop.
Over 50 students pursuing their Master’s degree in chemistry from Adarsh junior college, Mehbubnagar, Telangana attended this workshop-cum-seminar on 28 February 2017 – National Science Day.
Dr Y V D Nageswar, former chief scientist at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT), Hyderabad, delivered a lecture entitled ‘A Journey – Ancient drug development to the present, describing the role and contributions of different countries, cultures and civilizations to the discovery and growth of medicines to combat human health ailments’. He also highlighted ways in which 20th century science and technology developments have changed global health dynamics.
This was followed by a second lecture on NMR and its applications by Dr Shankaraiah, associate professor at NIPER-Hyderabad. He has described the historical developments of NMR, its principles and application to elucidate the chemical structures, including the chiral agents with suitable examples.
Chemicals in everyday life
The final lecture was delivered by Professor V Peesapati entitled ‘Chemicals in Daily Life’, detailing consumption of chemicals in everyday life through food, medicines and other chemicals used in cosmetics, additives, food flavours, dyes, glues etc.
In the second half of the day, students participated in chemistry workshops, which included Tarsia grid templates, chemistry word searches, concept maps, puzzles and crossword puzzle amongst others. All participants received a certificate, and chemistry workshop winners were awarded prizes.
What the students said
“I learnt many new things after attending this workshop & seminar.” – Raghavender, M V S Govt. PG College
“I look forward to many such seminars. It was an excellent programme.” – Mr Prasad, M V S Govt. PG College
Chemistry of Chocolate
Students at St Ann’s College for Women, Hyderabad, were treated to a chocolate-filled event by the RSC Deccan Local Section.
Ms Lakshmi Peesapati delivered a lecture on the chemistry of chocolate on 14 March 2017, followed by a demonstration on how to make chocolates at home.
Read the full story on our news page.
Chemistry lectures and science talks
The RSC West India Local Section held a two-day chemistry workshop for students from Pune.
Over 120 students from various colleges in Pune attended the workshop, conducted at the Abasaheb Garware College, Pune on 7–8 February 2017.
The workshop covered topics such as infrared spectroscopy (Professor Wadia), quantum chemistry (Professor S R Gadre), nuclear chemistry (Dr Pratibha Padheye) and chemical safety (Mr Sanjay Kale).
Colleges in attendance included S.P. College, Fergusson College, Modern College , B.R. Gholap college, B.J.S. College Wagholi, and Shirur, Saswad.
In addition to this, more than 100 students from Nagpur and surrounding areas attended talks from Dr Ankona Datta, TIFR Mumbai and committee member of the RSC WIS Local Section. The talks covered the modern bio imaging techniques termed spy molecules, and were held at Gondwana University, Gadchiroli, Nagpur on 10 February 2017.
RSC East India Local Section symposia
Interface between Chemistry and Biology
Over 50 research scholars and scientists attended the one-day event held at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata in December 2016.
The key speakers at the symposium included eminent scientists and researchers such as Professor Sabyasachi Sarkar, from the Indian Institute of Engineering, Science & Technology, West Bengal, Dr Surajit Sinha, from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, and Professor H Ila, from the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru.
The symposium included a scientific poster presentation, with prizes for the two best posters.
Recent Trends in Organic Synthesis
East India Local Section received a good response to this one-day symposium, held 7 April 2017 at Sikkim Government College, Pedong, Gangtok.
The event was well attended, with over 100 students present alongside the faculties of Sikkim Government College.
Event delegates heard scientific lectures in the field of organic synthesis and green chemistry, delivered by Professor B C Ranu, IACS, Kolkata, and Professor Gautam Brahmachari, Viswabharati University, Santiniketan.
Bio-refinery development in rural India
Experts from both industry and academic bodies delivered guest lectures on bio-refineries and green chemistry, at an Indo-UK scoping workshop entitled ‘Development of rural bio-refineries in India: From waste to wealth’.
The workshop was jointly organised by RSC North India, Green Chemistry Centre of Excellence, University of York, Green Chemistry Network Centre, University of Delhi, and The Energy and Resources Institute. It took place on 20 February 2017 at Guest House, University of Delhi.
Speakers at this workshop event included:
• Dr Avtar Matharu, University of York
• Professor Ramesh Chandra, University of Delhi
• Dr Balaram Pani, University of Delhi
• Dr Alok Adholeya, The Energy and Resources Institute
• Dr Banwari Lal, The Energy and Resources Institute.
• Professor S K Mehta, Panjab University
• Professor R K Sharma, University of Delhi
The workshop was well attended, with over 100 participants from research laboratories, universities, industries and R&D institutions all over North India taking part. Delegates presented 20 oral and poster presentations, and the top two oral presentations and posters were selected and awarded during the valedictory session.
Yusuf Hamied Inspirational Chemistry Programme surpasses teacher training target
Since it was set up in 2014 with a target of training 8,000 teachers in five years, the Yusuf Hamied teacher training programme has received an overwhelming response from the teaching community.
Coupled with the hard work of dedicated teacher developers, the programme has already surpassed its original target, having trained over 10,700 teachers in just three years.
Through 600 workshops held across 17 different states in India, we have trained over 7,500 chemistry teachers, 2,500 science teachers and 650 non-science teachers. The training will benefit over 3,600 schools.
The response from the teacher training workshops has been very positive and is reflected in the feedback from workshop attendees.
“This is a unique training where RSC propagates simple techniques that can be easily adopted in our teaching modules. We have started using Show-Me-Boards in all the classes in our schools. This has enabled the teacher to make direct contact with each and every student in the classroom, increased confidence of the students to answer questions and saves a lot of time for the teacher. I was very impressed with microscale level experiments. I could never imagine of disassociating Na and Cl from an NaCl aqueous solution in a fraction of second. I would recommend RSC teacher training programme to all the teachers I know of.”
– Sarajita Srivastav, a chemistry teacher from Sunbeam School Varanasi, UP
“I had the opportunity to attend two days science workshop at Sunbeam Lahartara Varanasi on 24 and 25 of March. The most striking activity was the use of Tarsia grids in teaching of science and maths I have started using them in my classes and it has increased the level of critical thinking in learners. I would like to have more of these in all units and classes I teach and enhance the quality of my teaching. Thanks to Dr Yusuf Hamied Inspirational Programme conducted by RSC and the Teacher Developers.”
– Deepak Sharma, Sunbeam Annapoorna Varanasi, UP
Putting workshop training into practice
Teachers came together to share ideas and develop learning resources together, at a workshop in Pune.
Using active learning techniques from the teacher training programme, 30 teachers came together to conduct a four-day workshop to develop constructive pedagogical approaches to translate Class X science school study books into an interactive format. The workshop was organised at Savitribhai Phule Pune University in association with the Pune chapter of National Academy of Sciences.
The learning resources developed by the teachers were validated within the teacher groups on its potential to enable self-learning and by asking open-ended questions. The resources developed were presented to a larger audience and subjected to cross examinations and validations to ensure a perfectly fit to already-embedded classroom teaching.
What the teachers said
“This is a unique experience, and we are happy to create a large number of teaching and learning aids, and more importantly, collate feedback about them and make changes accordingly.” – Prathibha Dhodke Vision English Medium School, Pune
“When we implemented active learning tools to plan a lesson, we could understand chapter in depth and the learning outcomes were mapped with RSC teaching techniques and that was a fantastic experience.” – Ms Sharvary Dounde Abhinav English Medium School, Narhe, Maharashtra
Science fair for students across south India
The Royal Society of Chemistry participated in a leading science fair for school and university students.
Once a year, the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore opens its doors to the public. Every IISc department attends, giving hundreds of people the chance to visit, learn, ask about and understand the research culture of the institute. This year’s open day took place on 4 March at the lush green IISc campus in Bangalore.
Read the full story on our news page.
Upcoming Royal Society of Chemistry India events and other events of interest
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 20–22 June | Salters Chemistry Camps, Kalinga Institute of Technology, Bhubaneswar |
|
20–22 June |
Teacher Training programme at Manipal University, Karnataka |
| June | RSC-WIS workshop on “Safe chemical laboratory practices & Procedures, Amravati, Maharashtra |
| June | Teacher Training programme at Shillong, Nongstoin and Chirapunjee-Meghalaya in association with North Eastern Hill University, Shillong |
| July | RSC-WIS Outreach Seminars and Lectures Ahmednagar, Maharashtra |
| 4–6 July | Salters Chemistry Camps, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Mandi |
| 25–27 July | Salters Chemistry Camps, Manipal Institute of Technology (MIT), Jaipur |
| 28 July | Royal Society of Chemistry’s Librarian Appreciation Day (LAD) 2017 |
| July | Teacher Training programme – Darbhanga, Muzaffarpur and Patna, Bihar in association with Association of Chemistry Teachers |
| August | RSC-WIS workshop on Bioinorganic Chemistry and Spectroscopy, Mumbai |
| 21–28 August | International Union of Crystallography, Hyderabad |
| 4–8 September | Newton Workshop – Translating Clean Energy Research to Rural India at IISER, Pune |
| 11–13 September | Newton Workshop – Closed Loop Green Technologies for Rural Communities at IIT, Delhi |
To learn more about other similar activities of the Royal Society of Chemistry in India, please visit the events web page.
Research grants and funding opportunities
We provide a number of different research grants and funding opportunities for students, researchers and publishing authors. The following are currently available.
Conference bursaries
For student members of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Royal Society of Chemistry members in the early stages of their career (typically within five years of completing a first or postgraduate degree). Find out more here.
Small grants for scientific activities
To support researchers’ scientific activities, including (but not limited to) participation at conferences, scientifically enhancing your own meetings, research visits or policy development initiatives. Find out more here.
Travel grants for PhD students and post-doctoral researchers
Grants are available to cover domestic, continental and intercontinental travel to support participation by PhD students and post-doctoral researchers in scientific conference. Find out more here.
We also offer grants to support travel to events, outreach and research, as well as personal support and guidance. Browse the options for more details.
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