Guest Lecture by foreign faculty onTelemedicine in Space missionsheldon December 13, 2017-a joint venture by KAAS and Christ

The department of Life Sciences, Christ University organized a guest lecture in association with KAAS (Karnataka Association of Advancement of Science) on December 13, 2017. The resource person was Dr Thais Russomano, Faculty, Department of Life Science and Medicine, King’s College, London and Director of Innova Space. Dr Suma S, Life Science Association Coordinator gave the welcome address, following which Dr George Thomas, Associate Dean of Science gave the message.  Dr Geetha Bali, who was former Vice Chancellor of Karnataka Women’s University, Bijapurand currently the President of KAAS,introduced the speaker and spoke on various activities and mandates of KAAS. The talk by Dr Thais on the topic “Telemedicine in Space Missions” was very informative. She spoke at length on changes in human physiology in microgravity conditions and also about few of her patents on gadgets which can be used in space for astronauts. Her words were truly inspiring and elicited a lot of queries from the audience. The vote of thanks was delivered by Prof Anandaram M N, Former Professor of Physics, Bangalore University and currently the Vice President of KAAS.

 

Report on National Moth Week Celebration by Department of Life Sciences

The students of Green Army led by Dr P U Antoney, Professor, Dept of Life Sciences has actively taken part in the celebrations of National Moth Week, 2017. During the last week of July 2017, interested students went around the campus in the late evenings searching for moths, clicking photos if possible and uploading them on biodiversity portals, from where they can be identified. This was another citizen science initiative, through which a large amount of data on diversity, range, habitat and other behavioral aspects of moths can be retrieved. This could prove to be important data for researchers and conservationists.

Report on Trekking Activities of Green Army, Department of Life Sciences 2017

The students of Green Army, under the leadership of Dr P.U.Antoney, Professor, Dept of Life sciences, had gone for three trekking trips in the year 2017. The trek to Devarabetta was organized on June 30, 2017, the one to Achalubetta on July1, 2017 and the trek to Kabbalammadurga on November 12, 2017. The last one was a bit difficult as the altitude was high and also the terrain was a bit slippery. The second one was rich in biodiversity. The students could appreciate the immense biodiversity and the beauty of nature by way of such treks.

Report on Lake Restoration and Tree Plantation Activities of Green Army, Department of Life Sciences 2017

The students of Green Army, under the leadership of Dr P.U.Antoney, Professor, Dept of Life sciences, had, as part of the Byrasandra Lake Restoration Project, conducted two major cleanup drives and one tree plantation drive in the lake premises during the course of the year 2017. This was done by a successful collaboration with BBMP and the ever-enthusiastic residents from the colonies around the lake. The species that were planted included trees like Honge (Pongamia pinnata), Nile Trumpet (Markhamia lutea), Singapore Cherry (Muntingia calabura) and other keystone species which add to the sustenance of the lake ecosystem. The cleanup drives were hugely successful, with a large number of people turning up in order to cleanse the lake bed and surroundings from the heaps of solid and household waste. 

Report on the Guest Lecture – “GUIDELINES TO QUICKLY FIND A SUITABLE JOB AND CAREER IN LIFE SCIENCES” Organized by Life Science Association

The Life Sciences Association organised a guest lecture on November 29, 2017 which focussed on helping the students find a clearer course of action after their graduation. The resource person was Dr Kshitish Acharya, Founder Director, Shodhaka Life Sciences Pvt Ltd. The programme was organised in the Skyview, Central block in the Main Campus of Christ University. Dr Kshitish spoke about the dilemmas faced by college students while opting for their career options and then gave a detailed talk about the various options that they can pursue. He introduced to students the concept of ‘SOTS-JSA’ an online test which is designed to help students figure out what their strengths are and where they stand as compared to their colleague. The students had a lot of queries on different possibilities of jobs and careers after the graduation or post-graduation in different fields of Life Sciences.The event ended with Dr Suma. S, Life Science Association Coordinator acknowledging his efforts for helping the students planning their course of actions.

 

Inauguration of Lifescience Association

The Life Sciences Association inauguration was held on 5^th July 2017 in the KE Auditorium, Block IV, Main Campus, Christ University. The event was graced by the presence of Dr Nirupa Bareja, the chief guest of the day, who is the Head of Operations, Vicus Therapeutics, a US based Biotech Company. The inauguration was marked by playing a short video about the Life Sciences Department and the events conducted by the department during the academic year of 2017-2018. It was followed by inviting the dignitaries on stage for lighting of the lamp where Dr Nirupa Bareja, Rev Fr Jobi Xavier, the HOD of Life Sciences and the CFO of Christ University and Dr Suma S, the Coordinator of the Life Sciences Association did the honors. The newly elected association members were introduced by Dr Suma S. The welcome address was delivered by Mr Amritanshu Das, Secretary of the Association, followed by an intellectual talk by the chief guest. The event concluded with the wonderful cultural programmes put up by undergraduate students. The vote of thanks was delivered by Ms Sheenu Wilson, the President of Life Science Association.

Preparing the Next Decade: Contemporary Challenges in Global Politics

Report of Guest Lecture

Preparing the Next Decade: Contemporary Challenges in Global Politics

by

Prof. D Suba Chandran

The interactive session started with the lighting of the lamp and the choir seeking the blessings of the almighty. This was followed by the introduction of the guest speaker and acknowledging his renowned presence with all of us.  And an opening speech by the head of the cluster Dr. Chaitanya Pradeep,He made us aware about why and what are the issues that we have come together to discuss.

The guest lecture by Prof. D Suba Chandran Dean at the School of Conflict and Security Studies, National institute of Advanced studies(NIAS) titled “Preparing the Next Decade: Contemporary Challenges in Global Politics”was organized by Political Science and Historycluster of the BGR Campus on the 10^th of Nov 2017 from 1:30-3:30pm in mini-auditorium. The lecture was an eye opener for the audience regarding the field of International Relations. His highly simplified language and an appreciative amount of interpersonal communication turned out to be a great motivation for the students to pursue the field

                                                              

The session started with the mind mapping of generalized contemporary issues in the global scenario.  Certain areas such as hostility amongst countries and the prominence that the youth associated with technology were few things that turned out to be out of his expert purview. The discussion primarily revolved around speculations of the future global positioning of countries and the relative shift of trends in International Relations to adjust to the changes. The U.S.A and the PRC were the most important subjects discussed in the session. The facts presented clearly provided us with the perspective that economic progress was the key determinant of balance of power in the future.

A logical explanation of why the U.S.A will remain a superpower and will not wither to being just another former superpower in the near foreseeable future was given. The illusion that military power was the primary determinant in assessing a countries power was shattered. The PRC on the other hand has belittled all the former experts in the field by developing in rates that history has witnessed and shows no interest in slowing down their progress. As for disputes relating to PRC, the non-adherence to the ruling provided by the International Court of Justice on South China Sea was given as an example as to how PRC has become a giant that can’t be controlled and how it determines its own terms form negotiations. 

Prof. Suba Chandran, strongly believes that demography and related fields will be a major determinant of influencing the future power owned by countries. The countries that have an extremely large proportion of youth population surprisingly also happen to be the places with utmost instability. The current developed countries will experience an outage of skilled labourand will be dependent on the manpower of the rest of the world for fulfillment of primary needs. An important take away is the unpredictability of trends in International Relations. What might be an impoverished and threatless country today can one day be a global superpower and the current developed countries might one day have to be dependent on these countries for their very existence.

India on the other hand is going to experience gradual growth and is in an extremely unhealthy position of taking steps to manage its massive population. Its laws and reforms have failed to keep up with global development of technology and require immediate attention. Its relations with countries like Afghanistan and other parts and the hope that the young bureaucrats bring with their courageousness will be a key determinant of India’s foreign policy.Diplomatic answers to black and white questions happened to be an inspiring element of the session.

The talk was followed by question and answer session. Students from almost all the batches asked many questions on various themes such as scope of higher education of International relations studies in India, role of India’s soft power, threats of climate change etc.

Vote of thanks was given by Prof. vaishaliraghuvanshi and Dr. Chaitanya pradeep presented the token of appreciation to the guest at the end.