Senior scientists to exchange scientific expertise in India as part of the Royal Society Yusuf Hamied Programme

The Royal Society has announced the five senior academics awarded with visiting professorships through the Royal Society Yusuf Hamied Programme.

The programme was launched in 2017 through a gift from the Yusuf and Farida Hamied Foundation to bring the Indian and international scientific communities closer together. The programme supports the Royal Society’s strategic priorities of supporting international collaboration and promoting excellence in science.

The awardees are:

Professor Sir John Ball FRS, Heriot-Watt University, UK
Professor Ball will be visiting the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Bangalore

Professor Jens Marklof FRS, University of Bristol, UK
Professor Marklof will be visiting the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Mumbai

Professor Malcolm Levitt FRS, University of Southampton, UK
Professor Levitt will be visiting the Tata Institute for Fundamental Research, Hyderabad; Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore; Cochin University of Science and Technology, Cochin

Professor Steve Brown FMedSci FRS, MRC Harwell Institute, UK
Professor Brown will be visiting the Indian Institute for Science, Education and Research, Pune; National Centre for Biological Sciences, Bangalore

Professor Kamaljit Bawa FRS, University of Massachusetts, USA
Professor Bawa will be visiting the Ashoka Trust for Research in Ecology and the Environment, Bangalore; Biodiversity Science Consortium, Bangalore; Shoolini University, Solan; National Biodiversity Mission, India

Dr Yusuf Hamied said of the announcement, “My foundation believes that education by itself is not enough and that we must use our knowledge to contribute to society. We are excited to partner with the Royal Society this year again on this special project to build on the exchange of knowledge between the Royal Society and India’s science communities to further the excellence in science together.”

The programme enables up to five Fellows and Foreign Members of the Royal Society each year to make visits to India of between 3 to 12 weeks. It provides them with the opportunity to start or develop links between their research teams. Each awardee will make short visits to India, and arrange scientific research visits on topics of vital shared importance, to benefit from each other’s experiences and expertise.