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SIAS UG Cohort Present Research at FLAME Undergraduate Research Day 2026

On March 14, 2026, two groups of undergraduate students from SIAS had their abstracts selected for presentation at the second iteration of FLAME Undergraduate Research Day 2026, held at FLAME University, Pune.

The first group, comprising Amandeep Singh (2023–27), Arush Menon (2024–28), Priyam Deorah (2023–27), Ria Vahab (2022–26), and Yashasvini Raj (2023–27), presented under the theme ‘Society, Law, and Education’ with their paper titled ‘Spaces That Remember: Labour, Gender, and Conditional Belonging in Liberal Arts Universities.’

The second group, consisting of Jharna Bamel and Tanushree Jain (2023–27), presented under the theme ‘Clinical, Developmental, and Social Psychology’ with their paper titled ‘The Negotiations of Dialogic Self: Transitioning from High School Environment to a Residential University.’

Dr Chirag Dhara authors an opinion piece in Scroll.in

Dr Chirag Dhara, Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS, has authored an opinion piece in Scroll.in titled ‘India’s summer forecast is a warning that extreme heat can affect democracy’.

In the article, he highlights the risk of what he terms “inequitable climate disenfranchisement,” pointing to how intense heatwaves during upcoming Assembly elections could impact voter participation.

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Dr Ramadas N publishes a research paper in Physical Review A

Dr Ramadas N, Post-Doctoral Fellow, Physics, Division of Sciences, SIAS, published a research paper titled Minimal decomposition entropy and optimal representations of absolutely maximally entangled states in Physical Review A.

Abstract

Understanding and classifying multipartite entanglement is fundamental to quantum information processing. This work focuses on absolutely maximally entangled (AME) states, a class of highly entangled states characterized by their maximal entanglement across any bipartitions. To analyze and classify AME states, we employ the minimal decomposition entropy, defined as the minimum R\'{e}nyi entropy $S_q$ associated with the state’s decomposition over all local product bases. This quantity identifies the product bases in which the state is maximally localized, thereby yielding optimal representations for analyzing properties of AME states.

The team develops an efficient algorithm for computing the minimal decomposition entropy for finite $q>1$ and compare AME and Haar-random states for ( q = 2 ) and ( q = \infty ) in qubit, qutrit, and ququad systems. For ( q = 2 ), AME states of four qutrits and ququads show lower minimal entropy than generic states, indicating sparser optimal forms. For ( q = \infty ) – related to the geometric measure ofentanglement – AME states exhibit higher entanglement. The algorithm also simplifies known AME states into sparser representations, aiding in distinguishing genuinely quantum AME states from those constructible from classical combinatorial designs. The results advance the classification of AME states and demonstrate the utility of minimal decomposition entropy as both a local unitary invariant and a tool for state simplification.

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Dr Smriti Sharma publishes an article in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies

Dr Smriti Sharma, Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology and Social Anthropology, SIAS, published an article titled Packing Pareshani or Healthcare? The Affective Dimensions of Digitalisation in India’s Health Sector in South Asia: Journal of South Asian Studies.

In this article, author examine how digitalisation in the health sector seeks to standardise care in the name of effective service delivery. Author analyses the affective dimensions of operating a digital portal within the publicly funded health insurance scheme, Ayushman Bharat Yojana, by conceptualising the emic term, pareshani. In Hindi, pareshani encompasses a wide range of meanings, including worry, trouble, tension, helplessness, frustration, distress and exhaustion. Based on fifteen months of ethnographic fieldwork in a private hospital and the public insurer’s headquarters in Haryana, the author show how the intermedial specificity of pareshani undergirds payments and patient treatment. She argues that understanding the affective force of digital portals requires examining how pareshani becomes embedded in intermediaries’ everyday navigation and negotiation of bureaucratic standards and procedures that shape clinical work. More broadly, author reflect on what these affective dynamics reveal about the digital bureaucratic state and its modes of governing healthcare.

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Dr C P Anil Kumar selected to train students for International Mathematical Competition for University Students 2026

Dr C P Anil Kumar, Associate Professor, Mathematics, SIAS, has been selected to train Indian students for the International Mathematical Competition for University Students 2026, to be held in Blagoevgrad, Bulgaria, from 27 July-3 August 2026. The students being trained have been selected from among those who excelled in the Madhava Mathematics Competition.

Know more : IMC | MMC

Abhayraj Naik co-authors a chapter published in Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law – A Guide for Practitioners

Abhayraj Naik, Visiting Associate Professor of Practice, Environmental Studies, SIAS, has co-authored a chapter titled South Asia: Rights of Nature in India and Bangladesh in the recently-released second edition of the book Earth Law: Emerging Ecocentric Law – A Guide for Practitioners (Aspen Publishing).

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Professor S Sivakumar co-authors a journal article published in Physical Review A

Professor S Sivakumar, Dean – Research, and Professor, Physics, SIAS, has co-authored a journal article titled Generation of large Fock states from coherent states using Kerr interaction and displacement, published in Physical Review A.

Technical Abstract

We discuss a scheme to generate large Fock states. The scheme involves repeatedly applying an experimentally feasible unitary transformation to convert a semiclassical state into a Fock state. The transformation combines Kerr interaction, which is a non-Gaussian operation, and pulsed coherent drives. We identify suitable parameter values (Kerr strength, pulse timings, displacement amplitude) for the physical processes to implement the transformation and generate large Fock states with near-unity fidelity. The feasibility of implementing the scheme in circuit QED architectures is discussed. The method is also suitable for generating Fock states of cavity fields.

Non-technical summary

The simple harmonic oscillator is a ubiquitous model in physics, describing everything from swinging pendulums to vibrating molecules. In the quantum world, these microscopic oscillators are restricted to specific, equally spaced energy levels—effectively forming a “ladder” of energy. An electromagnetic field confined in a cavity behaves exactly like a harmonic oscillator. But how do we force this field to climb the ladder and reach a specific, high-energy rung of our choice? Our work presents a new scheme that significantly outperforms known schemes for generating large photon states. Combining nonlinearity (where the output is not strictly proportional to the input) with displacement operations (essentially, “kicking” the oscillator in phase space), we can guide the system to much higher energy levels than previously possible. The paper discusses the mechanism behind this controlled ascent.

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Krea-CWP faculty conduct a Faculty Development Workshop at MCC

Dr Anannya Dasgupta, Director, Krea-CWP and Associate Professor, Literature, SIAS, and Dr Anakshi Pal, Visiting Assistant Professor, Krea-CWP, conducted a Faculty Development Workshop titled ‘The Body and Soul of Research Writing’ at the Madras Christian College (MCC), Chennai, on 11 March 2026.

Dr Shyam Kumar Sudhakar and Krea UG students at the Synapse neuroscience conference

Dr Shyam Kumar Sudhakar, Associate Professor, Biological Sciences, SIAS, delivered a talk titled ‘Graph-based and Machine Learning Approaches to Understanding Brain Health and Function’ as part of the Synapse neuroscience conference, held from 6-7 March 2026 at IISER Tirupati. Undergraduate students from Krea, Nidhi, Zoeya, and Kailash also presented their ideas during the ideathon held alongside the conference. Synapse 2026 was two day neuroscience focussed symposium funded by ANRF and IISER Tirupati, hosting ideathon competitions, poster presentation and research talks.

Dr Lakshmi Narayanan’s paper published in the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy

A paper by Dr Lakshmi Narayanan, 
Assistant Professor, Environmental Studies, SIAS, titled Global response of low and mid-latitude ionosphere to the severe geomagnetic storm of April 2023 has been publishedin the Journal of Astrophysics and Astronomy. The paper is published as a part of the special issue ‘The evolution and space weather impact of coronal mass ejections’ organised following a workshop at Krea University in early 2024 that brought together scientists from India and the USA. This paper is a case study of an intense space weather event in the present solar cycle. A detailed investigation of response of low and midlatitude ionosphere to the geomagnetic storm generated by a coronal mass ejection was made in the study. Data from in-situ plasma density measurements made by European Space Agency’s Swarm satellite mission is used in the study. Interestingly, the findings reveal that conventional magnetic and space weather indices do not adequately predict the nature of the ionospheric response. This work also contributes to the ongoing ANRF EMITS project, highlighting its broader relevance to space weather research.

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