Merck, a leading science and technology company, has announced the winners of the first Merck Young Scientist Award, recognizing the contributions of young Indian scientists in innovative research.

The Merck Young Scientist Award is constituted to encourage young scientists in pursuing their research aspirations. The company received over 1600 registrations and 575 applications which were scrutinised by an eminent jury constituted by distinguished scientists and academicians in the country.

The winners are:

• Dr. Debojyoti Chakraborty,  Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi
• Dr. Dipyaman Ganguly, CSIR-Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata
• Dr. Siddhesh S Kamat, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune
• Dr. Mahendran K .R, Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology, Thiruvananthapuram
• Dr. Sakya S. Sen, CSIR - National Chemical Laboratory, Pune
• Dr. Basker Sundararaju, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur 

Runners-up: 

• Dr. Dibyendu Kumar Das, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur
• Dr. Dhiraj Bhatia, Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar
• Dr. Tamal Das, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad
• Dr. Santosh Chauhan, Institute of Life Sciences, Bhuvaneshwar
• Dr. Uttam Manna, Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati

The winners received cash award of INR2,00,000 & Travel Award of INR 1,50,000 each and the runners up each received cash prize of INR 1,00,000.

Merck Young Scientist Award is a step towards the company’s vision of empowering the scientific community. The award is presented to a Researcher or Scientist with less than 10 years of research experience (post PhD), residing in India and presenting innovative scientific research that can benefit the society

The Jury included eminent scientists from top Indian Academic institutes with Dr. Shahid Jameel, Chief Executive Officer, The Welcome Trust / DBT India Alliance, as the Chair and, Dr. Anurag Agrawal, Director Institute of Genomics & Integrative Biology, Prof. Apurva Sarin, Director, Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine, Dr. Davinder Gill, Chief Executive Officer Hilleman Laboratories and Dr. Radha Rangarajan, CEO, Co-Founder, Vitas Pharma, as Co-Chairs. The award ceremony was held in Bangalore on December 27, 2019.