Sometimes attaining the deepest familiarity with a question is our best substitute for actually having the answer.

The Dept of Life Sciences, CHRIST (Deemed to be University) organized an International Conference on Women in Science Research and Innovation in association with the Consulate General of Israel to South India on June 20 and 21, 2017 in the K E Auditorium, Block IV, Central Campus, CHRIST (Deemed to be University).

We started off with an inaugural session with the Consul General of Israel, Ms Yael Hashavit as the Chief Guest. Dr Suma S, Coordinator of the Conference gave the welcome address and the Vice Chancellor, Fr Dr Thomas C Mathew gave the Presidential address. Ms Yael Hashavit gave the inaugural address. Israel is a country which is technologically very much advanced. She spoke on the ongoing partnerships between India and Israel and was very much positive on initiating collaborations between researchers from both the countries in the domain of Science.

Then  we had  Dr Reeta Mani from the department of Neurovirology, NIMHANS  who  took us  through a journey of  the dreaded disease Rabies and explained  how smart the Rabies virus is  and  how  difficult it is  to combat  it. The next technical session was engaged by Dr Meenakshi D’Souza from the International Institute of Information technology, Bangalore.   She spoke on the history of mathematics and computers and the significant milestones in the field.

Day  II started off with the session by Dr Sudheshna Adak, CEO of Omix R and D Pvt Ltd. Dr Adak spoke on the dismal  scenario of the  growing antibiotic resistance which if  left unattended  is going to be a serious  menace  in the coming years.  The  second  session  was  by  Dr Dipshika  Chakravortty  who  spoke  on  an interesting topic  - How  pathogens  outsmart  us. The talk was extremely interesting and the ensuing discussion was very informative. The last technical session was by Dr Prerna Sharma of the Dept of Physics, IISc who spoke on the Curvature Instabilities in Colloidal membranes.

For the valedictory session, we had Dr Sudha Narayana Murthy, Chairperson of Infosys Foundation, as the Chief Guest who stressed the need for equal participation of men and women in all walks of life including the domain of Science. Dr Anil Pinto, Registrar of CHRIST (Deemed to be University) also voiced the same opinion. Overall, the Conference proved to be an enlightening one for all the participants.