Dear All,
Greetings!
The BRICS Astronomy Working Group, together with the participating member nations, is currently preparing a joint application under the BRICS STI Framework Programme (PI: Prof. David Buckley). I will be coordinating the Indian contributions to this proposal.
With this email, I would like to invite interested members of the Indian Astronomy community to join the initiative and contribute to preparing the joint application in areas where they can meaningfully support the project.
At this stage, I would also like to clarify that India’s role in this call is envisioned purely as a scientific partner. There is no financial commitment or partnership contribution from India associated with this call. Our participation aims to strengthen scientific collaboration and support the broader vision of the BRICS Intelligent Telescope and Data Network (BITDN) project.
Members working in areas related to astronomy, astronomical data systems, instrumentation, networking, or international scientific collaborations are especially encouraged to participate. A diverse and active contribution from the Indian community would greatly strengthen both the proposal and India’s scientific engagement within the BRICS framework.
If you are interested in contributing, kindly respond by 27 May 2026, 17:30 IST, along with a brief note on your possible area(s) of contribution on this form
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfdSF19RNKaxtHwTHfK4Q5w9RfIuIULuquy12LZfOsJdeYvsg/viewform?usp=publish-editor
or
https://forms.gle/BSAfBpoBkfnJiXLFA
Further details and coordination plans will be shared with all interested participants afterwards. I sincerely hope many of you will join this collaborative effort. Sorry for the short notice!
Thank You and Best Regards,
Kind Regards,
Sunil Chandra
Physical Research Laboratory