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International Day of Women and Girls in Science | How students are treated true measure of an institution: Prof Shubha Tole

“If institutions implement progressive measures to better support students in PhD programmes, it will create meaningful change in not only the quality of their research, but also in how the scientists of tomorrow perceive the future of Indian science,” Prof Tole said.

4 min readUpdated: Feb 11, 2026 10:32 AM IST

Prof Tole highlighted some of the key initiatives taken up during her tenure as Dean, Graduate Studies, TIFR.

Shubha Tole, Distinguished Professor, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR), Mumbai, who took charge this year as president, International Brain Research Organisation, said that how an institution treats its youngest members — students — is a good measure of its quality.

“If institutions implement progressive measures to better support students in PhD programmes, it will create meaningful change in not only the quality of their research, but also in how the scientists of tomorrow perceive the future of Indian science,” Prof Tole said.

Prof Tole, speaking to The Indian Express, highlighted some of the key initiatives taken up during her tenure as Dean, Graduate Studies, TIFR, and on the occasion of the International Day for Women and Girls in Science (February 11) encouraged women “to not let go of their dreams, even if circumstances seem difficult at the moment”.

According to Prof Tole, PhD students usually have a handbook of rules and requirements to guide them, but they have to figure out the rest via conversations with senior students or faculty — what to expect from a PhD training, what to do when things aren’t going well, how to plan their future after their PhD. “During my tenure as Dean, Graduate Studies, TIFR, we implemented several new initiatives as a result of examining our own graduate programmes from new perspectives. Our country’s education system would benefit from a nationwide discussion on these topics to consciously promote an empowered next generation of scientific leaders,” the Infosys awardee said.

She pointed out that our culture values learning, and how students aspire to join PhD programmes, but are unsure what their training is useful for afterwards, other than becoming academicians. “This is perhaps the biggest misconception. Research training imparts to a multitude of skills that are useful in a range of different professions. We asked our alumni who had moved to non-academic careers to send us 10-minute videos discussing how they began thinking about exploring job options, how they landed their first job, what they love about their current job, what the challenges are, whether they wish they had continued in academia and then posted on our career guidance website,” Prof Tole recalled.

‘They used their their research training at TIFR to build careers they enjoy’

Interestingly, it showed a range of productive and exciting career options in areas like finance, stock trading, patent law, science writing, content creation, data science, start-up businesses and industry, Prof Tole said. She gave instances, for instance of Saumya Gupta, a student who completed her PhD in Biology working on yeast genetics, then went to Harvard Medical School for her postdoctoral and is now with Bain and Company, an international consulting firm.

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“What Saumya said was that academia gave her everything she wanted to learn, the ability to think about the problem, to dissect and troubleshoot it and to eventually package a not-very-straightforward journey into a beautiful story in terms of writing and presenting. For Yukti Arora, who works in the Academic Communications office at Ashoka University, the problem solving skills at TIFR, particularly learning to ask questions at the right point, were invaluable in meeting the challenges of her job,” Prof Tole said while quoting a small sample of the stories of their alumni. “They used their research training at TIFR to build careers they enjoy,” Tole added.

‘Not even trying is basically giving oneself a rejection slip’

On the occasion of International Day for Women and Girls in Science, Prof Tole, who was the former Chairperson of Women in Science panel of the Indian Academy of Sciences also reminded women not to give up on their dreams, even when the situation feels tough. “Not even trying is basically giving oneself a rejection slip! No matter what works out later on, we will only regret not having tried to follow the path that we feel most passionate about,” Prof Tole said.

Anuradha Mascarenhas

Anuradha Mascarenhas is a Senior Editor at The Indian Express, based in Pune. With a career spanning three decades, she is one of the most respected voices in Indian journalism regarding healthcare, science and environment and research developments. She also takes a keen interest in covering women's issues . Professional Background Education: A gold medalist in Communication and Journalism from Savitribai Phule Pune University and a Master’s degree in Literature. Author: She authored the biography At The Wheel Of Research, which chronicles the life and work of Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, the former Chief Scientist at the WHO. Key Focus: She combines scientific accuracy with storytelling, translating complex medical research into compelling public and human-interest narratives. Awards and Recognition Anuradha has won several awards including the Press Council of India's national award for excellence in journalism under the gender based reporting category in 2019 and the Laadli Media award (gender sensitivity -2024). A recipient of the Lokmat journalism award (gender category-2022), she was also shortlisted for the RedInk awards for excellence in journalism-2021. Her debut book At The Wheel Of Research, an exclusive biography of Dr Soumya Swaminathan the inaugural chief scientist of World Health Organisation was also nominated in the Popular Choice Category of JK Paper AUTHER awards. She has also secured competitive fellowships including the Laadli Media Fellowship (2022), the Survivors Against TB – New Research in TB Media Fellowship (2023) and is part of the prestigious 2025 India Cohort of the WomenLift Health Leadership Journey.” Recent Notable Articles (Late 2025) 1. Cancer & Specialized Medical Care "Tata Memorial finds way to kill drug-resistant cancer cells" (Nov 26, 2025): Reporting on a breakthrough for triple-negative breast cancer, one of the most aggressive forms of the disease. Discipline, diet and purpose; How a 97-year-old professor defies ageing'' (Nov 15, 2025) Report about Prof Gururaj Mutalik, the first Head of Department at Pune's B J Government Medical College who at 97 credits his longevity to healthy habits and a strong sense of purpose. 2. Environmental Health (The "Breathless Pune" Series) Long-term exposure even to 'moderate' air leads to chronic heart, lung, kidney issues" (Nov 26, 2025): Part of an investigative series highlighting that even "safe" pollution levels are damaging to vital organs. "For every 10 µg/m3 increase in PM2.5 level, there was 6-8% jump in medicine sales" (Nov 23, 2025): Using commercial data to prove the direct link between air quality and respiratory illnesses in Pune. 3. Lifestyle & Wellness News "They didn't let cancer, diabetes and heart disease stop them from travelling" (Dec 22, 2025): A collaborative piece featuring survivors who share practical tips for traveling with chronic conditions. At 17, his BP shot up to 200/120 mmHG; Lancet study flags why child and teen hypertension doubled between 2000 and 2020'' (Nov 12,2025)--A report that focusses on 17-year-old-boy's hypertensive crisis and reflects the rising global trend of high blood pressure among children and adolescents. 4. Scientific Recognition & Infrastructure For promoting sci-comm, gender diversity: IUCAA woman prof highlighted in Nature" (Nov 25, 2025): Covering the global recognition of Indian women scientists in gender studies and physics. Pune researchers find a spiral galaxy like the Milky Way from early universe'' (December 3, 2025)- A report on how Indian researchers discovered a massive galaxy that existed when the universe was just 1.5 billion years old , one of the earliest to have been observed so far. Signature Beat: Health, Science & Women in Leadership Anuradha is known for her COVID-19 reportage, where she was one of the first journalists to provide detailed insights into the Covishield and Covaxin trials. She has a dedicated interest in gender diversity in health and science, often profiling women researchers who are breaking the "leaky pipeline" in STEM fields. Her writing style is scrupulous, often featuring interviews with top-tier scientists and health experts from various institutions. ... Read More

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