Lincoln alumna Sandhya Sekar graduated from her MA Journalism course in 2013 and since her return to India she has been very busy working as a freelance writer for Indian and International publications and websites and paving the way for science journalists.

On her return to India she found that her specialist subject of science communication is very new to the country and that opportunities were scarce. Rather than giving up on her dream, Sandhya has worked hard to establish herself in the field, and is now embarking on a new challenge to set up a press office for the Indian Institute of Science (IISc).

She said: “As part of my MA dissertation, I had to write a “state of the field” report on science communication in India. My research and the people I interviewed made me realise that one lacuna in the flow of information related to science in India was the lack of institution press offices that send out regular press releases about the latest research.”

Together with a group of other IISc graduates they have established the first fully fledged press office in India.

Since the Press Office launched in August 2014 they have sent out 40 press releases which have resulted in 30 unique articles across the country, and now have collaboration with India’s largest official newswire, Press Trust India.