New Delhi, April 6 Research and applied sciences will be central to developing sustainable solutions for India's energy security, green chemistry, and broader environmental challenges, CSIR Director General N Kalaiselvi said on Monday.
Addressing the inaugural session of an international conference on Sustainability Through Fundamental and Applied Sciences (STFAS), 2026, at Delhi University's Hindu College, she stressed that scientific innovation must move beyond theory to deliver scalable, real-world applications.
The director of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) also urged students to actively pursue research and entrepreneurship, saying the next generation of scientists and innovators would play a key role in shaping sustainable development.
The conference, jointly organized by the college's Departments of Physics and Chemistry, is being held from April 6 to 8. It has brought together nearly 30 national and international speakers from premier institutions, including IITs, CSIR laboratories, global universities, and industry.
Hindu College principal Anju Srivastava said the institution sees science as "a powerful enabler of change" and that the conference aims to bring together diverse stakeholders to explore solutions that are scientifically robust, socially relevant, and implementable.
According to the organizers, discussions during the event will cover themes such as sustainable materials, green energy, environmental science, AI-driven sustainability, and translational research. A major focus of the conference is strengthening the interface between academia and industry.
The event also includes several student-focused and public engagement activities such as coding competitions, poster-making, science quizzes, science slam sessions, three-minute talks, pitch presentations, debates, photography contests, and short film competitions, they said.
A specialized instrumentation workshop is being held to give participants hands-on exposure to advanced scientific equipment and analytical techniques.
Conference convener and Hindu College professor Reena Jain said the event has received hundreds of submissions from across the country, with shortlisted participants presenting their work through oral and poster sessions.
She added that selected papers will be published in reputed Scopus-indexed Wiley journals, offering emerging researchers a valuable platform for academic recognition.