Report on the Sixth Annual General Body Meeting of the Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS)

The Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS), India’s first and only recognised young scientists academy, was founded in December 2014 with a vision to promote Science education and networking among young Indian scientists.

The sixth annual INYAS general body meeting (GBM) took place virtually from 18-21 February 2021, with a total of 5 sessions spread over 4 days. For the first time, two sessions of the INYAS GBM were open to the public.

A major highlight of this year’s annual GBM was a technical symposium on Infectious diseases. The highlight of the session was vaccine biology and COVID-19 vaccine. In this regard a very elaborate and informative talk was delivered by Shahid Jameel, a well-known virologist and Director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, Sonepat.

This session was a part of the INYAS vaccine awareness program and was also the first talk of a new webinar series called ‘GYANTEEKA’. The literal meaning of GYANTEEKA is knowledge (GYAN) about vaccine (TEEKA).

As India progresses towards mass immunizations to manage COVID-19, INYAS has stepped forward in encouraging people to help in the execution of the immunizations by addressing misconceptions, myths and misinformation associated with vaccines.

In the final GBM session on 21 February, INYAS members organised multiple brainstorming sessions to form a strategy for its future roadmap. The members also elected their new core committee.

In his final address as INYAS Chairperson, GYA member Chandra Shekhar Sharma (Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Hyderabad) summarised the new initiatives INYAS has taken during the last year in terms of capacity building and gender inclusiveness in STEM.

Chandra also highlighted that the election of 5 women scientists in a 9-member apex decision-making national core committee shows the commitment that INYAS has for women empowerment and encouragement for the leadership role among women members of INYAS. Chandra announced that INYAS will be focusing on a mass awareness campaign on Covid1-9 vaccination for the next few months and will engage all sections of the society for a wider impact.

The Press Release from the event is available here.

Full program: https://inyas.in/gbm-2021/

YouTube link of Pubic Lecture 1 and panel discussion: https://youtu.be/gCWOR27WKKE

YouTube link of Public Lecture 2 and technical symposium on Infectious Diseases: https://youtu.be/wIf837hvVpY