Guwahati: Two young research students from NIPER Guwahati have brought laurels to the institute after they bagged prestigious national-level awards–Augmenting Writing Skills for Articulating Research (AWSAR) for their science writing skills.

The awards are presented by the Department of Science and Technology (DST) on the occasion of National Science Day on February 28 last.

AWSAR is an initiative by the Ministry of Science and Technology launched with the purpose of training upcoming scientists in terms of their science writing skills.

It aims to disseminate Indian research stories among the common masses in a more comprehensible way.

AWSAR provides a crucial platform for the PhD and post-doctoral students studying in various universities and research institutions in India to train themselves in writing beyond academic requirements using mass media platforms and channels.

The 2021 AWSAR science story writing awardees were announced where Eswara Rao Puppala and Poonam Kumari, both PhD scholars from NIPER Guwahati, have won prizes (Best Popular Science Stories under PhD student category) for their science stories on bowel-related diseases and diseases related to bacterial infections respectively.

Eswara is pursuing his doctoral studies in the Dept of Pharmacology & Toxicology at NIPER Guwahati under the guidance of Dr VGM Naidu.

His study focuses on identifying novel natural products extracted from plants found in northeast India for treating diseases caused by chronic inflammation.

Poonam is focussing her research studies on anti-virulence strategies against bacterial infection in the Dept of Biotechnology under the guidance of Dr Sanjay Banerjee.

The two winners will be awarded certificates of appreciation and cash prizes worth Rs. 10,000 each.

Elated with the achievement, Dr USN Murty, Director (NIPER Guwahati), and the faculty members of the institute extended compliments to both the students.

Dr Murty shared that the efforts of the students reflect the mission of the institute while the recognition from the top government initiative such as AWSAR displays that the institute is on the right path.