The Centre for Society and Policy (CSP) at the Indian Institute of Science was established in August 2014 with two broad goals, viz., (i) studying policies and mechanisms that can help increase the research impact of Indian institutions and thereby improve their position in global rankings and (ii) critically examining the different funding mechanisms and their efficacy in raising the research impact of Indian institutions. The Centre’s work towards these goals has multiple facets, including a scientometric study to access how well Indian institutions perform in various fields of scientific research.

Prof. Abinandanan is the Coordinator of the DST-Centre for Policy Research and a professor in the Department of Materials Engineering at IISc. He obtained his Ph.D. degree in 1991 in Metallurgical Engineering and Materials Science from Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, USA. After a post-doctoral stint in France, he has been on the faculty of the Indian Institute of Science since 1993.