Welcome
Wiss-Nama Newsletter April 2025
News from Indo-German cooperation
Minister-President of the German State of Bavaria, Markus Söder called on Dr. Jitendra Singh; reiterates strong collaboration between the two nations
Markus Söder, Minister-President of the German State of Bavaria, met Dr. Jitendra Singh, India’s Union Minister for Science & Technology & Earth Sciences. The discussion focused on deepening Indo-German cooperation in Science, Technology, and Innovation (STI), with an emphasis on areas such as Artificial Intelligence, Quantum Technologies, Biotechnology, Clean Energy, Electric Mobility, Cyber-Physical Systems, and Green Hydrogen. The Minister also referenced the Golden Jubilee of Indo-German S&T Partnership and the recent Indo-German S&T Governing Body Meeting, which reinforced the countries' commitment to expanding scientific cooperation. He highlighted India's achievements in biotechnology, noting the country’s leadership in vaccine production and the launch of the BIOe3 policy, which focuses on driving biotech innovation in energy, economy, and employment. Additionally, he emphasized the growing academic ties between India and Germany, with over 50,000 Indian students now enrolled in German universities, a number that has tripled in the last seven years. He called for an increase in German students studying in India, particularly in fields like Oriental Studies and Indian Culture. The meeting was attended by key figures from both sides, including Dr. Philipp Ackermann, German Ambassador to India, and senior Indian officials from the Department of Science and Technology and Biotechnology.
Upcoming events and conferences
Beyond Borders: Financing Neglected Tropical Diseases for Global Health Equity
DWIH New Delhi in cooperation with Hertie School is organising a panel discussion at the Global Health Summit Regional Meeting 2025 in New Delhi on April 26. It will focus on addressing neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), which remain a significant challenge despite advancements in global health. Experts from India and Germany will discuss innovative strategies for research, funding, and ensuring equitable access to treatments. The conversation will center on transforming financing mechanisms, research priorities, and diplomatic frameworks to tackle NTDs more effectively. The goal is to strengthen global efforts across the entire spectrum, from basic research to drug development and access. The speakers include Dr. Thirumalaisamy P. Velavan, Dr. Bhupendra Tripathi, and Professor Mujaheed Shaikh (moderator).
Cross Border Perspective: Advancing Women Entrepreneurship
DWIH New Delhi is organising a session on how to advance women entrepreneurship on May 26. In both India and Germany, women represent only 18% of start-up founders, highlighting a significant gender disparity in entrepreneurship. This session will take a holistic approach, drawing insights from leaders at academic incubators, funding agencies, and successful start-up founders from both ecosystems. It will explore best practices, identify barriers, and examine how cross-border institutional collaboration can be leveraged to tackle these challenges.
Read more: https://www.dwih-newdelhi.org/en/event/cross-border-perspective-advancing-women-entrepreneurship/
Innovate Within: Exploring Academic Intrapreneurship in India and Germany
DWIH New Delhi is organising a web talk on May 27 with professors and start-up founders, who will share their experiences on how intrapreneurship is reshaping how academic institutions and incubators drive innovation, with growing importance in both India and Germany. Programs aimed at fostering intrapreneurship include student-focused initiatives, entrepreneurial semester breaks, and incentives for professors to engage with start-ups. Participants will learn from incubator leaders about policies that cultivate an intrapreneurial culture. The talk explores pathways to entrepreneurship, support for professors, mentorship for aspiring entrepreneurs, and strategies to develop an intrapreneurial mindset, alongside successful intrapreneurship examples in academia.
Networking event: DWIH Network Day
Office of German Centres of Research and Innovation in cooperation with DWIH New Delhi is organising the DWIH Network Day on June 27 in Cologne, Germany. The event will provide an opportunity to meet the management teams of DWIH offices in India, the USA, Brazil, and Japan. Attendees will gain valuable insights into the research and innovation landscapes of these countries and the activities of these innovation centers. The event will highlight the services offered by DWIHs and explore how institutions can engage with this global network. Interactive sessions will allow for in-depth discussions, enabling participants to explore potential cooperation opportunities for their institutions or researchers. Additionally, the event will facilitate networking with a wide range of representatives from international offices, academia, research, government bodies, and entrepreneurship promotion agencies in Germany.
Innovators Connect – Tandem 2025
DWIH New Delhi and its partner incubators are organising a two weeks immersion programme in Hyderabad, Bhubaneshwar and Bengaluru from November 3 to 14 for young researchers interested in start-up founding and early-stage start-up founders from India and Germany ‘Innovators Connect – Tandem’. The programme will include design thinking workshops, information sessions, mentoring, networking sessions, lab visits and more. 30 participants will be hosted at partner incubators in India. They will work in teams for problem-solving, developing new ideas and their technology development, and get exposure to start-up and innovation ecosystems of India and Germany.
DAAD Events
Online: My Student Journey - Faisal and Vishwa tell their Story
Join DAAD for this online talk and listen to Faisal Ahemmed, currently a Bachelor student at the HAW Hamburg in Information Engineering and Vishwa Priya Dillhara, currently a Bachelor student at Mannheim University of Applied Sciences in Electrical Engineering-Renewable Energies, speak about their experiences in Germany.
April 30, 2025, 3:00 PM, online
Higher Studies in Germany
Students and researchers will be guided about opportunities in Germany – Eligibility criteria, types of universities, various master courses, PhD, scholarships, application procedure, etc. Following the presentation, students can clarify their queries in the interactive Q&A session.
Chennai: April 30, 2025, 4:30 PM, Goethe-Institut / Max Mueller Bhavan, No.4, 5th St, Rutland Gate, Nungambakkam, Chennai 600006
Calls for proposals
EMBO Lecture Courses in India
European Molecular Biology Organisation (EMBO) funds up to six lecture courses per year in India. The aim of a lecture course is to teach participants, primarily PhD students and postdoctoral researchers. The course should provide participants with background and underlying concepts, thereby making the topic accessible to scientists with diverse scientific background. EMBO Lecture courses may also include practical training. Organizers are encouraged to consider covering scientific writing, job applications, presentation skills or grant application writing.
Application deadline: July 1, 2025
Call for Applications: Multiple Short-Term Fellowships at ICAS-MP for the Academic Year July 2026–June 2027
The M.S. Merian – R. Tagore International Centre of Advanced Studies (ICAS:MP) invites applications for fellowships for the academic year July 2026–June 2027. The project, funded by the German Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), is based in New Delhi but welcomes research from beyond India and South Asia. Fellowships are available for Postdoc and Senior researchers working on the following themes: Working Group ‘Theory from the South’, Thematic Group ‘Constructing Alternative Pasts: (New) Sources and Methods’, Thematic Group ‘The Challenge of Gender’ and Thematic Group ‘Normative Conflicts and Transformations: South Asian Perspectives’. The fellowship supports research that focuses on comparison, translation, multilinguality, and decolonized theoretical perspectives. Applicants must have at least one year of post-PhD experience by the start date. Fellowships are for up to five months and are open to researchers worldwide, with a preference for those based in German or Indian academic institutions.
Application deadline: July 15, 2025
Max Planck Postdoc Program
The Max Planck Postdoc Program offers early career researchers a range of benefits to help advance their scientific careers. These include, a guaranteed contract of at least three years, a targeted mentoring program with mentors from other institutes or industry, a career workshop within two years to explore options in science, industry, or entrepreneurship, access to career development and coaching from the Planck Academy and high-quality mentoring and supervision guidelines. The program introduces a new recruitment procedure with positions advertised collectively twice a year for six weeks, aligning with international standards and the typical timing of postdocs completing their degrees.
Application deadline: September 1, 2025
Indo-German Funding Opportunity for Joint Research Projects in the field of Social Science Research
In pursuance of the MoU signed between the Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) and the German Research Foundation (DFG) Germany, proposals for joint Indo-German academic research projects in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities are invited. Proposals submitted by teams of principal investigators with some initial cooperation experiences are welcome. The objective of this programme is to promote and strengthen the research cooperation in the field of Social Sciences and Humanities between the two countries, by providing funding to allow joint research activities for internationally excellent research in relevant areas of mutual interest and benefit. This is a co-funding mechanism for the support of joint research projects between ICSSR and DFG. Applicants must be permanently employed in a research or academic position in a recognized research or academic institution – either publicly funded university/college, deemed universities recognized by the UGC or a publicly funded research institute or ICSSR research institutes/recognized institutes. They must also hold a PhD or equivalent qualification and have an interest in high quality research which may be evident by past studies, publications and academic background.
The collaboration opportunity will be open throughout the year with no deadline.
Consolidator Grants: ERC awards €678m in grants to back excellent research across Europe
The European Research Council (ERC) has awarded its 2024 Consolidator Grants to 328 researchers across Europe. These grants, totalling €678 million, aim to support outstanding scientists and scholars as they establish their independent research teams and develop their most promising scientific ideas. The funding is provided through the EU’s Horizon Europe programme. The grants will support scientific projects spanning all disciplines of research from engineering to life sciences to humanities. Researchers of any nationality with 7-12 years of experience since completion of PhD, a scientific track record showing great promise and an excellent research proposal can apply. Research must be conducted in a public or private research organisation (known as a Host Institution/HI). It could be the HI where the applicant already works, or any other HI located in one of the EU Member States or associated countries.
Institute of the month
International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad
The International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad (IIITH) is an autonomous institution established in 1998 as the first public-private partnership (N-PPP) model IIIT in India. Over the years, IIITH has developed robust research programs across various domains, with a focus on technology and applied research that serves both industry and society. The institute promotes interdisciplinary research and encourages the free exchange of knowledge. IIITH offers undergraduate, postgraduate, and doctoral programs through 25 research centers, supported by a dedicated faculty of 125. The institute is home to several globally recognized centers of excellence and has fostered a range of joint collaborations with both national and multinational companies, driving co-innovation. Its innovative curriculum provides students with the flexibility to select courses and projects tailored to their interests. Beyond academics, IIITH offers a holistic environment that nurtures art, culture, sports, community service, and student governance. A unique feature of IIITH is its integration of research and technology development into the undergraduate program, allowing students to contribute to ongoing projects—an opportunity rarely seen in India. This results in a dynamic blend of undergraduate and postgraduate education.
Great women in science
Mangala Mani
Mangala Mani is a distinguished Indian scientist at the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), renowned for her pioneering role in space and polar research. In November 2016, at the age of 56, Mangala Mani became the only woman in a 23-member team to spend over 403 days at India's Bharati Research Station in Antarctica. She operated and maintained the ground station, facilitating satellite data collection from 10 of the 14 orbits visible from the station, which was then transmitted to ISRO’s National Remote Sensing Centre in Hyderabad for processing and distribution. Prior to the mission, she underwent extensive physical and psychological assessments, including high-altitude acclimatization in Auli and Badrinath, to prepare for the harsh Antarctic conditions. Mangala Mani completed her schooling at Holy Mary Girls High School in Saifabad. Motivated by a NASA article on Mars, she pursued a Model Diploma for Technicians in Radio Apparatus (MDT-RA) at Masab Tank Government Polytechnic in Hyderabad, where she was the only female in a class of 80. She currently serves at the National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC) in Hyderabad, contributing to satellite data collection and processing for disaster management and resource monitoring, aligning with her long-standing commitment to national service and development.
Did you know?
The field of legal, economic, and social sciences has the highest number of students in Germany, which sums up to around 1.1 million.