Date: January 12, 2026
Time: 10:00 AM
Venue: Lecture Hall 1003, Block 7, IISER Berhampur
Flyer Link: Click here to view
The Story of India’s Growth through Science, Technology, and Innovation Post-Independence
When India became independent in 1947, the country had very few institutions of higher education, an almost non-existent industrial base, and a heavy dependence on other nations for critical technologies and resources. However, through systematic and sustained efforts—driven primarily by Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI)—India has achieved remarkable progress.
Professor Shekhar C. Mande is a distinguished Indian structural and computational biologist who has made significant contributions to protein structure, molecular biophysics, and computational analysis of biological systems. He completed his M.Sc. in Physics at University of Nagpur and earned his Ph.D. in Molecular Biophysics from the Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru in 1991, followed by postdoctoral research at University of Groningen and a senior fellowship at the University of Washington, Seattle. Prof. Mande has held key leadership roles in India’s scientific ecosystem, including serving as Director of the National Centre for Cell Science (NCCS), Pune (2011–2018) and as Director General of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and Secretary, Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR), Government of India (2018–2022), overseeing one of the largest civilian research networks in the country. He has been recognised with major honours such as the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize for Science and Technology in Biological Sciences (2005) and is an elected fellow of all three major Indian science academies—the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and National Academy of Sciences India. Beyond his research, Prof. Mande has served on numerous national and international advisory committees and continues to contribute as a distinguished professor and science leader.
