The Royal Society of London initiated the holding of the first Commonwealth Science Conference in 47 years in Bangalore, India from 25‒28 November 2014.
Academy President Professor Andrew Holmes AM PresAA FRS FTSE, former President Professor Suzanne Cory AC FAA FRS, Secretary for Physical Sciences Professor Chennupati Jagadish FAA FTSE, and Fellows Professors Bob Williamson AO FAA FRS, Tam Sridhar FAA FTSE and Peter Colman FAA FRS FTSE were among 300 invited scientists attending the conference. The Academy selected a total of 32 doctoral and postdoctoral participants from Australia, Papua New Guinea and Fiji to attend.
Organised by the Royal Society and the Indian Government, the conference aimed to celebrate excellence in Commonwealth science, provide opportunities for cooperation between Commonwealth researchers, inspire young scientists, and build scientific capacity in developing nations within the Commonwealth.
The conference was formally opened by the President of India, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, with a message from Her Majesty the Queen delivered by HRH Prince Andrew, the Duke of York KG FRS.
The format involved plenary lectures as well as parallel sessions in the areas of global health, mathematics, computation and complex systems, materials and biomolecular assemblies. Special sessions were devoted to entrepreneurship and innovation in India, and scientific advice across the Commonwealth.
Feedback from the young researchers selected by the Academy who attended indicates that this meeting provided a unique oversight of science within the Commonwealth and that the scope and breadth of the research presented in the lectures was inspiring.
For further information, see the Royal Society's website on the Commonwealth Science Conference, Bangalore 2014.
The nature of the conference supported networking between delegates from Commonwealth countries. Following the meeting, I have been in email contact with researchers from Papua New Guinea, Trinidad, South Africa and Australia. As a direct result of the meeting, I will be submitting a grant with a Papua New Guinea delegate, working towards a publication with an Australian delegate and am hoping to develop a productive collaboration with researchers in Trinidad.
Personally, this conference has given me an opportunity to possibly do postdoctoral studies with a well-established scientist in Australia through the networking I made during the conference. This potential mentoring from the scientist will develop my specific skills that will make me a unique scientist in my developing country since not many of the scientists in my country are in the field of Immunology.
The conference was a fascinating stage to gain and learn about multidisciplinary scientific studies and to know the leading scientists in the Commonwealth. The chosen speakers were of an unparalleled quality and the breadth of topics (from astrophysics to health in the Caribbean islands) underpinned the excellence in the Commonwealth science and provided inspiration for all the attendees (definitely me!).
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