India should become the talent incubator for the global south
Srivari Chandrasekhar, India’s secretary of science and technology, talks to Chemistry World about finding a PhD problem, partnering with the UK and raising standards at universities
India has the potential to be a leading ‘science hub’ for the next generation of researchers, says Srivari Chandrasekhar, India’s secretary to the science and technology department, which oversees an annual budget of around INR70 billion (£700 million) . He now wants scientists from African nations and other countries in the global south to start exploiting the immense opportunities currently available in India.
Chandrasekhar is no stranger to science and completed a postdoc in organic chemistry at the University of Texas in the early 90s. ‘It was a huge aspiration for many Indian scientists earlier to work in the west. Now that India has built world-class research laboratories, we should extend the same courtesy to fellow scientists from Africa and the global south,’ he points out.