ANRF Announces Selection of 10 Institutions for Establishing Convergence Research Centres of Excellence

📌 Summary:

• The Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) has announced the selection of 10 institutions to establish Convergence Research Centres of Excellence (CoEs)

• The programme integrates Social Sciences, Humanities, Science and Technology to address complex societal challenges through transdisciplinary research

• Selected institutions include IIT Gandhinagar, NIAS Bengaluru, IIT Madras, NIT Agartala, the Institute for Human Development (Delhi), IIT Dharwad, IIM Jammu, IIT Kanpur, Chanakya University and PSGR Krishnammal College for Women

• Thematic areas covered: Archaeology and Traditional Knowledge systems, Digital Humanities, Rural Development, Health and Psychology, Emerging Technologies for Social Issues, and Computational Economics

• The programme received 945 proposals; the selected Centres draw collaborators from 20 partner institutes

• The programme draws inspiration from the National Education Policy (NEP) 2020's call for multidisciplinary research and is aligned with the Viksit Bharat 2047 vision

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 — science, technology and the research and development ecosystem; GS2 — education policy and NEP 2020 implementation.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• ANRF = Anusandhan National Research Foundation, established under the ANRF Act, 2023, which subsumed the Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB)

• The CoE programme integrates social sciences and humanities with science and technology

• 10 institutions were selected from 945 proposals

• The programme is inspired by NEP 2020 and aligned with Viksit Bharat 2047

🔑 Key Term: Anusandhan National Research Foundation (ANRF) — India's apex body for funding, mentoring and promoting research across universities and institutions, established under the ANRF Act, 2023.