Tejas Rao, UG Cohort of 2023-27, School of Interwoven Arts and Sciences (SIAS) will be presenting his research work titled ‘Interpretable deep learning predicts polycythemia vera and identifies novel genomic associations’ at the 67th ASH Annual Meeting and Exposition to be held from 6-9 December 2025 in Orlando, Florida.
Soumyabrata Basu, a final-year IFMR Graduate School of Business (GSB) PhD scholar, has joined the prestigious Misra Centre for Financial Markets and Economy at the Indian Institute of Management Ahmedabad as a Research Fellow. Basu’s doctoral research focussed on the ‘Insolvency and Bankruptcy Code in India’ under the supervision of Dr Praveen Bhagwan, Associate Professor, Finance, Accounting and Quantitative Finance, IFMR GSB.
Two research papers co-authored by Prerona Jana, MBA Cohort of 2024 – 2026, IFMR GSB, have been published. Subtractive proteomics unravel the potency of D-alanine-D-alanine ligase as the drug target for Burkholderia pseudomallei in International Journal of Biological Macromolecules. Two Birds with One Stone: Targeting Wild Type and Drug Resistant Mutant ALK using Brute Force Screening, MD Simulation and NCI in IEEE. These works were initiated during her undergraduate programme in Biotechnology. She’s currently pursuing her master’s at IFMR GSB.
Sibling, co-founded by three kreators – Mitansh Aggarwal, Adwitiya Roy Viney Jain, was selected for Catalyst AIC (Supported by AIM, NITI Aayog)’s Startup School Innovation Challenge 2025. Sibling will be part of an intensive three-month incubation program designed for early-stage ventures with scalable ideas.
Program: 3-month incubation program (7th edition) run by Catalyst AIC under NITI Aayog’s Atal Innovation Mission.
Focus: Sector-agnostic, designed for early-stage ventures with scalable ideas or prototypes.
Structure: Expert-led sessions, mentorship office hours, and monthly milestone check-ins.
Outcome: Culminates in a Demo Day (Nov 2025) with 8 – 10 angel investors; opportunity for ₹5 lakh Startup India seed grants and access to Catalyst AIC’s equity fund.
Significance: Prestigious national-level incubation program providing visibility, mentorship, and funding opportunities.
About the start-up: Sibling is a digital mental health platform transforming how schools deliver student wellbeing. While many schools have counselors and resources, these services are often underutilised due to poor access, low visibility, and fragmented processes. Sibling bridges this gap through three integrated features: a Resource Hub offering curated content and interactive tools to build awareness; Near Peer Mentorship connecting students with trained college mentors for relatable support; and ReachOut, a confidential booking system that links students directly to school counselors with encrypted communication and case history tracking. By unifying education, mentorship, and professional care, Sibling makes mental health support accessible, stigma-free, and effective within schools.
We are delighted to share that Inika Khosla, Alum, SIAS Cohort of 2020 – 2023, has had her Psychology capstone dissertation published in the Cambridge Journal of Human Behaviour. Titled Exploring Community-based Alcohol Rehabilitation in India: A Case Study of a Community Rehabilitation and Support Centre, the paper was guided by Dr Sabah Siddiqui, Assistant Professor of Psychology, SIAS.
A team of second-year MBA students from IFMR GSB participated in a competition organised by the Institute of Risk Management (IRM), India Affiliate, Game of Enterprise Risk (GOER) hosted at SDA Bocconi Asia Center, Mumbai on 5 July 2025. The team – The Hedge Knights – competed against 60+ leading business schools, including IIMs across India, ultimately securing an impressive second place. After multiple rigorous rounds, only 10 institutes qualified for the final round held in Mumbai. The team comprised Mohit Acharya, Siddhi Arora, Kartik Gupta, Saurav Kumar Sonthaliya, Rahul Kumar, Harshavarthini C, Anju Elizabeth John, Harshit Singh, Anshul Mittal and Atharvraj Kharosekar. The team was guided and mentored by Dr Ankur Paliwal, Assistant Professor, Finance, IFMR GSB, whose support and expertise were invaluable throughout the competition.
In the final round, each team faced a series of multiple simulated risk and crisis events, which they were expected to respond to within just a 20-minute time frame. Each risk event tested the teams’ ability to think critically under pressure, prioritise actions effectively, and demonstrate cohesive teamwork and provide a feasible solution.
The final round was evaluated by an eminent panel of judges, including Ms Anjali Merchant Majithia, Mr Hitesh Sheth, Ms Kaveri Venkataraman, FCA, SIRM and Ms Prabha Thomas. The event was graced by Ms Kamala Kantharaj, Chief Regulatory Officer of BSE India, as the Chief Guest.
This achievement underscores the talent, dedication, and collaborative spirit of our students, as well as the commitment of IFMR GSB to fostering excellence in business education and risk management. We congratulate the entire team on this accomplishment and thank our faculty and mentors for their continuous guidance.
Prerona Jana, MBA Cohort of 2024 – 26, IFMR GSB, has co-authored a paper titled Subtractive proteomics unravel the potency of D-alanine-D-alanine ligase as the drug target for Burkholderia pseudomallei, which has been published in ScienceDirect.
A group of students from the MBA cohort of 2024-26, IFMR GSB is undertaking a Live Project on pairs trading strategies, a technique widely used by hedge funds. They are exploring various approaches, including statistical, technical, and fundamental analysis. This Live Project is being offered by Paterson Securities Pvt Ltd under the mentorship of Balachandran Venkataraman, a Student Mentor specialising in Derivatives, Risk Management, and Analytics, as well as a Business and Management Consultant.
With a track record of mentoring over 1,000 MBA students, Balachandran has consistently nurtured industry-ready professionals. Through this project, students are applying theoretical concepts to develop and backtest practical strategies.Impressively, their performance in technical analysis has earned them another Live Project on derivatives and market risk management, starting in mid-April.
The participating students are Ritam Sen, Swastik Rao, Viraj Patil, Prathamesh Tavhare, Rishi Raj, Kumar Eklavya, Sanchay Nagar, Kunal Sen, and Harsh Vardhan Mishra.
SIAS students Sparsh Makharia, Vatsalya Betala, and Aarav Akali (Cohort 2022-26) secured 2nd place at the prestigious EMPOWER Hackathon, an inter-college competition hosted by IIM Ahmedabad’s Social Innovation Club (IDEOS), Ashoka University’s Social Impact Club (Anitya), and the CS Society of Ashoka University.
The EMPOWER Hackathon: Tech for Social Good brought together students from across India to develop innovative, technology-driven solutions addressing pressing social challenges. Competing against 162 participants, the team showcased exceptional problem-solving, technical expertise, and entrepreneurial thinking, delivering a solution that stood out among the top contenders.
Their project, PlantGuard, is an offline hardware-integrated AI system for real-time plant disease detection. It leverages three AI models to analyse plant health and provides farmers with instant feedback, helping them take timely preventive measures. The Hackathon involved an online round, and a final in-person pitch and prototype demonstration at IIM Ahmedabad, concluding in a podium finish for the team.
This achievement was made possible with the support of Krea University’s Cyber Club, which provided essential hardware components and assisted with transportation to IIM Ahmedabad, ensuring the team could participate and present their solution at the final round.
Ananya Manikandan, an MBA student at IFMR GSB secured the Runner-up position in Vitarka, held as part of Fiesta’25 by FMS Delhi. The competition featured two rounds: Article Writing, where Ananya demonstrated analytical and articulation skills through thought-provoking articles, and Extempore, where she engaged in spontaneous speaking on contemporary societal issues.
As a part of the prize, Ananya has been awarded an internship opportunity with Mobile Creches, a non-profit organization dedicated to early childhood care, education, nutrition, and healthcare for children of migrant and construction workers
