DRDO Industry Academia – Centre of Excellence (DIA – CoE), University of Hyderabad (UoH) celebrated its first Annual Day on August 4, 2025 at the DIA-CoE Seminar Hall. DIA-CoE has transitioned from the Advanced Centre of Research in High Energy Materials (ACRHEM) that was functional from the year 2005 to 2023.
Prof B J Rao, Hon’ble Vice Chancellor, UoH was the chief guest of the event and Dr N Ranjana, Outstanding Scientist & Director, Futuristic Technology Management, DRDO was the guest of honour. Deans of Schools of Chemistry, Physics and Engineering Science & Technology; Registrar, Director R&D Cell, Director IoE, Professor-in- charge of the Centre for Nanotechnology, JR Finance & Accounts, faculty members associated with the Centre, scholars, DIA-CoE staff, representatives from the industry and DRDO labs participated in the celebrations.
Earlier in the day, Dr N Ranjana shared an overview of the new initiatives by DRDO for facilitating research, and outlined various pathways for transitioning from the lab to industry. Dr S C Bhattacharyya, OS (Retd) & Director, DIA-CoE presented a detailed account of the activities carried out at the Centre in the past one year. He mentioned that an MoU between UoH and DRDO was signed on this day marking the formation of the DIA-CoE for directed research in futuristic defence technologies. Currently, there are six on-going projects while another eight new proposals are slated for sanction. He also brought out the outreach programmes, new project initiatives, expansion of stakeholders, and progress of the projects of the Centre as well as the achievements of the third phase of ACRHEM projects.
Hon’ble Vice Chancellor congratulated the team DIA-CoE on the annual day and appreciated the impressive achievements of the Centre. He complimented DRDO for initiating the DIA-CoE concept which is unique in the country.
On this occasion, Prof S Venugopal Rao and Prof G S Vaitheeswaran were felicitated for figuring in the Standford University researchers’ list of top 2% most cited workers in High Energy Materials. The chief guest also gave away mementos to Prof AK Chaudhary, Prof P Prem Kiran, Prof P K Panda and Prof S Venugopal Rao who were credited with a patent in last one year. Three DIA-CoE staff members were given a token of appreciation for their sincere work.
Another highlight of the function was the launch of the Roadmap of the Technologies for Handling and Detection of Explosives by the Hon’ble Vice Chancellor and other dignitaries. Director, DFTM while congratulating the team DIA-CoE on the occasion noted that this was the first roadmap published by any of the Centres of Excellence. Prof G Manoj Kumar proposed the vote of thanks.
The second half of the day was devoted to a Colloquium on NMR spectrometer and its applications. The programme received an overwhelming response from the students, DRDO scientists and start-up companies operating in the university. More than twenty participants were nominated from the industry out of the seventy-five participants who attended the colloquium. Among the invited speakers two were from the academia (DIAT, Pune and TIFR, Hyderabad) while two others represented the industry (Jeol India Pvt. Ltd. & Daewoong Pharmaceutical (India) Pvt. Ltd.). Prof. Samar Kumar Das, Dean, School of Chemistry chaired the session.
The annual day was the celebration of the achievements in the year gone by as well as an occasion for the Team DIA-CoE to re-dedicate itself to the service of the nation.