Team

Core Team

Dr Ponnari Gottipati is a Research Management, Science Education and Engagement consultant in Hyderabad and has experience working with educational organisations engaging with school children. In addition to SaS, she currently also consults for LV Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad in research management. Trained in Molecular Biology with a PhD from the University of Sheffield and a Postdoc from the University of Oxford, she was previously at the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance. Celebrating science through engagement and outreach enthuses and inspires her.

@PonnariG

Dr Sarah Iqbal trained as a researcher in Life Sciences and is currently an independent science engagement consultant in India. She holds a PhD in Biochemistry from the University of Oxford, UK, and was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Scripps Research Institute, USA, before joining the Indian science funding agency, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance (India Alliance) as their Communications and Public Engagement Lead. She is currently working as an independent consultant at the newly formed not-for-profit, Foundation for Advancing Science and Technology (FAST-India) in New Delhi, and serving as a strategic adviser to the India Science Festival.

Sarah is interested in exploring pathways to build capacity in science engagement in India and developing creative, inclusive and participatory tools and approaches to enable public and policy engagement with science towards building an equitable, healthy and sustainable future.

@SarahHyder

Dr Somdatta Karak is trained as a molecular and cellular Neuroscientist at the University of Göttingen and had been a Teach for India Fellow. In her current role, she designs and handles the communication channels at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad. Through these, she informs and engages with students, educators, industries as well as the general public of the research and other activities at CCMB. She loves working towards building a more informed society.

@SomdattaKarak

Manvi Sharma is the Program Associate on the APSI-India project.

Combining the imaginative domain with scientific principles, engaging in meaningful conversations, incorporating fun and interactive learning experiences, and that is what she considers as thriving engagement!

Following a diversion into the fascinating sphere of content creation, her fervor for education continues to shine. Her experience as a Teach for India fellow has enabled me to work with a diverse range of students, further fueling my aspiration to make science easily comprehensible and equitable to all.

Her objective is to establish cost-effective communication channels for health and science that are both stimulating and comprehensible for all. She takes pleasure in engaging with people, identifying correlations, and establishing connections with stakeholders, and she is convinced that through collaborative efforts, we can achieve whatever we set out to do.

One particular issue close to her heart is the silent pandemic of AMR, which poses a significant threat to public health, especially in developing countries where awareness and stewardship efforts are lacking. That’s why she is committed to educating the public about their crucial role in curbing AMR. Through the use of active learning, creative arts, and immersive dialogues, her goal is to empower young minds to become ambassadors for AMR awareness in their communities.
Let’s unite to halt AMR’s spread,
And secure a healthier future ahead!

Devanshi Gupta is a PhD scholar at Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics (CDFD), Hyderabad. She is working as a Communications Associate for website developing with SaS. She understands the need to bridge the gap between advancing Science and society to cultivate its importance. She likes to communicate with people from diverse backgrounds which makes Science communication easier, palatable, and thriving. She loves reading contemporary fiction and often voice her opinion on Women’s Rights, Gender Inclusivity, and Mental health. Writing about how science affects every aspect of our lives in a coordinated fashion helps her understand the power and beauty of Nature.

@DevanshiGup

Past Members

Renu Bisht

@bishtrenu

SaS Pilot Workshop partners

Grassroot comics workshops

Mr Sharad Sharma is a cartoonist based in New Delhi. He has experience of working in newspapers, magazines and electronic media before he founded World Comics India introducing Grassroots Comics as an alternate medium to mainstream comics. He has been conducting grassroots comics workshops all across India and also internationally to initiate social campaigns on various issues. He has also published several books and manuals and won awards for his work in the social sphere.

@Sharadji ; @WorldComicsNet

Evaluation

Dr Madhuri Dutta is Research Administrator currently at George Institute for Global Health India, New Delhi. Trained in life sciences both in India and abroad, she has previously worked at the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, Public Health Foundation of India and Indian Institute of Health Management and Research, New Delhi, where she has gained experience of managing and evaluating various research projects. She is passionate about capacity building and public engagement in public health research.

@Madhuridutta15

SaS workshop facilitator (Independent)

Dr Sathya Srinivasachari is a Teacher Developer at the Royal Society of Chemistry (Yusuf Hamied Inspirational Science Programme) and a science education enthusiast. A trained organic chemist with a PhD from the University of Cincinnati, US, she received the DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Early Career Fellowship to pursue research in the field of structural biology at the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine (InStem), Bangalore. With a strong belief that scientific advancement must be embedded into a larger societal framework, she is passionate about designing creative content and tools to connect science with the broader community.  Sathya has been conducting SaS workshops in Bengaluru in her personal capacity.

@sathyachari

Partners

Supporters

Acknowledgements

  • Dr Raghunand R. Tirumalai, Tuberculosis Researcher, CCMB, Hyderabad
  • Dr Priyamvada Chugh, Consultant, Communications team at Unitaid
  • Dr Sivranjani Santosh, pediatrician, Magna Clinics, Hyderabad
  • Dr Sweena Chaudhari, Immunologist, Tardigrade Pvt Ltd
  • Dr Rupinder Kaur, Microbiologist, Center for DNA fingerprinting and Diagnostics, Hyderabad and DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance Senior Fellow
  • Dr Shahid Jameel, Virologist, former CEO, DBT/Wellcome Trust India Alliance
  • Mr Chiru Yerra, VFX Animator, Mr Sunny Blake Ganta, Visual Effects Creative Director and Mr Maheswar Kudupudi, Animator
  • Dhiviya Vedagiri, PhD student, CCMB, Hyderabad
  • Mahesh Survi, PhD student, CCMB, Hyderabad
  • V Devi Prasad, PhD student, CCMB, Hyderabad