By Our Staff Reporter
Delhi/Dehradun, 10 May: UPES, a leading private multidisciplinary university participated in the Eighth Annual Multi-Stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology and Innovation for the SDGs (STI Forum) as the knowledge partner along with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham and Wildlife Institute of India on 8 May. The University has also been an implementer of the CRRC programme of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Union Ministry of Science and Technology and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) India.
Dr Neelu Jyothi Ahuja, Professor and Cluster Head, Department of Systemics, School of Computer Science, represented UPES as the knowledge partner and implementer of the programme. She is leading the project in the capacity of Principal Investigator and highlighted the role of Community Resilience Resource Centres (CRRCs) for socio-economic post-COVID recovery through science and technology interventions. With 2022 being an important year for several technological innovations, the STI Forum 2023 theme was also rooted in how these innovations can be leveraged to accelerate the recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and the full implementation of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at all levels. Dr Ahuja shared the stage with Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology, and Shoko Noda, UNDP Resident Representative India.
The day-long virtual side event organised by the Department of Science and Technology together with UNDP, showcased India’s thought leadership in setting up CRRCs for building STI capacities and capabilities of the communities for improved resilience and livelihood systems.
The Forum was convened by the President of ECOSOC, Lachezara Stoeva with two appointed co-chairs, Mathu Joyini, Ambassador and Permanent Representative of South Africa to the United Nations, and Thomas Woodroffe, United Kingdom Ambassador to the UN Economic and Social Council.
“Science, Technology, and Innovation play a critical role in building such community resilience. Diverse fields of science generate new knowledge that improves understanding of the processes for bringing community resilience. New market-ready technologies create innovative opportunities for increasing economic, social, and environmental resilience, and innovation can bring together non-traditional actors to unite their efforts and pool their resources towards community resilience,” said Dr Srivari Chandrasekhar, Secretary, Department of Science and Technology (DST).
“The harrowing brush with COVID-19 underlined the need to build long-term societal, economic and environmental resilienceto withstand such crises and bounce back from its impact. As an innovation-focused institution, we are committed to offering instrumental support through our various projects and initiatives like Project Sakhi, Eklavya, Ayushman, and Narayani to accelerate recovery and ensure better preparedness,” said Dr Neelu Jyothi Ahuja. “To create sustainable societies, UPES also runs a unique social internship programme called Srijan. It aims to create empathetic and compassionate future leaders.To work towards change and create a positive impact in people’s lives, students have been working with more than 1100+ social sector organisations like Smile, Teach for India, End Poverty, Educate Girls and others to solve various community issues,” she added.
The STI forum 2023 emphasised enabling community-centred innovations for building advanced collaborative global research platforms for the development of scientific tools that to develop a resilient planet by addressing new and emerging challenges.
