Speaker: Susan Bean curates, writes, and consults on the visual arts and culture of modern South Asia, she Chairs the Advisory Committee of the Art & Archaeology Centre of the American Institute of Indian Studies and is an Associate of the Peabody Museum at Harvard University.

Chair:  Naman P Ahuja, Professor, Indian Art and Architecture, Jawaharlal Nehru University

Air-dried clay (a.k.a. terracruda), along with stone, metal, wood, and fired clay, stands among South Asia’s oldest and most widely used mediums for sculpture. This presentation brings together some of the most prominent practices across the region to consider why painted air-dried clay has been so valued as a medium for figural sculpture, and what its side-lining reveals about the study of art and visual culture.

(Collaboration : American Institute of Indian Studies, Center for Art and Archaeology)

 

Fusion on Earth: The Challenge of a Plentiful Clean Energy Source — A Physicist’s Perspective
 

Speaker: Swadesh Mahajan, distinguished plasma physicist, Research Professor in the Physics Department at the University of Texas at Austin and Distinguished Professor at SNU University. Director of Plasma Physics at ASICTP, Trieste. Co-founded the Institute for Plasma Research, Gandhinagar, the country’s flagship fusion institute.
Chair: Prof Rupamanjari Ghosh, an eminent Physicist and former Vice Chancellor, Shiv Nadar University and Former Dean & Professor of Physics, School of Physical Sciences, JNU, New Delhi

Replicating on Earth the process that powers the stars—nuclear fusion remains one of the most ambitious and scientifically demanding pursuits of our time. While recent advances and private investment have accelerated progress towards commercially viable fusion, fundamental scientific challenges remain central to this quest. This talk traces the story of energy, explains why fusion is exceptionally difficult, surveys the current global fusion landscape, and reflects on realistic pathways and timeframes for achieving fusion power.

A Global political and economic realignment? Global supply chains in the next decade

Speaker: Rajneesh Narula OBE, John H. Dunning Chair of International Business Regulation, Henley Business School, University of Reading; and Perspectives Editor of Journal of International Business Policy.

Moderator: Prof. Suma Athreye, FRSA, FAcSS

School of Public Policy, IIT Delhi

This talk examines the unravelling of “Pax Americana” and the shift towards a fragmented global economy shaped by inequality and geopolitical realignment. As globalisation’s hidden costs drive unrest and interventionism, the world is moving towards two hegemonic blocs centred on the U.S. and China, alongside loosely aligned, economically peripheral countries. This realignment will reshape multinational enterprises’ global value chains and compel unaligned states to pursue deep structural reforms, long-term capacity building, and regional integration.

Adding life to years: Building care systems for life of dignity and quality
Paper presentation by Pallavi Gupta and Sonali Randhawa

Discussants: Rama V. Baru, Professor, Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development, Jindal Global University and Former Professor, Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, JNU; Dr Ravinder Mohan,  Narcotics Drugs and Psychotropic Substances (NDPS) Advisor, CanSupport

India’s rapidly ageing population urgently needs accessible, affordable, and regulated home-based care. The paper maps current gaps in services, workforce training, and policy frameworks, and argues for integrated medical, functional, and social support. A public discussion is invited to shape a national approach that ensures dignity, safety, and quality care for older persons.

The session is in association with Jindal School of Public Health and Human Development, OP Jindal Global University, Sonepat, Haryana

(Organised by the IIC’s Sectoral Policy Group on Health under the Convenorship of Rama V. Baru)
 

Voices from the Hills: Re-centring People in the Story of the Himalayas  
 

Speakers: Lalit and Anuradha Pande, Uttarakhand Seva Nidhi Paryavaran Shiksha Sansthan, Almora.

Chair: Shyam Saran, President IIC. 

For nearly four decades, Lalit and Anuradha Pande have worked across the Kumaon and Garhwal regions, engaging with education, gender, livelihoods, environment learning in government schools and balwadis, and research rooted in local concerns. They will reflect on their experiences drawn from the lived realities of people in rural Himalayan communities. The speakers invite participants to an open, interactive dialogue that goes beyond a pleasant evening, with the hope that it inspires meaningful engagement with the issues raised.
 

CANCELLED

Still Exceptional? India's Democracy in Comparative and Historical Perspective

Speaker: Ashutosh Varshney, leading political scientist and Sol Goldman Professor of International Studies and the Social Sciences, Professor of Political Science, Watson School of International and Public Affairs and Department of Political Science at Brown University

Moderator: Ms Yamini Aiyar, former President and Chief Executive of the Centre for Policy Research and the founder of the Accountability Initiative at CPR.

India’s democratic experiment has historically defied conventional theories by sustaining robust electoral, institutional, and civic practices despite deep diversity, economic challenges, and periodic stress. Does that democratic exceptionalism still exist? This talk situates India’s democratic evolution in global comparative history, examining its exceptional resilience and emerging fragilities
 

SAMHiTA-Bharat ki Soch Public Lecture Series 
On Tracing the Footprints of Indian Scientific Heritage

Speaker: Dr Vijaya Jayant Deshpande, Independent Researcher, scholar of history of science, technology and medicine, with a focus on Sino-Indian scientific contacts through Buddhism. A Life Member of the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute (BORI) Pune.

The lecture will give an overview of scholarship on early scientific development (through archaeology, the study of Adivasi practices, and literary sources), focusing on the chemical-metallurgical insights to be found in the Rasopanishad, a medieval work of alchemy in Sanskrit. The speaker will demonstrate how texts help to trace the transmission of scientific ideas and techniques, by tracing the relationship between Chinese ophthalmic works attributed to Nagarjuna and Ayurvedic texts like Susrutasamhita and Ashtanghridaya.

Inaugural lecture of the series on “Health, Wellness and Nutrition”, organised by IIC- International Research Division and Bharat ki Soch Foundation
 

The Forgotten History of French Imperialism in India 

Speaker: Prof. Robert Ivermee, historian of British and wider European colonialism in South Asia, an Associate Professor at Sciences Po Grenoble – UGA, France. He is the author of Glorious Failure: The Forgotten History of French Imperialism in India (Context, 2026) and a wide range of other publications.

Chair: K.N.Shrivasatava, Director, IIC

Moderator: Zohra Chatterji, IAS (retd.) Former Secretary, Govt of India, scholar, writer and Vice-President, Alliance francaise de Delhi 
For 150 years, from the reign of Louis XIV to the downfall of Napoleon, France was an aggressive imperial power in South Asia. Through their East India company and state, the French established a far-reaching empire in India.This talk will recover and reflect on the largely forgotten history of French imperialism in India. In doing so, it tackles topics like great power rivalry and entrenched inequalities that remain vital and urgent today.
(Collaboration: Alliance Française de Delhi)
 

Photojournalism in the times of Artificial Intelligence (AI)

Speaker: Dheeraj Paul, distinguished photographer and mentor

This is as part of the exhibition, The Big Picture 2025, an exhibition of works of PhotoJournalists , on display in the Main Art Gallery from 20th to 30th December 2025

(Collaboration: All India Working News Cameramen’s Association (WNCA)

The talk explores how institutions of higher education in Asia, the US, and Europe have shaped the development of Asian Studies and enabled cross-cultural understanding during periods of geopolitical tension. Highlighting influential centres such as the Royal Asiatic Society, EFEO, and the Harvard-Yenching Institute. The session will also consider current challenges, including shrinking international funding and how the future of Asian Studies can be re-imagined.

By Prof. James Robson is the James C. Kralik and Yunli Lou Professor of East Asian Languages and Civilizations at Harvard University and Director of the Harvard-Yenching Institute, he has conducted extensive research across China, Taiwan, and Japan, and is the award-winning author of The Power of Place.

Chair: Sabaree Mitra, Professor Centre for Chinese and South East Asian Studies, JNU, Honorary Fellow, Institute of Chinese Studies, Delhi.

(Collaboration: Institute of Chinese Studies)