Trivandrum cluster aims to break research silos

Trivandrum may not match the size of other state capitals or the modern amenities they boast, but when it comes to scientific research, it punches far above its weight. Few cities in the country can claim to host so many premier national research centres in such close proximity.

This dense concentration of talent and infrastructure has now been woven into a new framework – the Trivandrum Research Cluster – a first-of-its-kind initiative bringing together eight of the city’s top research institutions under the central government for joint, interdisciplinary research.

The agreement was signed at the Sree Chitra Tirunal Institute for Medical Sciences and Technology (SCTIMST) in Poojappura, with directors from the Rajiv Gandhi Centre for Biotechnology (RGCB), Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (Iiser), National Centre for Earth Science Studies (NCESS), Central Tuber Crops Research Institute (CTCRI), CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology (CSIR-Niist), Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST), and the Centre for Development of Advanced Computing (C-Dac) in attendance.

Together, these institutions represent nearly 700 scientists spanning biotechnology, space research, earth sciences, agriculture, medicine, and advanced computing.

National Initiative: This effort sits within the national Science and Technology (S&T) Clusters initiative, launched in 2020 by the Office of the Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India. The idea is simple: interdisciplinary hubs where collaboration replaces silos, and knowledge moves from labs into solutions for society.

During the signing ceremony, Dr Sanjay Behari, Director of SCTIMST, said that each institution will take on nodal responsibility for particular focus areas, with joint funding applications designed to ensure projects are both focused and time-bound.

This means a medical technology project, for instance, might be led by SCTIMST but draw on computing expertise from C-Dac and materials research from Niist.

A major gain from the initiative is access. Until now, even neighbouring centres often functioned in silos, sometimes even with little coordination between departments under the same roof. Researchers were often unaware of facilities available at other centres, or of similar work being undertaken nearby.

“Until now, such initiatives required extensive paperwork and official communications between institutes. Now that red-tape headache is over, researchers can collaborate smoothly under the cluster’s initiative,” says Dr Anandharamakrishnan, Director of CSIR-Niist.

He pointed out that pockets of cooperation have always existed. “The biomedical waste technology developed by the Niist team was validated by scientists at the Sree Chitra Institute. So such collaborative efforts were always there. But this initiative will make joint projects more seamless, and with all seven centres in Trivandrum signing an agreement, organising such work will be much easier.”

Wider Pool: The cluster also encourages joint research publications and collective grant applications, tapping into networks of scientists with overlapping interests across institutions. For younger researchers and students, this opens up a much wider pool of mentors, facilities, and opportunities.

Dr Rajasree, Associate Dean for Inter-Institute and Inter-Disciplinary Affairs at SCTIMST, says the consortium also plans to use research and technology to address issues that matter to local communities.

“Need-based projects for the benefit of society will be identified. Once key areas are chosen, expertise and research from different institutes will be pooled, and scientists will collaborate to find solutions with inputs from multiple fields. Similarly, researchers can draw on the expertise of colleagues in other institutes, inviting participation to create a truly multidisciplinary effort rather than working within their own domains alone.”

A major reform planned under the cluster is the creation of a repository of ongoing projects across the participating centres.

“It aims to create a database of ongoing research, equipment and the expertise available at different centres. This will serve as a repository of published work and current fundamental research. It will also support translational research, making it easier to identify projects with lab-to-market potential.”

Aiming High: The potential is clear – fewer dead-end projects, more collaborations, and faster translation from lab work to public benefit.

Dr Dipankar Banerjee of IIST connected the effort to India’s space ambitions, noting that collaborative clusters will become increasingly relevant as the country moves towards human spaceflight and greater private sector participation in space technologies.

The cooperation will not be restricted by regional boundaries either, as the newly created cluster in Pune demonstrates. Pune’s Knowledge Cluster has partnered with the Delhi Effective Education and Pedagogy Cluster (Deep-C) to roll out STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programmes in schools, focusing on digital literacy, teacher training, and sustainability skills.

But while the structure looks promising, implementation is likely to face teething troubles. Indian research culture has long been fragmented, and many labs remain inward-looking, unaware of opportunities for collaboration. Expensive machinery sometimes remains under-utilised because no one outside the host institute knows it exists or how to access it.

Rich Legacy: The cluster is meant to change this culture – but success will depend on whether the new agreements translate into everyday behaviour. Databases must be built and kept current, facilities must be genuinely open across institutes, and administrators must ensure joint funding proposals don’t get caught in the same bureaucratic loops the cluster was designed to avoid.

If the cluster’s leaders can maintain momentum, the city could become a national model for how research clusters should function. If not, the risk is that this will remain another well-intentioned memorandum of understanding that looks good on paper but makes little difference on the ground.

Trivandrum, as the capital of erstwhile Travancore, was long known as a centre of knowledge. As our newsletter featured last week, the shores of Kerala have a rich legacy of research and learning dating back centuries, exemplified by the Kerala School of Mathematics.

The Trivandrum Research Cluster offers a way to reignite Kerala’s legacy of knowledge and demonstrate how collaboration among India’s finest minds can create results far greater than the sum of its parts.

Scientists of the top odour

Three cheers to Vikash Kumar, assistant professor of design at Shiv Nadar University, and student researcher Sarthak Mittal for winning the Ig Nobel award for engineering design. Okay, we know this is not exactly the Nobel, but here is a duo who actually used engineering to solve a day-to-day problem. The project began after Mittal set out to find why shoes were often placed outside hostel rooms, despite having shoe racks inside. Once they identified smell as the reason, they designed a rack with ultraviolet rays to kill the bacteria that produced the odour-emitting gas.

The Ig Nobels, given since 1991 by the US science humour magazine Annals of Improbable Research, have only occasionally reached India, as our researchers keep mostly to labs. But in 2001, neuroscientists in Bangalore won one for their study of the habit of nose-picking. Two years later, Kerala scientists at the College of Veterinary and Animal Sciences in Mannuthy, Trichur, also won an Ig Nobel accolade after they used mathematical equations to calculate the surface area of an elephant. In case you were also wondering about the same problem, here is the link to their paper.

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Romance scam goes orbital in Japan

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