Navi Mumbai to host Asian Science Camp

The fourth in the series of the annual Asian Science Camp (ASC) will be hosted by India for the first time this year at Navi Mumbai. The previous ones were held at Taipei in 2007, at Bali in 2008 and in Japan in 2009.

The camp is to be held from August 17-21. It will be hosted by the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) and organised by the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE), a constituent of the TIFR. The camp will be inaugurated by Prithviraj Chavan, union minister of science and technology.

“It is an academic enrichment camp for undergraduate science students and is meant to sustain their interest in science,” said Vijay Singh, professor at the HBCSE and national coordinator of the National Initiative on Undergraduate Science (NIUS).

Around 200 students and 30 teachers from more than 20 countries and regions in Asia would participate in the event. They would stand to learn from talks by 11 top scientists from India and abroad. These would include two Nobel laureates - professor Richard R Ernst of Switzerland and professor Makoto Kobayashi of Japan.

“Outside of the talks, students will be split into smaller groups in which they will have closer interaction with the speakers,” Singh said. “After all lectures are over, students will have to summarise their understanding of the interactive sessions. They will have to prepare posters on topics of their choice and make presentations on them.”

Director of the HBCSE Dr HC Pradhan said, “The camp is aimed at enlightening and encouraging talented youth through discussion and dialogue with top scholars of the world. It will also promote international friendship and cooperation among the brightest members of the next generation in Asia. It will include plenary sessions, student-master dialogues, discussions, a poster competition and an excursion.”