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Dr S T Lee Public Policy Lecture 2018: How can science be the agent of social and economic transform...

12 December 2018

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Reported by Mejd Alsari, CSaP Policy Intern (September – December 2018)

Dr S T Lee Public Policy Lecture 2018

Professor K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, speaks on science, the fulcrum for social and economic change in India

You can watch and listen to the lecture recording here:

In November 2018, Professor K. VijayRaghavan, Principal Scientific Adviser to the Government of India, visited the University of Cambridge to deliver the 2018 Dr S T Lee Public Policy Lecture on how science can be the agent of social and economic transformation in India.

Chaired by the University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor Stephen Toope, Professor Raghavan discussed the importance of science to India’s development, the environment at which science and technology can create change, and provided a perspective on how to address the principal challenges India is facing today.

Professor Raghavan argued that strengthening science and technology in India is not only necessary for the country but also vital for the sustainability of our planet. With India’s large young population, India’s success is essential to the success of the world.

One of India’s biggest conundrums lies in the fact that India’s elite is substantially disconnected from their societies. For science to be the fulcrum for change, Professor Raghavan explained that we need to work with politics, government and society, we need to change industrial policy globally and nationally, and most importantly, we must become caretakers of the environment.

About Dr S T Lee Public Policy Lectures

The Dr S T Lee Public Policy lectures were established in 2003 thanks to a benefaction from Seng Tee Lee, Singaporean business executive, philanthropist and Honorary Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge. Each lecture considers aspects of scientific, medical or technological research and developments that are likely to have significant implications for public policy over the next decade.

Banner image from Tanya Hart via creative commons 4.0