Chandigarh February 3, 2022
Dr. Suman Mor, Chairperson, Department of Environment Studies, has brought the laurel to Panjab University, Chandigarh, by winning the “National Award for Outstanding Efforts in Science & Technology Communication through Innovative and Traditional methods”. The prestigious award is presented every year to an individual for outstanding contribution in the field of science and technology communication and promoting scientific temper, which has created a significant impact in the country during the last five years by the National Council for Science & Technology Communication (NCSTC), Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India.
The award carries a citation, a memento and a cash prize of two lakh rupees. Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, acknowledge the contribution of scientists, which works towards societal upliftment through disseminating scientific knowledge in an informed manner with the help of different media that percolate down to every individual in society. The award will be presented in New Delhi at a special ceremony to be held on National Science Day.
Dr. Mor has been working in the field of environment and public health for the past 21 years. She is actively engaged in creating capacity-building training and workshops for professionals and the general public. She is actively involved in building scientific temperament to create awareness and motivate action for better health and the environment. Apart from her routine job responsibilities, Dr. Mor developed her interest in science communication, especially for children and the general public. Recently, during the COVID pandemic, Dr. Mor led the development of Information, Education and Communication material to prevent the spread of COVID-19. Her Comic series ‘Kids, Vaayu & Corona’ was adopted and released by the Ministry of Health, Government of India in early March 2020 to engage children and the general public. The first comic is available in over 20 international and national languages, also adopted by WHO and UNICEF. DST routinely highlighted this work in Science Outreach and Popularization of Science. To date, she has developed six comics of the ‘KIDs, VAAYU & CORONA’ series with scientific explanations to educate and teach children about the threat of Coronavirus and how to remain safe through simple precautionary steps.
Her work highlights different aspects of COVID-19, i.e., how to engage children at home and explore their creative potential, to sensitize the public and children to adopt new norms of COVID appropriate behavior, to educate kids and the general public about vaccine development, to educate about COVID-19 vaccine for children including routine immunization. She also developed various infographic booklets to guide the general public about COVID-19 and engage them in best practices to prevent the death and disease burden. She also developed ‘Eco-Calendar’ to generate awareness about the environment and public health days and emphasize on creating mass awareness. She has authored more than 90 articles, including original research papers, reviews, and book chapters. Some of her articles are listed as highly cited by ‘ISI Web of Science’. Her articles are cited around 4900 times, and she has a HIRSCH factor of ‘34’ based on google scholar and other sources. She is also working with many states for wider outreach of COVID-19, air pollution and climate change awareness.
