S R Arjun of UoH chosen for the prestigious Raman Charpak Scholarship 2014. Though a Sanskrit scholar, Arjun got the scholarship under “Mathematical and Computational Sciences”. Arjun credits Prof. Amba Kulkarni who is his PhD guide and the main force behind each and every success of his including this prestigious achievement.
S R Arjun, a research scholar in the Department of Sanskrit Studies at the University of Hyderabad (UoH) has been shortlisted for the Raman Charpak Scholarship 2014 from CEFIPRA, New Delhi. The fellowship program is commemorated in honour of two Nobel Laureates in Physics, Prof C.V. Raman, 1930 Indian Nobel Laureate, and Prof Georges Charpak, 1992 French Nobel Laureate. The aim of the fellowship is to facilitate the exchange of doctoral students between India and France so as to broaden the scope and depth of future engagements in science, technology and innovations.
It would be pertinent to mention that Arjun got this scholarship under “Mathematical and Computational Sciences” to continue his PhD work on “Analysis and Representation of Navya-Nyaaya-Expressions”. Navya nyaaya is a branch of Indian logic. Arjun is engaged in developing software that will analyse grammar of the Navya Nyaaya expressions and represent them as Conceptual graphs of Sowa. While he already has two parts of the proposed software ready, he plans to work with Gérard Huet of INRIA, Paris for the third part of his software. Gérard Huet is a very reputed Computer Scientist and is recipient of the Software System Award for 2013, awarded by ACM.
The Department of Sanskrit Studies of UoH has collaboration with Inria, France, where Prof. Gérard Huet is an honorary professor, since 2007.
Perhaps, for the first time research work in Sanskrit Studies has been considered on par with Mathematics and Computer Science.
Arjun had to compete with students from Science and Technology background. It was a neck to neck competition. Going by the file numbers associated with the student’s names in the result declaration notice, only 10% students were chosen for the scholarship.
This fellowship program is dedicated to highly qualified PhD students registered in an Indian or French Research Institute / University, to offer them an excellent opportunity to carry out a part of their research project in France / India, establish professional relationships and experience different cultural setting.
The fellowship program is implemented by the Indo French Centre for Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) with joint funding from the Department of Science and Technology (DST), Government of India and the Science & Technology Department of the French Embassy in India, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Government of France. A total of 15 fellowships each from India and France will be funded under this scheme.
–Saumya Painuli, MA-Communication