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Journalism of Courage
Sometimes, the best ideas come over a cup of tea. That is the spirit behind Climate Cafe in Pune, an informal, relaxed space for talking about extreme weather events like heat waves and cyclones, prediction models, and how Earth systems function.
This is an open, participatory space under the Early Career Researchers (ECR) Hub where researchers meet over tea, or coffee, to share ideas, resolve deadlocks or simply engage in a topic of mutual curiosity. The cafe is one of the many initiatives under the ECR Hub inaugurated recently at Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM).
“It is deliberately informal, allowing early-career voices to be heard without the pressures of formal academic settings,” Dr Ankur Srivastava, a scientist at IITM who is part of ECR Hub, told The Indian Express.
Dr M Ravichandran, Secretary, Ministry of Earth Sciences (MoES), recently unveiled ECR Hub, which is supported by the MoES and hosted by IITM Pune. Dr Suryachandra A Rao, director, IITM, launched the inaugural newsletter.
The Hub aims to bring together a diverse group of early-career researchers: PhD scholars, postdoctoral fellows, research associates, and young faculty from institutions across India.
“The aim is to support early-career researchers through cross-disciplinary conversations, skill-building opportunities and a strong supportive community,” Dr Srivastava said.
Earth science is an interdisciplinary field in which different disciplines of the basic sciences, such as physics, chemistry, biology, geology, geophysics, environmental sciences, mathematics, and computer sciences, play an essential role.
Young scientists pursuing research in earth sciences need support from other early-career scientists working in this field with specialisation from different disciplines. By noticing this need, the ECR Hub idea was conceived by early-career researchers at IITM Pune as a collaborative and nurturing space for early-career scientists working in earth system sciences.
“Though the idea emanated from IITM, the need is felt across all institutes involved in addressing Earth system challenges; hence, ECRhub is expanded to involve all other Earth science institutes in the Ministry of Earth Sciences,” Dr Shrivastava added.
According to IITM scientists, this is the first initiative in India that brings together early-career researchers under a dedicated, structured, and sustained platform within the climate and Earth sciences domain.
“Unlike traditional academic programmes, this is a grassroots, community-led, intentionally informal and inclusive ecosystem,” Dr Srivastava said.
An ice-breaker event was held on August 22. The Hub also held a seminar where Dr Rita Santos from the University of Western Australia spoke on her path as an early career researcher and her “round-the-world” journey through marine sciences.
While the Hub is informal and primarily driven by the voluntary initiative of early-career researchers, it is grounded in a shared commitment to advancing fundamental and applied Earth system science.
Research within the Hub will span diverse and pressing themes, including monsoon variability and prediction, climate extremes, coastal and marine systems, and climate action, according to the early-career researchers.
The Hub fosters a bottom-up, curiosity-led ecosystem for innovation and engagement by enabling flexible, collaborative inquiry in these areas, they said.
Monthly online or hybrid meetings will be held to establish ECR Hub as a crucial step toward fostering a resilient and inclusive climate science community in India, said researchers.
