Merck has announced the winners of the second 2 of Merck Young Scientist Award. The award intends to recognize and encourage young budding scientists who dream of making a difference in the lives of millions of people across India, through their cutting-edge research in Life Sciences. 

Season 1 of Merck Young Scientist Award in 2019 felicitated 11 curious minds for their novel research work. This year company invited applications in three research areas- Biological Sciences, Chemical Sciences & COVID research and received over 2000 registrations with more than 500 applications. The applications were scrutinized by an eminent jury constituted by distinguished scientists and academicians in the country.

The winners:

• Sarit S. Agasti, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru
• Prakriti Tayalia, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
• Kartik Sunagar, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
• Kanishka Biswas, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bengaluru
• Chandra M. R. Volla, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai
• Dr Modhu Sudan Maji, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur
• Debojyoti Chakraborty, CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, New Delhi

The runners-up:

• Ritobrata Goswami, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, Kharagpur
• B Anand, Indian Institute of Technology Guwahati, Guwahati
• Srimonta Gayen, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru
• S. Santhosh Babu, CSIR-National Chemical Laboratory
• Biplab Maji, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Kolkata
• Mahiuddin Baidya, Indian Institute of Technology Madras, Chennai
• Rajesh Kumar, Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, Faridabad

The winners received cash award of Rs 2,50,000 & Travel Award of Rs 1,00,000 each and the runners up each received cash prize of Rs 1,00,000.

Merck Young Scientist Award is a step towards the company’s efforts of nurturing the scientist of tomorrow and fostering a thriving community for advancing science. The award is presented to a Researcher or Scientist with less than 12 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, visiting Professor, Ashoka University, India and Fellow at OCIS and Green Templeton College, University of Oxford, UK, 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 D. Srinivasa Reddy, Director, CSIR – Indian Institute of Integrative Medicine and Dr Radha Rangarajan, Chief Technology Officer, HealthCube, as Co-Chairs. The award ceremony was held in Chandigarh on November 17, 2021.