Creating a Cultural Conversation on Science

Living through a global pandemic has reminded us of the relevance of scientific research in our everyday lives. However, it has also shown us the rift that exists between knowledge making and the society at large. How might we work towards a public that takes an active role in shaping scientific research and knowledge production? What does it mean to develop a relationship of trust between researchers and the public? This conversation between Jyotsna Dhawan, CEO of DBT/ Wellcome Trust India Alliance, and Jahnavi Phalkey, director of Science Gallery Bengaluru, featured a discussion on how these institutions have intervened to create a more robust public discourse on science as well as the challenges that lie ahead.


About the Cell Biologist

Jyotsna Dhawan is the CEO of DBT/ Wellcome Trust India Alliance, an organization that funds the best and the brightest in the biomedical research ecosystem in the country.

Dhawan is a cell and developmental biologist who has worked on stem cells and tissue repair for the past 30 years. She has led a research group working on muscle stem cells at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology and was involved in the establishment of DBT’s Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine in Bengaluru. Dhawan has been actively involved in mentoring young biologists and in a variety of efforts aimed at building an enabling system for research and education. She has served as the President of the Indian Society for Cell Biology and the Indian Society for Developmental Biologists and is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy.


About the Historian of Science

Jahnavi Phalkey was appointed Founding Director of Science Gallery Bengaluru in November 2018. Previously she was faculty at King’s College London. She started her academic career at the University of Heidelberg, following which she was based at Georgia Tech-Lorraine, France, and Imperial College London. She was Fellow, Wissenschaftskolleg zu Berlin (the Institute of Advanced Study, Berlin). She was external curator to the Science Museum London, and has been a Scholar-in-Residence at the Deutsches Museum, Munich. Jahnavi is the author of Atomic State: Big Science in Twentieth Century India and has co- edited Science of Giants: China and India in the Twentieth Century. She holds a doctoral degree in history of science and technology from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta.


Ashank Chandapillai