India to host international conference in basic sciences
Monday, 23 October 2006, 19:30 IST
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New Delhi: India will host an international conference in New Delhi in January to identify future areas of research in basic sciences. About 250 Indian and foreign scientists are expected to attend the conference to be organised by the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Basic Sciences (CIRBAS), said Sayed Afsar Abbas, the founding director of CIRBAS. "We have invited experts from hot and promising areas like bio-astronomy, exobiology, astro-biology, cognitive-neuroscience, bio-inorganics, mathematical biology, bio-physics, geo-physics and mathematical biology," Abbas told IANS here. The institute funded by the University Grants Commission (UGC) has begun working at the Jamia Millia Islamia University campus in Delhi. At the conference at least 50 distinguished speakers will deliver plenary talks while contributory papers would be presented in various parallel sessions. "A few Harvard experts and a couple of distinguished scientists from Italy and France and a Nobel Laureate or two may also attend the conference," Abbas said. "With the help of speakers and participants, we will be able to identify areas in which the centre should focus its research on," he said. CIRBAS should do interdisciplinary work in basic sciences like physics, chemistry, mathematics, biosciences and geo-sciences, he added. "We intend to have an active visitors programme on the lines of IUCAA (Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics) in Pune, so that a large number of Indian scientists benefit," he said. "Very few people know about the existence of CIRBAS. The conference will also help to publicise its existence," Abbas said.
Source: IANS
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