India gets society for evolutionary biologists, membership open to those interested in mission

The foundation is the propagation of evolution: the concept that “there is kinship among all forms of life because all evolved in an amplitude of time from one common ancestry”, according to a book on evolution by Life Nature Library.

Singh contradicted this in January. “From the time we have been hearing stories from our grandparents, ever since books were written, until today, nobody has, either in a story or in writing, said he went somewhere into a jungle and saw an ape turning into a man. Darwin’s theory is scientifically wrong and so, in schools and colleges it must be changed,” Singh had said in Aurangabad.

However, the seven-member executive council of ISEB — headed by Professor Raghavendra Gadagkar from the Centre for Ecological Sciences and Centre for Contemporary Studies at IISc-Bengaluru — is clear that unlike many such discipline-specific scientific societies that are open only to active or retired researchers in the field, ISEB membership will be open to all those with demonstrated interest in the mission of the society, even if they are not active researchers.

It will also “engage significantly in science outreach and education, including in Indian languages”, Amitabh Joshi from the evolutionary and organismal biology unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research said. “The need for such a society focused on evolution has been felt by several of us for over 10 years. Right now, we don’t have a forum to can communicate and collaborate with similar societies abroad.”

Internationally, the Society for the Study of Evolution held its first annual meeting in Boston 1946, and the European Society for Evolutionary Biology which brings together over 2,000 evolutionary biologists from Europe and the rest of the world was set up in 1987. The latter publishes the Journal of Evolutionary Biology.

The not-for-profit ISEB has a six-point mission statement: “To provide a vibrant forum that promotes the study of evolutionary biology in India; To discuss and formulate policy suggestions on matters relating to evolutionary biology in particular, and science in general; To promote world class research and teaching; To promote evolutionary biology in India through outreach activities.”