First Commonwealth Science Conference is inaugurated in Bengaluru

President Pranab Mukherjee inaugurated First Commonwealth Science Conference (CSC) held in Bengaluru. It is organised for the first time in nearly after 50 years. Special guest at the inaugural event was Duke of York Prince Andrew.
This four-day conference is being organised by Royal Society, London and is supported by the Union Government, Queen Elizabeth Diamond Jubilee Trust and Bengaluru based Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCAR).
Indian scientist and Bharat Ratna awardee Prof C N R Rao, is co-chair of the steering committee of the conference.
Key highlights of summit

• The summit will witness about 500 delegates, including 300 top scientists and 70 research scholars from 30 commonwealth nations.
• In this summit topics covered will include physical sciences, life sciences, mathematics, engineering, climate change, global health as well as science policy.
• Keynote lectures will be delivered by Nobel laureates Sir Paul Nurse and Sir Martin Rees from Britain’s Astronomer Royal. Paul Nurse is president of the Royal Society in London.
• At a special session, Former Indian space agency (ISRO) chairman and Planning Commission member K. Kasturirangan, Infosys co-founder N.R. Narayana Murthy and Biocon chairperson Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw will share their vision on ‘Entrepreneurship and Innovation in India’.
• From India around 300 science graduates and faculty will get an opportunity to participate in the event and listen to renowned scientists and experts presenting their papers and research findings on diverse topics.

Background

• Royal Society: It is science academy of the Commonwealth nations. It promotes development of science and scientific temper among the stakeholders, including policy makers, governments, academia and industry.
• Commonwealth Science Conference (CSC): It aims to

1. Celebrate excellence in Commonwealth science.
2. Provide opportunities for cooperation between researchers in different Commonwealth countries.
3. Inspire young people.
4. Build scientific capability in developing nations within the Commonwealth.

Earlier in 1967, the last CSC took place at Oxford in Merton College. It was small conference and about 80 people had participated in it. Among them half were from Britain and other half from rest of the Commonwealth counties.

Month: Current Affairs - November, 2014