Ashoka University established a historic alliance with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR) International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS) under the Department of Atomic Energy (DAE) to set up a Meetings and Workshops Office. This is a landmark moment for India’s scientific and academic community, with an intention to promote interdisciplinary partnerships and scholarship excellence through world-class conferences and workshops.

The collaboration was formalized at ICTS, Bengaluru, on 30th June, 2025, in the company of Professor Rajesh Gopakumar, Director, ICTS, and Chair, Professor K VijayRaghavan, Science Advisory Council, Ashoka University. The event is a future-looking initiative that will act as a driver for research interaction, sharing knowledge, and mentoring across scientific disciplines. It also places Ashoka University as a center of excellence in the future for cutting-edge academic work.

This new Office of Meetings and Workshops will be an active and open forum to organize excellence-class scientific conferences. Running on an open call and proposal model, the plan welcomes scientists and researchers from all over the world to submit proposals for workshops and conferences. Admitted proposals will be granted institutional funds and resources under the Ashoka-ICTS collaboration to organize high-impact academic conferences.

Professor K VijayRaghavan welcomed this with his unstinting passion, saying, “The TIFR International Centre for Theoretical Sciences has been the leader in the country, and a part of the world leadership, in its programme of meetings and workshops. These meetings and workshops have actually dominated the intellectual landscape of the country and of the world. Recognising that the nation requires several such programmes in all spheres of science, Ashoka University is happy to collaborate with the ICTS to enhance its own meetings and workshops office.”

He also addressed the combined force of the partnership and mentioned that each institution is contributing its own special value. “This collaboration, with both intellectual and process-sharing partnerships, will benefit students and researchers all over the world. Collaborating closely with ICTS, we will be an exemplar of how we can be so much more than the sum of our individual capabilities.”. We are all greatly enthusiastic about the formalization of this association between Ashoka University and ICTS,” he added.

Professor Rajesh Gopakumar also talked of the larger context under which ICTS is now having its series of workshops and how the association with Ashoka fits into it. “Over the last fifteen or so years, ICTS has been fulfilling the requirement of a judicious selection of international schools and discussion meetings on emerging areas of science research so that India gains the desired capacity and visibility. Such community-based meetings are catalytic in establishing new collaborations and generating new ideas, which frequently cut across disciplines,” he added.

Emphasizing the increasing culture of research in India and the necessity for such endeavors, Professor Gopakumar felicitated Ashoka’s vision. “As the country has seen an increase in researchers, we can well say that we need many centres like this for such projects. We are thus happy to be a part of Ashoka and congratulate them for their vision of investing in such a Meetings and Workshops Office. I look forward to a fruitful mutually rewarding association,” he added.

As one of its year-one activities (2025–2026), the Meetings and Workshops Office will host two flagship two-week workshops—a January 2026 workshop on Mathematical Sciences and a July 2026 workshop on Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics. These conferences hope to gather the best brains from across the globe and facilitate groundbreaking discussion and collaboration.

Ashoka University Vice-Chancellor Professor Somak Raychaudhury emphasized the importance of the collaboration in determining the course of scientific research and interaction. “With this partnership with ICTS, Ashoka University is creating an international forum for scientifically rigorous discussion and discovery. The collaboration in Meetings and Workshops with ICTS will not only strengthen our research infrastructure but also enable the kind of inter-disciplinary effort which is required to address the biggest issues confronting the world,” he added.

The new office shall be a revolutionary space where intellectual curiosity, inclusivity, and mentorship are fostered. It shall focus on encouraging students, faculty, and global scholars to traverse discipline boundaries, co-construct knowledge, and mentor upcoming generations of thoughts. Through this, Ashoka reiterates itself as an open, embracing, and progressive institution.

This collective work also aligns with Ashoka University’s overall vision of enhancing its international research base. Ashoka has been newly ranked in some international and national rankings. It appeared on the QS World University Rankings 2025 with a position of 1201+, and was given special mentions under Sustainability (959) and Social and Environmental Impact (1001+). Domestically, Ashoka was ranked #1 in IIRF Rankings 2025 in the New Age Private Universities (Overall) and Private Universities Strong in Arts, Science, Research, and Humanities categories.

For more information regarding upcoming workshops and the application process, one may write to [email protected] or look at www.ashoka.edu.in/meetings-workshops-office.

This activity is organized under the auspices of Ashoka Global Research Alliances (AGRA) founded in April 2024 with a purpose to encourage interdisciplinary and institutional strategic collaborations worldwide. AGRA is a key division of Ashoka’s Research Council that aims to build the research culture at the university by interacting with universities, research institutions, funding agencies, and foundations.

Through efforts such as these, Ashoka University is further building its national and global presence in scientific research and academic innovation.