The Physics and Chemistry departments of Rajiv Gandhi University (RGU) jointly organized a day-long webinar on ‘Prospect of Research & Innovation in Science: A Post Covid-19 Pandemic Outlook’ on Wednesday.
More than 300 participants comprising students, researchers, academicians, and scientists from all over India participated in the webinar conducted via cloud app live-streaming.
In his address as the chief patron of the webinar, RGU vice-chancellor Saket Kushwaha emphasised on the importance of continuing the struggle against the challenges posed by the Covid19 pandemic by each and every stakeholder of the society.
The chief guest of the inaugural session, Manas Bihari Verma, who is the brain behind the indigenously-built Tejas light combat aircraft being used by the Indian Air Force, cautioned against violating the laws of nature.
He underlined the importance of sustainable use of natural resources and the development of eco-friendly processes through research and innovation.
Rama Shankar Dubey, the vice-chancellor of the Central University of Gujarat in his address as the guest of honour spoke of the great legacy of science in India that was severely affected by the colonial rules.
He enlightened the participants about the challenges and possibilities in dealing with the pandemic.
The technical sessions were addressed by Vinod Kumar, a retired professor of University of Rajasthan, Avinash C Sharma of Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University in New Delhi, and Gagan Kumar and Kalyan Raidongia of IIT-Guwahati.
Naresh Kumar of Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology in Allahabad, Rama Ranjan Bhattacharjee of Amity University, Varij Panwar of a deemed university in Dehradun and Md Harunar Rashid from RGU also addressed the technical sessions.
While RGU’s acting registrar Tomo Riba lauded the initiative, joint registrar (academic and conference) David Pertin outlined the steps taken by the university for online courses during the lockdown.
Pertin informed that the participants of the webinar contributed Rs 10,000 towards the PM CARES fund.
Bikash Bage, head in-charge of RGU’s department of sociology and Yana Bagbi from Jawaharlal Nehru College, Pasighat said there were many takeaways from the webinar.
Sanjeev Kumar, head of the Physics department and Rajesh Chakrabarty, head of the Chemistry department were the convenors of the webinar.