Young Indian Participants at the 61st Nobel Laureates Meeting in Lindau
“Connecting Nations - Connecting Minds.”
Every year, during the last week of June, Lindau a picturesque small town on a South Ger-man island cradled, by Lake Constance which connects Germany, Switzerland and Austria, becomes a bustling hotspot of scientist with the meeting of Nobel Laureates, academics and young researchers Interestingly, while geographically Lindau connects nations, intellectually, since 1951, it has been a meeting ground, connecting intellectual minds across the globe.
The 61st Lindau Meeting of Nobel Laureates from June 26 to July 1 2011 was dedicated to physiology/ medicine, with the theme “Global Health”. The Bavarian town hosted 23 Nobel Laureates and 566 young medical students, doctoral and post doctoral researchers (46% of the being women), nominated by 190 academies of science, research institutions and uni-versities from 77 countries,
At a time when an interface between medicine and technology sets the tenor for the future in medicine, the meeting has offered new insights, sparked new debates and created new pre-mises to usher in fresh paradigms in the field of physiology/medical science. The Chinese proverb here says it all - “A single conversation with a wise man is better than ten years of study”
2011 Lindau Meeting witnessed Martin Engstroem and Bill Gates being inducted into the Honorary Senate of the Lindau Council in recognition of their support in encouraging young talents to make a difference to the future, as was India´s Human Resource Development Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal in 2009, when India was the partner country.
19 young Indian students and researchers spent two weeks Germany. As in the past ten years this year also the first week was funded by the Department of Science & Technology (DST), Lindau Committee and the German Research Foundation (DFG). The second week that followed was a DFG funded tour to German Universities and research institutions.
“Educate, Inspire, Connect” - Lindau´s mission statement was expressed by all the research-ers and stated that the Lindau Meeting was indeed a “once in a life time opportunity” which enabled them to listen to the ideas of the icons of science and to interact with them.
Indian participant, Ms. Shivani Kanodia from the Center of Genetic Engineering and Biotech-nology stated: “Meeting these pioneers in person and learning from them is like learning the skill of warfare by Achilles himself.”
On the inaugural day, a lunch was hosted by Prof. Dr- Ing. Matthias Kleiner, President of the DFG for the Indian and Chinese participants. The guests included Prof. Dr. h.c. Wolfgang Schürer, Vice-President Council for the Lindau Laureates Meeting, Three Nobel Laureates Prof. Dr. Sir Martin Evans awarded in 2007 for discovery of embryonic stem cells) Prof. Dr. Edmond Henri Fischer, awarded in 1992; founder of Bio chemical mechanism that governs the activities of cell proteins) and Dr. Hamilton O. Smith awarded in 1978 for the discovery and use of `type II` restriction enzymes One witnessed close interaction and exchange of ideas between researchers and the Nobel Laureates. It was indeed “a dream come true” for all the researchers present.
“MASTER CLASS” - a new concept initiated by the organizing committee in this year’s meeting invited 8 selected doctoral and post-doctoral participants to make short presentation of their current research activities. These sessions were moderated by Nobel Laureates, fol-lowed by a Q&A session with Nobel laureates and researchers.
Two of the eight young researchers, selected out of 65 applicants, were from India.
Ms Geeta Negi, Ph.D. student from National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Re-search (NIPER), Mohali, working in the area of diabetic neuropathy and Mr. Avishek Anant, Ph.D. student from National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, working in the area of Infectious diseases were invited to make brief presentation on their research activities.
To give a wider perspective for future studies and collaborative research in Germany, DFG organized the second week with visits to universities connected to Medicine and Physiology in Berlin, Braunschweig, Hannover, Bonn, and Heidelberg, and enroute, stopping by to enjoy beautiful landscapes, and visiting well-preserved medieval town of Rottenburg, churches and finally a boat ride across the Rhine.
Indian Scenario: On their return the participants continue their academic and research ca-reer at their parent institutions in India. The DFG has initiated the Indian “Lindau Alumni Fo-rum” to network the Lindau fellows. All the students and young researchers who have partici-pated in the Annual Nobel Laureates Meetings since 2001 have joined this forum to share and exchange their experiences and the impact of these meetings on their academic and research careers.
A unique step taken by the Lindau Alumni in India is to promote “Science” as a career option. They reach out to the young school children and encourage them to continue their studies in the basic science streams. Science matters, science is international, science solves global problems! This is the spirit of Lindau; this is the spirit of the Indian Lindau Alumni which they would like to share.
Till date a total of 251 Indian students and young researchers have participated in this annual event. Of the last 11 meetings held in Lindau, 3 were in the area of Physics (2001, 2004 and 2008), 3 in Chemistry (2002, 2006 and 2009), 3 in Physiology and Medicine (2003, 2007and 2011) and 2 in interdisciplinary areas of the above mentioned fields in (2005 and 2010).
DFG India Office feels that the contacts established during such visits are an investment for the future. By creating a link now, the young researchers could capitalize on it once they are ready for carrying out more serious level of research. Thus, DFG acts as a catalyst; it does not recruit researchers but assists in establishing contacts, which then could lead to project collaborations in the future.
Seeing the enthusiasm and response of the Lindau alumni interested in continuing their re-search in Germany, starting from 2011 the DST and DFG, have agreed to support up to 5 of them annually to pursue their research at German institutions by providing them “short-term fellowships”. The 5 alumni will be chosen, based on their academic and research back-ground and on the evaluation of their participation and interaction during Nobel Laureates Meeting and visits to various research Institutions in Germany.
In Lindau, observing researchers exchange visiting cards, sharing experiences, chalking out future plans for collaborative research, one clearly notices that the Noble laureates meeting crosses all political barriers and leave no place for race, religion, caste or creed to be of any hindrance for development of science with human cooperation, dialogue and exchange of ideas. Nobel Laureates gave a taste of the way science is done….this was indeed a “Nobel” experience.
