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Rukhmabai Grants 2025

We're thrilled to announce the new grantees!

Our newest cohort has been carefully selected from the dozens of submissions we received from incredible science writers and journalists eager to contribute towards building inclusive spaces in Indian STEM.

Saishya Duggal

Saishya Duggal is a public policy and impact consulting professional working at the intersection of tech, finance, and climate policy. She has undertaken projects with the UP Govt., the World Bank group, and Indian NBFCs. A graduate of Delhi University, her work emphasises the value of STEM in policy and its implementation. Her previous professional stints include those with Invest India and Ericsson.

Puja Bhattacharjee

Puja Bhattacharjee is an independent journalist based in Kolkata and writes about health, science, environment, gender, justice, rights, policy and culture.

Jayanti Dutta

Jayanti Dutta is a Professor at Panjab University, Chandigarh and has been rooted in the academic ecosystem for over 25 years. With a PhD in Cytogenetics, her scientific journey began with a microscope but soon expanded to encompass training, mentoring, writing and public engagement in higher education. She takes pride in enabling educators to perform their roles more meaningfully. Her publications based on interdisciplinary exploration move between research, creative non-fiction, book criticism and science popularisation. She finds stories in classrooms, laboratories, public places and city corners, and tries to tell them with honesty and wonder. 

Stories from

Rukhmabai Edition 5

By Jayanti Dutta

The founder of Bioklone turned her expertise in monoclonal antibodies into a research services company that now works with scientists and institutions worldwide.

By Jayanti Dutta

In under-resourced colleges across India, women educators sustain scientific temper, mentor first-generation learners, and navigate constraints with ingenuity.

By Puja Bhattacharjee

From moonlit turtle patrols in Chennai to reshaping how India eats fish, marine conservationist Divya Karnad has built a people-first model of ocean stewardship.

By Jayanti Dutta

Madhumala Chattopadhyay spent six years living among the tribes of the Andaman Islands, and her career shows how ethical responsibility is central to meaningful fieldwork.

By Puja Bhattacharjee

As climate volatility reshapes India’s rivers and cities, Dhanya CT studies the patterns beneath floods and droughts to build systems of early warning.

By Jayanti Dutta

From navigating gendered spaces in academia to shaping global standards on heritage stones, a geologist charts a meteoric rise along a rocky path

By Saishya Duggal

Karishma Kaushik’s career trajectory explains why science in India is shaped as much by structure as ambition.

By Saishya Duggal

Jayshree Vencatesan’s fieldcraft, people skills and persistence have protected ecosystems which were written off as wastelands.

By Saishya Duggal

How Prerna Sonthalia Goradia is building molecular filtration systems that target the toxic air and water contaminants that are not always visible.

By Monalisa Paul

How Sanjeeta Pokharel carved a career in elephant science against the odds and why their survival drives her work.

By Yams Srikanth

Two scholars explain how fieldwork is not just about collecting data but about listening, representing, and giving back.

Read the stories from

Rukhmabai
Edition 4

Read the stories from

Rukhmabai
Edition 3

Read the stories from

Rukhmabai
Edition 2

Read the stories from

Rukhmabai
Edition 1

In conversation with

Rukhmabai Fellows '22

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