Take the platform to campus
Run hands-on sessions on ANRF's research discovery and funding tools so researchers in your department can actually find collaborators, grants and facilities.
Anusandhan National Research Foundation
ANRF Ambassador
Students and researchers carrying India's research network to their own campus.
Ambassadors are the on-ground link between ANRF's national research platforms and the campuses that use them. They run demos and workshops, bring back what researchers actually need, and host the offline meetups where the two sides meet face to face.
Next upIIIT Hyderabad, HyderabadWhat it is
A national research network needs people on every campus
ANRF builds the platforms. Ambassadors make sure the researchers who need them know they exist, and make sure the platforms hear back.
Connect people, not just portals
Introduce faculty, scholars and student teams across departments and institutions. Most collaborations still start with one person who knew both sides.
Bring the ground truth back
Report what breaks, what's missing and what researchers ask for. Ambassador feedback feeds directly into the product roadmap.
Host the meetups
Co-host offline gatherings on your campus: a demo, a talk, an open floor, and a room full of people who otherwise only meet at conferences.
Start here
The programme session, in one place
The recording and the slides from the session that introduced the programme. Kept here so nobody has to go hunting for the links again.
Offline meetups
The network meets in person
The cohort gathers in person to read papers together, discuss them and meet the people behind the work.
Upcoming
Hyderabad Paper Reading Session #2
5:00 - 6:30 PM ISTIIIT Hyderabad, Professor CR Rao Rd, Gachibowli
Two papers, read and discussed together. Read them beforehand if you can: the session assumes you have, and the discussion is the point. No prerequisites beyond curiosity and a willingness to sit with something difficult.
Papers & agenda
- Mind the Gap: Pitfalls of LLM Alignment with Asian Public Opinion, presented by Sriharini Margapuri
- A Mathematical Framework for Transformer Circuits, presented by Manas Mittal
Held
Bengaluru Paper Reading Session
4:00 - 5:30 PM ISTMicrosoft Research, Vigyan, 9 Lavelle Road, Ashok Nagar, Bengaluru30+ participants
Two papers on responsible and safe AI, read and discussed together at Microsoft Research. Undergraduates, Master's and PhD students, faculty, researchers and industry professionals in one room.
What happened
- HOBIT: Hardness Optimized Batch Sampling for InfoNCE Training (ICML 2026 Spotlight), presented by Himanshu Dutta
- HARNESS-LM: A Three-Phase Training Recipe for Harnessing SLMs in Sponsored Search Retrieval, presented by Pranjal Chitale
- Planned and hosted by Dr. Prashant Kodali, with facilities from Microsoft Research
- 30+ attendees spanning undergraduates through faculty, researchers and industry
- The questions drew as much comment afterwards as the presentations did
Held
Hyderabad Paper Reading Session #1
IIIT Hyderabad, Gachibowli
A research paper reading session that brought researchers, students, faculty and industry professionals into one room to read papers, discuss them, ask questions and compare perspectives.
What happened
- Paper reading, led in parallel groups
- Open discussion and questions across the room
- Sessions were led by Rahul Sundar, Sumit Kumar, Sujay Belsare and Sudarshan Nikhil
- Researchers, students, faculty and industry professionals read together rather than listened to talks
- Intended as the first of many paper reading sessions, not a one-off
Held
New Delhi Ambassador Meetup
IIIT-Delhi, Okhla Phase III45+ ambassadors
The first offline ambassador meetup, held on a Sunday evening at IIIT-Delhi. Ambassadors introduced themselves and their reasons for joining, read and discussed research papers together, and worked through what the community should set out to do.
What happened
- Icebreaker: introductions and why each ambassador joined
- Paper reading session: titles shared, questions asked, perspectives compared
- Community goals: what the group should build, and who can contribute what
- Open networking
- 45+ Research Impact Ambassadors gave up a Sunday evening for it
- Motivations ranged from undergraduates wanting help with their first paper to founders looking for ML and AI collaborators
- Papers were read and discussed in the room rather than presented at it
Want the next one on your campus? Tell us in your application.
The role
What an ambassador actually does
It is a light commitment with a real mandate: roughly four to six hours a month, and a free hand in how you use them.
Responsibilities
- Run at least one workshop or demo session per semester on your campus
- Maintain a small ambassador circle within your department or institution
- Collect and file structured feedback from researchers using the platforms
- Help organise or volunteer at the regional offline meetup nearest to you
- Share program updates, calls and deadlines through your campus channels
Who can apply
- Enrolled student (UG, PG or PhD) or early-career researcher at an Indian institution
- Active on campus through a lab, club, department body or student chapter
- Comfortable running a session in front of 20–50 people
- Able to commit roughly 4–6 hours a month through the academic year
No minimum year or discipline. Reach matters more than rank, and regional campuses are where ambassadors count most.
How to join
01
Apply
Fill the application form: who you are, your institution, and why you want to run this on your campus.
02
Conversation
A 20-minute call with the program team about your campus and what you'd like to build there.
03
Onboarding
Join the cohort call, get your ambassador kit, platform walkthrough and your first-semester plan.
04
Go live
Run your first session, and start hosting.
What you get
Recognition, access, and a network that outlasts the term
Formal recognition
Ambassadors are recognised as the named point of contact for the program on their campus.
Early access
Try new modules (expert search, funding analytics, research infrastructure maps) before they go public, and shape them.
A national peer network
A working group of ambassadors across states, with direct lines to the platform and program teams.
Training & mentorship
Onboarding sessions on research discovery, grant landscapes and science communication, plus mentor hours with the core team.
Event support
Logistics and material support for meetups and workshops you host on your campus.
First look at opportunities
Calls, fellowships and pilot programs reach the ambassador cohort first.
Questions
Frequently asked
Any enrolled student or early-career researcher at an Indian institution who is active on campus and can commit a few hours a month. There is no minimum year or discipline requirement. We look for people who already convene others.
Roughly 4–6 hours a month across the academic year: one campus session per semester, feedback reporting, and whatever you choose to organise beyond that.
No. The point of the network is reach, and state universities, newer institutions and regional colleges are exactly where ambassadors matter most.
A platform walkthrough, ambassador talks, an open feedback floor and a long networking block. The Delhi meetup at IIIT-Delhi ran this format on 6 September; Hyderabad at IIIT Hyderabad follows on 19 September.
Yes, that is how the calendar gets built. Apply as an ambassador and mention hosting in your application, or write to the program mailbox.
Join the cohort
Bring the network to your campus
Applications are open through the academic year. Tell us where you study and what you would run there. The conversation that follows is short and practical.
- Enrolled student (UG, PG or PhD) or early-career researcher at an Indian institution
- Active on campus through a lab, club, department body or student chapter
- Comfortable running a session in front of 20–50 people
- Able to commit roughly 4–6 hours a month through the academic year
Ambassador application
The form asks for your institution, your role and a short note on what you would organise on your campus.
About two minutesNo attachments needed
Open the application formor come to the next meetup
Register for Hyderabad on LumaIIIT Hyderabad ·