Dr. Murali Banavoth has been conferred with Young Scientist Award in the Materials Science domain for his significant contributions to the Solar Energy research during the 105th Indian Science Congress (ISC), held at Manipur University, Imphal from 16th-20th March.

India Science Congress Association is a professional body under Department of Science & Technology and Ministry of Science & Technology, Government of India. The 105th Science Congress, took place in the capital of Manipur, with a congregation of about 5000 delegations including scientists, scholars and researchers from all across the country with a focal theme: “Reaching the unreached through Science and Technology”.

Honourable Prime Minister Shri Narendra Modi inaugurated the Congress and honorable Governor of Imphal Dr. Najma Heptulla has presented the awards. This Congress focused on the translational science for promoting the sustainable innovations.

Dr. Banavoth has been conferred with three Young Scientist Awards till now, after his joining the University of Hyderabad in January 2017.

Dr. Murali Banavoth after obtaining his Ph.D., from Indian Institute of Science, moved to King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) at Solar Center as a postdoctoral associate and carried out pioneering work in the field of hybrid functional materials for solar harvesting. Dr. Banavoth’s contribution to the photovoltaic (Solar Cells) research is evident from his outstanding 45 publications in Nature, Advanced Materials, JACS, Angew. Chem., etc. are a few to name. He is also currently the Editor of few prestigious journals like Frontiers in Optics and Photonics, Frontiers in Physics etc.

His research interests are broadly classified as organic, inorganic, and hybrid solar cells and photovoltaics.