INSA’s stated vision statement reads:
“To develop a seamless intellectual infrastructure to facilitate meaningful interaction between scientists, science, public administrators, and science practitioners to foster a better understanding of each other’s needs and requirements and to inform policies based on sound scientific inputs. To provide moral and practical leadership to the academic fraternity, at the highest level, taking the responsibility not just for the formulation of long term visions for Indian science but for their detailed implementation. To work closely with the broader scientific community to realize these and monitoring progress towards clearly defined common goals.”

In order to fully achieve its envisioned goals, the Academy will regularly publish expert reports and vision documents on a range of science and engineering matters, of current and future importance, that will impact Indian science research and policy, progress of technology, education, and the economy. It would also include matters concerning the practise of science (such as ethics, gender parity, cultivation of young talent, and institutional leadership development).
Such researched reports and documents will be of great value to students and researchers, and can impact policy decisions of the Government of India and its funding agencies, and also philanthropic foundations that support science and engineering.

Process for generation of reports and documents:
INSA will set up processes to generate expert reports and vision documents. It will form various subject wise committees consisting of fellows and other volunteer experts to undertake this writing with necessary resources and secretarial support. Once the reports are prepared they would be sent out for review and comments from another group of experts. The completed reports would be made publicly available in a publicly accessible repository and also distributed to educational institutions, various department of the Government of India, and also philanthropic foundations that support science and engineering.

Examples of such reports could be:
a) The status and future of mathematical sciences defined in a very broad sense in India and world-wide, which would include the various diverse applications of mathematics to the natural sciences and engineering, including computing;
b) The importance of a holistic and interdisciplinary approach to STEM education including the interconnected areas of science, engineering, technology, and mathematics to prepare students and researchers for the challenges of the 21st century, where scientific and technological advancements are driving innovation and growth in many fields.
c) A vision document on Earth Sciences and Societal Impact, which would include climate change, the water cycle, earthquakes, landslides etc and their impact on human livelihood.
d) A status and vision document on the rapidly emerging field of AI-ML (artificial intelligence and machine learning), that can help shape national policy on the adoption of AI-ML tools for benefit of society, identify directions in which Indian researchers can make unique contributions to the field, and provide guidance for regulation of this powerful technology to prevent misuse.

INSA is happy to present the link (see below) to the first expert report, “On the Evaluation of Young Researchers”,
prepared by INSA Fellows Anurag Kumar, Spenta R. Wadia and Vivek Borkar.

Ashutosh Sharma                                                                                           
(President, INSA)
Date: 13-11-2023