1. About the award

The society gives the Justice V. G. Oak Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis in Astronomy by an Indian student. The objective of the award is to encourage excellence amongst research students in India. The award carries a cash prize of Rs. 20,000.

2. Nomination criteria

The thesis should have been formally defended in the period between 01 Aug (one year prior to year of award) and 31 July of the award year. For example, the final thesis viva should have been conducted between 01 Aug 2023 and 31 July 2024 (both dates included) for the award of the year 2024, to be presented in the ASI meeting of 2025. All formalities for the award of degree must be completed at the time of nomination.

3. Application

All nominations for the award must be received by the ASI, by the deadline as indicated on the website of the ASI. Nominations must be submitted via the online interface on the ASI website. Nominations can be made by the heads of the institutions and other eminent members of the ASI.

For the award year 2024, the nominations must be received by 18th Nov 2024. The nominees should have defended their thesis between 01 Aug 2023 and 31 July 2024 (inclusive of both dates) for consideration of the award.

Nominations must include the following material:

  1. Name of Nominee
  2. Details of Nominee
    1. Affiliation
    2. Address for correspondence
    3. Date of birth
    4. Email ID
    5. Mobile number
    6. Curriculum vitae of the candidate including full list of publications
  3. Nomination letter with signature and date
  4. Summary of the scientific work constituting the thesis
  5. A statement regarding why the nominator considers the thesis outstanding
  6. List of publications relevant to the Thesis
  7. Reprints relevant to the recommendation (please add only hyperlinks)
  8. Citations of relevance
  9. Details of the Proposer
    1. Name
    2. Designation and Affiliation
    3. Address
    4. Email
    5. Mobile number

Online form for application

4. Selection Process

A panel of five judges duly appointed by the executive council of the society, shall select the outstanding thesis. The panel of judges will communicate the result of its deliberations to the ASI council.
 
5. Announcement of the Award

The Justice V. G. Oak Award for outstanding Ph.D. thesis will be given at the ASI meeting and the awardee will be asked to make a short presentation of their thesis work.

The following is the list of awardees:

2010 Dr. Sanjiv Kumar Tiwari The softcopy of thesis is here
2011 Dr. Girjesh Gupta & Dr. Manash Samal The summary of thesis by Dr. Girjesh Gupta is here

The summary of thesis by Dr. Manash Samal is here
2012 Dr. Arunima Banerjee The summary of thesis is here
2013 Dr. Bidya Karak The summary of thesis is here
2014 Dr. Vemareddy Panditi The summary of thesis is here
2015 Dr. Rupal Basak The summary of thesis is here
2016 Dr. Pallavi Bhat -
2016 Dr. Tanmoy Chattopadhyay The summary of thesis is here
2017 Dr. Vaidehi Sharan Paliya The summary of thesis is here
2018 Dr. Rajeshwari Dutta The summary of thesis is here
2019 Dr. Saurabh Singh -
2020 Dr. Prantika Bhowmik The summary of thesis is here
2020 Dr. Panini Singam The summary of thesis is here
2021 Dr. Swagat Saurav Mishra -
2021 Dr. Anshu Kumari (Honorable Mention) -
2021 Dr. Surajit Mondal (Honorable Mention) -
2022 Dr. Barnali Das -
2023 Dr. Silpa Sasikumar -
2023 Dr. Harsh Kumar -
2023 Dr. Biswajit Mondal (Honorable Mention) -