IRIS 2026 Begins: Key sessions, speakers, Faculty Research Awards

NEW DELHI: Careers360 is hosting the India Research & Impact Summit (IRIS) 2026 today, bringing together policymakers, university leaders, researchers, industry representatives, and higher education stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping India's research ecosystem.
IRIS 2026 Live

The summit, themed ‘Universities Advancing Knowledge | Universities Creating Knowledge,' will feature an impact keynote, a keynote address, six panel discussions, an award ceremony, and a special discussion.

Mr Maheshwer Peri, Founder and Chairman, Careers360 said: “At Careers360, our work has always begun with a simple question: what makes an institution truly valuable to a student and to society? For years, we have helped millions of students understand universities through admissions, courses, and outcomes. But the more closely we looked at institutions, the clearer one thing became: a university cannot be judged only by how well it teaches existing knowledge. Its larger contribution is also in creating new knowledge. And yet, while institutions are celebrated through rankings, accreditation and reputation, the individual researcher behind that knowledge often remains invisible. That is where the idea of IRIS came from. Today, we will recognise 54 outstanding researchers — one from a public institution and one from a private institution across 27 subject domains. This is an attempt to put the researcher at the centre of the conversation."

The programme began with registration at 9 am, followed by the opening address at 9:30 am.

Sribharat Mathukumilli, Member of Parliament (Lok Sabha) and President, GITAM, will deliver the impact keynote from 10 am to 10:20 am, followed by a keynote address by Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Member, NITI Aayog & Former Secretary, DST.

While delivering the keynote address, Mathukumilli said: "We need to become an exceptional knowledge-based institution, advancing on a culture of honesty and compassion. Capacity for academic research in India is very low, and that's something if we don't change, I think our impact on research and knowledge will be very low."

Panel discussions at IRIS 2026

The first panel discussion, scheduled from 11 am to 11:50 am, will be on “What Is Holding Back Indian Research: Funding, Faculty, Institutions, or Incentives?” It will feature Pramath Raj Sinha, Founder & Chairperson, Board of Trustees, Ashoka University; Sribharat Mathukumilli, MP Lok Sabha and President, GITAM Deemed to be University; Dr. Ananya Mukherjee, Vice-Chancellor, Shiv Nadar IOE; Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao, Group Vice-Chancellor, BITS Pilani; Prof. GD Yadav (Padma Shri) and Emeritus Professor of Eminence, ICT Mumbai; and Prof. Pankaj Chandra, Vice-Chancellor, Ahmedabad University.

The second panel, from 11:50 am to 12:40 pm, will focus on “Industry-Academia Research: Partnership Problem or Trust Deficit?” Prof. Rishikesha T. Krishnan, Vice-Chancellor, Ashoka University; Dr. Atul Chauhan, Chancellor, Amity University; C Srinivasa Raju, Indian Entrepreneur, Founder Sri City; Hitesh Oberoi, Managing Director and CEO, Info Edge; Prateek Maheshwari, Co-Founder PW (Physics Wallah) will participate in the discussion.

The third panel, scheduled from 12:40 pm to 1:30 pm, will examine “From Labs to Legislation: How should India measure research on Policy, Business and Social Impact?” The panel will include Prof. C. Raj Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, O.P. Jindal Global University; Prof. Bharat Bhasker, Director, IIM Ahmedabad; Prof. Dishan Kamdar, Vice-Chancellor, FLAME University; Dr. Sekar Viswanathan, Vice-President, Vellore Institute of Technology and Dr. A. Vinay Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, IFHE Hyderabad.

The fourth panel titled “Are Indian Universities Rewarding Research Impact or Research Output?” will begin at 2:30 pm. The 50 minutes session will feature Prof. Rudra Pratap, Vice-Chancellor, Plaksha University; Dr. B. Suresh, Pro-Chancellor, JSS University, Noida; Prof. Ch. Satish Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University AP; Er. Onkar Bagaria, CEO, VGU Jaipur and Dr. Suresh Ramanatham, CEO, IMI.

The fifth panel, from 3:20 pm to 4:10 pm, will turn the focus to early-career researchers and is titled “Fresh Blood: How PhD students and research fellows see India’s research environment”. The speakers include Prof. Sandeep Kumar Shukla, Director IIIT Hyderabad; Dr. Sandeep Sancheti, VP, Academic Relations, Elsevier; Sujatha Kshirsagar, President & CBO, Career Launcher; Dr. Dhruv Galgotia, CEO, Galgotias University and Dr. Asit K Barma, Director, BIM Trichy.

The sixth and final panel of the day will be held between 4:10 pm and 5 pm. The session, titled “Research and Rankings: How fair are research parameters in ranking and listing frameworks?”, will feature Prof. Manoj Kumar Tiwari, Director, IIM Mumbai; Hemant Sahal, Founder & CEO, Digii; Dr. Bipin Nair, Registrar, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham; Achal Agrawal, Founder, India Research Watch (IRW); Dr. B. Priestly Shan, Vice-Chancellor, Alliance University.

IRIS 2026: Third Faculty Research Award

An award ceremony is scheduled to begin at 5 pm. Careers360 will recognise 54 researchers across 27 subject domains as part of the summit's programme. The awards will be presented by GD Yadav.

Yadav was the Founding Vice-Chancellor of the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT) Mumbai and is still associated with it as Emeritus Professor of Eminence. He is President of the Indian Chemical Society, a Vice-President of the Indian National Science Academy and a Fellow of 10 Indian and foreign science academies.

He is only the second Indian to become a fellow of the US National Academy of Inventors and the only Indian fellow in the Canadian Academy of Engineering.

Yadav has guided 117 PhDs, 164 MTechs, and 52 postdoctoral researchers as a single supervisor. He has published 580 research papers, been granted 139 patents, and over a career of 45 years, transferred technology to industry five times. Prof. Yadav also chairs three boards governing major educational and research institutions, including the SN Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences Kolkata.