IRIS 2026 on October 1: Key sessions, speakers, Faculty Research Awards

Careers360 will host the India Research & Impact Summit (IRIS) 2026 on October 1 in New Delhi, bringing together policymakers, university leaders, researchers, industry representatives, and higher education stakeholders to discuss the challenges and opportunities shaping India's research ecosystem.

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.

The programme will begin 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. This will be followed by a keynote address by Prof. Abhay Karandikar, Member, NITI Aayog & Former Secretary, DST.

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 Dr. D. Purandeswari, MP and Chairperson, Joint Parliamentary Committee on the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, and the former Union Minister of State for Education and Commerce.

Following the awards, a discussion on “Centres of Excellence: Building Research Strength That Matters” will begin at 6:30 pm featuring Satish K. Tripathi, President Emeritus, University at Buffalo, New York, and Prof. Ch. Satish Kumar, Vice-Chancellor, SRM University AP.