London-based medical research charity the Wellcome Trust announced a biomedical research funding tie-up of over Rs 636 crore with the Indian government in New Delhi on Wednesday. Under the scheme, a biomedical research career programme will fund cutting-edge research in India, according to a Wellcome Trust release.
The partnership was announced today in New Delhi by secretary of India's Department of Biotechnology Maharaj Kishan Bhan and Wellcome Trust Mark Walport. The jointly funded project will look at strengthening the research base of Indian biomedical science by providing fellowship programmes for researchers.
The sheme comes as a boon for thousands of PhDs in this field looking for opportunities to continue postdoctoral work in their home country. The fellowship could create the much needed career pathways in India for scientists working in basic biomedical, clinical and veterinary research.
The programme will be delivered by the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance, an independent, public charitable trust based in New Delhi and established by the two partners. Each year, the Alliance is expected to award around 40 early careers fellowships, 20 intermediate fellowships and 15 senior research fellowships, the release said.
The Wellcome Trust, which has been funding biomedical research globally for over seventy years, will use its expertise to enable staff from the alliance to implement a robust, peer-review funding process.
"India has a wealth of academic talent and it is important that we can support the best researchers throughout their careers," Walport said. "This initiative has the potential to have a significant impact on the health and prosperity of India and South Asia. We aim to nurture and develop a world-class cohort of biomedical researchers."
Bhan said India had embarked on a range of new institution building programmes. This scheme will attract the best scientists back to work in these locations, he added.
The Wellcome Trust currently funds 20 international senior research fellows based in India in research fields such as neuroscience, cell biology, cancer diagnostics, genetics and diseases of the developing world.
