Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management:

Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management:

Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management:

Shri Raj Kumar Sharma completed his schooling from Rashtriya Military School (RMS) Ajmer (Rajasthan) and did his Graduation (B.Sc) and Post-Graduation (M.Sc in Mathematics) from University of Rajasthan, Jaipur (Rajasthan).

He worked as Chemist during 1984-1986 in R&D and Quality Control Section of Ralson (India) Limited, Ludhiana. The main work responsibility at Ralson India Limited was analysis of Physical, Chemical and Rheological properties of rubber and rubber compounds; coal, water, oil and various rubber chemicals. Shri Sharma also worked as Analyst at "Panipat Thermal Power Station (PTPS)" of erstwhile Haryana State Electricity Board (HSEB), Panipat during 1986-1988. The main work responsibility at PTPS was the operation of De-Mineralized (DM) Water Plant which includes testing and analysis of raw water, DM Water testing and production, Coal & Oil testing for steam turbine applications etc.

He joined Department of Science & Technology (Govt. of India), New Delhi in July 1988 and has worked in various capacities and work responsibilities which include postings in International Cooperation Division, National Centre for Medium Range Weather Forecasting (NCMRWF), International Bilateral Cooperation Division, R&D Division (SAIF Scheme); and currently working in International Multilateral & Regional Cooperation (IMRC) Division of DST. During his posting in NCMRWF, he was involved in analyzing data for medium range (3-5 days) weather forecast for agro application. In International S&T Cooperation Division, he was responsible for developing bilateral Science & Technology cooperation with countries viz Germany, Switzerland, Austria, Norway, Sweden, China, Vietnam, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Hungary etc; He was instrumental in establishment of Indo-German Science & Technology Centre (which supports collaborative projects between Academia and Industry), Creation of ASEAN-India S&T Development Fund (which supports technology development, transfer and commercialization projects between India and ASEAN MS) , Indian participation at Lindau Nobel Laureates Meeting in Germany, Indian participation in construction of Facility for Anti Ion and Proton Research (FAIR) at Darmstad Germany etc among other S&T schemes with partner countries.

Mr. Sharma is, currently handling multilateral and regional cooperation program in DST. The programs include India-ASEAN, SAARC, BIMSTEC, IOR-ARC, NAM S&T Centre etc.

Shri Gaurav Aggarwal is presently working as Scientist-F in the Ministry/Department of Science and Technology and is responsible for implementation of collaborative national and international mega science projects under International Cooperation Division. Earlier, he was associated with implementation of Fast Track Scheme for Young Scientists (Engineering Sciences), Programme Advisory Committee Scheme for Civil, Mechanical, Robotics and Automation under SERC Division, Nano Mission and some IRHPA projects. He has vast experience of more than 26 years which includes teaching, research and implementation of R&D schemes.

He graduated in Mechanical Engineering from Kurukshetra University and obtained Master's Degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Delhi.

He worked as a Faculty for about 9 years with Government of Haryana before joining DST. His assignments included teaching, establishment of labs and handling of crucial institutional work. He also worked with NITCON, Chandigarh where his assignments included Modernization Studies and Technology Upgradation Programmes for Small Scale Industries, Small Industries Managerial Assistance Programme, Energy Conservation Studies and Entrepreneurship Development Programme.

He is a co-author in several Mechanical Engineering text books. His research publications include 1 Journal paper, 3 Conference papers and 1 Poster presentation. He is Life Member of Indian Society for Heat and Mass Transfer.

Dr. Sharma has a professional career spanning more than 15 years of experience from handling technology lead interventions for rural population specially for Women and Weaker section to implementation of science and technology cooperation among different nations. Her profile and experience include the Conceptualization, Formulation, and Implementation of Science Communication programs, STEM Initiatives for students & women scientists, quality assurance and quality control in vaccine manufacturing, drug regulation and implementation of Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) in contract research organizations and pharmaceuticals.

In her present job in the Department of Science and Technology, she is responsible for the establishment of the international cooperation with various countries including Argentina, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Mexico, Portugal, Romania, Serbia, Slovak, Slovenia, Spain, Iran, and Gulf countries as a Senior Scientist. She is responsible for conceptualization, planning, and coordination of the scientific schemes including their sensitization, inviting applications, analysing the technical & financial content of the proposals, and final selection. She is involved in the preparation of policy guidelines and formulation of new programs in science & technology and has taken many initiatives to sensitize Women Scientists. She is an active member of different committees and caucus working for gender parity at the national and international levels.

She had served in the vaccine manufacturing company of the Government of India and played a significant role to make India polio-free. She is a qualified vaccine analyst and was part of the National Good Laboratory Practices Compliance Monitoring Authority (NGCMA) for compliance of OECD principles in pre-clinical studies.

Dr. Sharma is a recipient of the 'M. J. Narasimhan Academic Award', 'SERC fast track young scientist's award', 'Imarti Devi Women Scientists Award' & 'Indira Gandhi Lifetime Achievement Award' and nominee of the 'Queensland University of Technology STEMM Diversity and Inclusion Award 2019'. She published a number of research papers on the development of transgenics, drug regulations, 'Women in STEMM', STEM education policies, and science communication. She is a regular speaker in different Conferences, Workshops, Seminars, and on All India Radio (AIR).

Dr. Sharma holds a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry Hons., Master of Science in Microbiology, Postgraduate Professional Diploma in Pharmaceutical Regulatory Affairs and Clinical Research, and a Ph.D. in Microbiology (Molecular Virology) from Indian Agricultural Research Institute, India. Prince 2 Foundation and Agile Practitioner Certification helped her to sharpen her project management skills. She did her higher research from the Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Australia with the common interest of Indian and Australian governments and continue working on the education and gender policies of both the countries.

Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management:

After receiving her doctorate degree in Biochemistry from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi and graduating with gold medal in MSc from Banasthali Vidyapeth. Dr. Sulakshana Jain started her career in 2005 as a research scientist in Dr. Reddy's Lab in Biologics Division developing drug for the cancer treatment. She has contributed there in development of world's first biosimilar monoclonal antibody Reditux and had been awarded excellence award for the same. In 2007, she joined Ranbaxy laboratories limited and worked for various drug discovery and development projects.

In 2012, Dr. Jain moved to Department of Science & Technology, Government of India and currently working as Director/Scientist E, International Bilateral Cooperation, DST. Her portfolio includes developing scientific relations with select group of countries with mutual symbiotic association. Presently, she is working with UK, countries of Africa continent and those in neighborhood of India. She has been trying her best to share India's experience in Science & Technology to the advantage of the partner countries and add value to our national programmes through their experience. She has been able to develop and successfully implement some new programmes towards capacity building and strengthening scientific institutes in United Kingdon, Africa and Neighbouring counties.

In the course of the above assignments, Dr. Jain has won several academic awards and has some good publications and patent in her area of specialization.

Dr. Sibashisa Dash is working in the International Division as Scientist 'C' in Department of Science and Technology. He obtained his Ph. D in Physics from University of Milan, Italy in 2012 on exploring spintronic materials with transition-metal-doped semiconductors using photoemission techniques both at conventional laboratory (University of Catholic, Sacred Heart, Brescia, Italy) and synchrotron light source at Elettra, Trieste, Italy. He returned to work as fellow scientist in CSIR-IMMT (India) for a year. He further worked as a researcher in Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), Singapore Synchrotron Light Source (SSLS) and National University of Singapore for two years on using x-ray photoemission spectroscopy techniques on transition metal oxides.

From 2016, he worked as a researcher for two years and subsequently as research assistant professor at Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan in collaboration with the Spring-8 synchrotron light source (Third generation and biggest in the world) using hard x-ray photoemission spectroscopy (HAXPES) on transition-metal-oxides leading to thermoelectric materials. He has published many international peer reviewed high impact journals such as American Physical Society, American Chemical Society and Royal Society of Chemistry. He has expertise in elucidating the electronic structure of various advanced materials using x-ray spectroscopy and other advanced techniques to corroborate the structural, magnetic, optical and transport properties, and for exploiting energy harvesting, magnetic, spintronic and superconducting materials.

She has completed her M.Sc. and Ph.D from Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IITR) in year 2004 and 2010, respectively and qualified National Eligibility Test (NET) conducted by CSIR/UGC in June 2005. She is a recipient of Silver medal in academics during B.Sc. in 2001 and secured 9th rank in all India M.Sc. entrance examination conducted by IITR in 2002. Due to her high grades, IITR awarded her merit-cum-means scholarship during post-graduation. She is a recipient of MHRD Fellowship offered by Ministry of Human Resource Development, New Delhi, for the period 2006-2010 to pursue her doctorate at IIT Roorkee.

She has secured "Excellent" ranking in preliminary course of German language conducted by Humanities and Social Science department of IITR in 2007. She is a member of Royal Society of Chemistry, United Kingdom. Her area of interest is separation science, trace metal analysis and analytical chemistry. Her research work was related with the synthesis and characterization of new chiral derivatizing reagents and their applications in quantitative and qualitative determination of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of a drug. She has published various research papers in peer reviewed international journals like Amino Acids, Biomedical Chromatography etc. and a few papers were published in conference proceedings of national and international conferences.

She has an academic experience of 09 years and has worked as a faculty with various prestigious universities of Delhi-NCR, Dehradun and Jaipur. Her last assignment was with IILM College of Engineering and Technology, Greater Noida, as an associate professor. Presently, she joined the Department of Science and Technology, New Delhi as Scientist 'C' in 2019. She is engaged in work related to India Science and Research Fellowship (ISRF) Programme for researchers/scientists in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand who are actively involved in research activities to visit India and also involved in Indo-Srilanka Joint Research Programme in which funding can be made available for selected Joint Projects and Workshops in bilateral mode involving scientist & technologists from Sri Lanka and India.

Dr. Mahak Garg has been working in Department of Science and Technology, Government of India since 2013. She is presently working as Scientist 'B' in International Cooperation Division of DST which is responsible for strategic partnerships with other countries. She is involved in project financing of innovative multilateral S&T projects with BRICS Countries, European Union and bilateral S&T projects of Indo-German, Indo-Austria, Indo-Sweden Cooperation. Before Joining DST, Dr. Mahak Garg has worked with Department of Biotechnology from 2009 to 2013.

She has been exposed to wide array of subjects while processing project financing which includes Bioinformatics, Life Sciences, Information Sciences and Data Management, Geospatial Technologies, Landslide Hazard and Mitigation, Bioengineering and Medical Biotechnology.

Dr. Mahak Garg is Doctorate from Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra. She is graduated from SGTB Khalsa College, Delhi University, India followed by Bioinformatics 'A' Level from National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NIELIT) formerly known as DOEACC Society associated with the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology of the Government of India. She holds a Master Degree in Bioinformatics from Punjab Technical University. She also holds Bachelors and Masters in Library Information Science from Annamalai University. She qualified UGC-NET examination. She has research papers published in peer reviewed national journals to her credit. Dr. Garg is also an elected member of Indian Library Association and actively participates in Sports and Recreation Club of DST.

Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management:

Dr. Nandini Kannan is the new Executive Director of the Indo-U.S. Science & Technology Forum (IUSSTF), a bilateral, autonomous organization jointly funded by the Indian and United States governments to "promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Innovation through substantive interaction among government, academia and industry." She brings leadership experience in academia and government, an understanding of the critical role that science and technology play in this global inter-connected society, and a deep commitment to education and workforce development.

Dr. Kannan spent over 20 years in academia, first as a faculty member and then as Chair, Department of Management Science and Statistics at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA). During her time at UTSA, she helped to develop new undergraduate and graduate programs and led a university-wide initiative on quantitative literacy. Since 2014, Dr. Kannan has served as a Program Director at the US National Science Foundation (NSF) where her responsibilities included core disciplinary research, mathematical sciences research institutes, and workforce development programs in the Division of Mathematical Sciences as well as a number of cross-directorate and cross-agency activities. She has served as a co-chair for several Data Science related activities in support of Harnessing the Data Revolution, one of NSF's 10 Big Ideas. She helped to create new programs to support data science foundations as well as data-intensive research in different science and engineering domains. Dr. Kannan also helped to create partnerships with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to support collaborative efforts in biomedical data science. She serves on the Board of Trustees of the International Indian Statistical Association (IISA) and is a former President of IISA.

Dr. Kannan received her B. Sc. in Statistics from Presidency College, Chennai and an M. Sc. degree in Statistics from the University of Madras before joining the Indian Statistical Institute as a Junior Research Fellow. She received an M.S. in Mathematics from the University of Pittsburgh, and a Ph.D. in Statistics from The Pennsylvania State University under the supervision of Professor C. R. Rao. She is a Fellow of the American Statistical Association and an Elected Member of the International Statistical Institute.

Dr. Purnima Rupal assumed the post of Director, Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (IFCPAR/CEFIPRA) on 11 Dec 2018.

Prior to this assignment, she served as Counsellor, Science & Technology at the Embassy of India, Tokyo, Japan, for three years. During her tenure in Japan, she contributed significantly towards enhancing the bilateral ST&I, space and nuclear cooperation, academic exchanges and healthcare cooperation between the two countries.

Dr. Rupal has been associated with the International S&T Affairs Directorate of Council of Scientific & Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi, one of India's largest public R&D organization for over 20 years and was responsible for planning, management & coordination of bilateral & multilateral science, technology & innovation cooperation programmes.

Dr. Rupal has been actively associated with Indo-French S&T bilateral collaboration besides, CSIR's programmes with other European and Asian countries. She played a major role in shaping India-EU joint S&T relationship between CSIR & its European partners. She has been actively involved in formulating policy issues with respect to international benchmarking and enhancing visibility of CSIR globally. Dr. Rupal was also closely associated with capacity building exercises of the CSIR.

Dr. Rupal is known for high degree of competence, analytical & problem solving abilities, networking and strong negotiation skills. She has represented CSIR at several high level S&T meetings.

Dr.Purnima Rupal trained to be a biochemist obtaining her Ph.D in Biochemistry from Panjab University, Chandigarh, India & Dr. Rupal also honed her skills in popular science writing and has authored books, articles in newspapers and magazines and edited books devoted to science dissemination.

She's fond of travelling, listening to Indian music and exploring new technologies.

Dr. Madhusudan Reddy Nandineni obtained his Bachelor's degree in Microbiology from Nizam College, Hyderabad, and Master of Science degree in Biotechnology from the University of Hyderabad, Hyderabad. After a brief stay at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore as Junior Research Fellow, he joined Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology (CCMB), Hyderabad to pursue his Ph.D. thesis work. His Doctoral thesis research at CCMB in the broad area of molecular genetics has led to the identification of at least five novel hitherto unknown genetic loci to be involved in water-stress tolerance in the model organism, Escherichia coli. Subsequently he moved to Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA to pursue postdoctoral research in the area of ribosome biogenesis and ribosomal RNA processing employing the baker's yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) as model system.

He returned to India in August 2005 to join CDFD, Hyderabad as Staff Scientist and Group Leader and was heading the Laboratories of DNA Fingerprinting Services and Genomics and Profiling Applications at CDFD. His research interests include forensic DNA profiling, human population diversity studies and plant-fungal interactions studies. In September 2019, he joined the Department of Science and Technology on deputation and is presently posted as Scientific Attache/ Counsellor (Science & Technology), in the Embassy of India, Berlin, Germany.

His present job responsibilities inter alia, include, acquiring information about the latest developments in S&T in Germany in specific sectors of interest to India, following up on the implementation of joint programmes of Indo-German S&T cooperation, identifying new areas for bilateral cooperation, keeping the Government of India briefed about the new policy decisions and related aspects pertaining to S&T in Germany, serving as focal point for information on S&T activities in India and liaise with concerned Government offices, R&D institutions, academic and research institutions etc. in Germany.

He has been the recipient of Innovative Young Biotechnologists Award (IYBA-2006), Max Planck India Visiting Scientist Fellowship (2007-10), BioAsia Innovation Award for Young Scientists (2007), Head, Max Planck Partner Group Programme Award (2011-16), Best Scientist Award from the Government of Telangana State (2018), etc.

Dr. Shishir Shrotriya is the Counsellor (S&T), Embassy of India, Moscow since Feb 19. He has done his PhD in the field of Technology Management and Innovation from IIT Delhi and is also a MTech from IIT Delhi. His key specializations include Communication Engineering, Navigation & Sensor Technologies and Indigenous Technology Development. He has varied scientific and project management experience and has worked closely with International and Indian partners. Dr. Shishir Shrotriya has also worked in the areas related to enhancing productivity and has authored many papers on innovation concepts and creative problem-solving. He has also worked closely in the domain of Systems Integration. He is a member of various Science & Engineering professional bodies and has vast collaborative projects experience with Academia, Industry and Research Institutes.

Presently deputed at Embassy of India, Tokyo, Japan, as Counsellor, Science & Technology for a period of three years. During her tenure in Japan, she will be contributing towards enhancing the bilateral S&T cooperation between India and Japan. {https://www.indembassy-tokyo.gov.in/contact_us.html}

Dr. Usha Dixit graduated from Kanpur University and then pursued a Post-Graduate degree in Biotechnology at DAVV, Indore, India. She is a Doctorate in Biotechnology from Central Food Technology Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, India. She has also worked as Postdoctoral Fellow at Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan and as CSIR- Research Associate at ITRC, Lucknow, India. Dr. Dixit has 29 publications in reputed national/international scientific journals as well as chapters in Books and Three Patents during her research career at CFTRI, Mysore, India in addition to several papers presented in national/ international seminars.

Dr. Dixit has been associated with Department of Science & Technology (DST), the nodal ministry of Science and Technology for the last 16 years and was involved in project financing/policy planning and management of innovative S&T projects especially for women, elderly, young students and young scientists such as- "Societal based Women Fellowships programme", "Young Scientist programme", "Technology Interventions for Elderly and disabled-TIDE", "S&T Interventions Involving Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalayas (JNV's)", Programme for "Arid and Semi-Arid Regions (CP-ASAR)" and "Cold Desert Regions (CP-CODER)" and several other innovative projects.

Dr. Dixit has also been engaged in co-ordination and management of the programmes on Technology Incubation, Innovation and Entrepreneurship development. She was contributed in developing and designing programme for Public Private Partnership (PPP) for the Department.

Dr. Dixit is also an active Member of Editorial Board & Reviewer of select Scientific Journals as well as Member of Evaluation/Screening Committees.

Dr. Arvind Kumar did his graduation in 1996 in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering from Rajendra Agricultural University Bihar. He did his MSc and PhD in Agricultural from Indian Agricultural Research Institute(IARI), New Delhi in the discipline of Agricultural Engineering with specialization in Soil and Water Conservation Engineering. He joined Indian Council of Agricultural Research in 1998 as scientist recruited through ARS system and promoted to Senior Scientist in 2008. He served the Council for more than eight years and engaged in research, teaching and extension at IARI, New Delhi. worked closely with 6 Divisions (Agricultural Engineering, Water technology Centre, Agricultural Physics, Soil Science, Environmental Science, Unit of Simulation and Modeling) and contributed in my professional expertise Soil and Water Engineering with focus of research on Groundwater recharge, Agriculture drainage, Soil Salinity &Drainage management leading to 11 Research publications in peer reviewed journal. As a teaching faculty member of IARI taught Post Graduate Students (M.Sc/M.Tech, Ph.D) in the subject areas of Soil and Water Conservation Engineering, Hydrology, Groundwater, and Open Channel Hydraulics, Irrigation & Drainage Engineering. Further as expert in LUND Imaging provided technical advisory to farmers for construction of tube well by carrying out several village level geophysical surveys for locating water aquifers for bore well digging. Dr. Arvind Kumar has been awarded many prestigious fellowships such as GATE-96, JRF-96, SRF-98, BOYSCAST Fellowship, Jindal Trust Fellowship. He has secured 1st All India Ranking in many prestigious examinations such as ICAR JRF -96, SRF-98, ARS-98 etc.

In 2008, Dr. Arvind Kumar joined Department of Science and Technology (DST) as scientist 'D' and working till date to this department. The major responsibility he handles includes coordination, negotiation and conclusion of S&T Agreement/MoU for building international partnership and alliances; developing and implementing international bilateral, multilateral and regional S&T program [EU, IBSA, BRICS, TWAS, UNCSTD] for accelerating India's national STI priorities; providing administrative support and preparation of Result Framework Document (RFD), STI Policy, S&T Plan, Budget Plan, Annual Report. Achievements as scientific management: