• Divya Oberoi (Chairperson)
  National Centre for Radio Astrophysics, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Pune

  Divya Oberoi is currently a faculty member at NCRA-TIFR. His science interests lie in the field of solar and heliospheric studies, especially at low radio frequencies and the technique of interferometry. He has a strong interest in outreach related activities and enjoys talking to young people about science and astronomy.

• Niruj Mohan Ramanujam (Co-Chair)
  Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bengaluru

  Niruj Mohan Ramanujam (co-Chair, ASI POEC) works at the Indian Institute of Astrophysics in Bengaluru since 2021, where he is the Head of the Science Communication, Public Outreach, and education (SCOPE) Section. He was employed earlier as a radio astronomer at SARAO, Cape Town and at the National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA-TIFR) in Pune, India. Prior to this, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the Leiden University in The Netherlands and the IAP in France, following his Ph.D. from Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru. He is the former Chairperson of the ASI POEC and of the Outreach Committee of the African Astronomical Society and is a member of the IAU OAO NOC for India and IAU OAE NAEC for India.

• Ajit M. Srivastava
  Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar

  Ajit Srivastava is currently a Raja Ramanna Chair Professor at the Institute of Physics,
  Bhubaneswar. His research area is Theoretical High Energy Particle Physics, Astro particle physics, Cosmic strings, Pulsar, Gravitational waves, laboratory cosmology, etc. He has been carrying out science outreach activities, including popular talks, telescope shows at IOP, in nearby areas, as well as in deep rural areas of Odisha. He also conducts telescope making workshops, as well as a regular online Physics open Discussion (POD) discussion Sessions with school students.

• Harvinder Kaur Jassal
  IISER Mohali

  Harvinder kaur Jassal is a faculty member at IISER Mohali. Her research interests are general relativity, cosmology and galaxies. She is interested in outreach related activities and has been involved in such activities in different platforms.

• Himadri Sekhar Das
  Assam University, Silchar

  Himadri Sekhar Das is a Professor in the Department of Physics at Assam University, Silchar. His research expertise spans a wide range of topics, including dust scattering, star formation, and the study of small bodies within the solar system. At the M.Sc. level, he teaches Astrophysics, where he mentors students in advanced concepts and fosters a deeper understanding of the subject. Beyond academia, Prof. Das is deeply committed to Astronomy outreach, actively organizing and participating in programs aimed at schools and colleges to ignite interest in the field. Additionally, he leads various initiatives through the Citizen Science Forum ‘Astrogen,’ which seeks to engage and inspire the public in the wonders of astronomical sciences.

• Narendra Nath Patra
  Indian Institute of Technology Indore

  Narendra Nath Patra is an assistant professor in the department of Astronomy, Astrophysics, and Space Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Indore. He did his PhD from NCRA-TIFR and did his postdocs from NCRA, and RRI before moving to IIT Indore. His research interests are radio astronomy, galaxy evolution and formation process, astronomical instrumentation, and software development. He has a strong interest in science outreach, especially astronomy, telescope making, night-sky watching, etc.

• Pritesh Ranadive
  Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education (HBCSE-TIFR)

  Pritesh Ranadive works as a Scientific Officer at the Astronomy Olympiad Cell in HBCSE-TIFR. He helps organize the Indian National Astronomy Olympiad and trains students who represent India at the International Olympiad on Astronomy and Astrophysics (IOAA). He is also involved in outreach programs and teacher training to support astronomy education across the country. Pritesh started as an amateur astronomer and loves observing the night sky. He has a deep interest in using telescopes, skywatching, and programming. He is also interested in how students learn astronomy and enjoys finding better ways to teach it. He is passionate about making astronomy fun and exciting for everyone, especially students, teachers, and the general public.

• Samir Dhurde
  Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA), Pune

  Samir Dhurde is in-charge of the national level outreach programme - SciPOP , at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy & Astrophysics (IUCAA) in Pune, India. He trained as a Radio Astronomer during his Masters' degree in Physics. He works professionally towards developing and using methods and activities to make Science and astronomy learning fun. Over the past two decades he has been in many Education and Outreach advisory groups of organisations such as the ASI, TMT, LIGO-India, SKAO, ISRO, IAU etc., putting in efforts to design large-scale educational programmes and resources in India and abroad. He was one of the founding members of the ASI-POEC in 2015 and has been awarded the national level Zubin Kembhavi award for outreach by the ASI for his work. He loves to travel across his vast and beautiful country to inspire children, encourage amateur astronomers to contribute to Science and to share Astronomy knowledge with his people.

• Shylaja B S
  Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, Bengaluru

  Dr Shylaja B S obtained her PhD working of Wolf-Rayet stars from the Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. She also studied chemically peculiar stars, novae and comets. Later she worked at the Jawaharlal Nehru Planetarium, till her retirement. She was involved in various activities for education and outreach, other than the task of writing scripts and producing planetarium shows. Activity oriented workshops for different age groups, publicising events such as the zero shadow day, models for explaining astronomical concepts, astronomy related exhibits in the science park, poster exhibitions and many such activities were initiated by her. She worked on various aspects of the history of Indian astronomy on stone inscriptions, temple architecture and manuscripts of the medieval period. Currently she is working on several medieval period Indian astronomy texts dealing with finer details of the computations. She authored / edited and co-authoured 20 books, has over 150 research publications and more than 1000 popular articles in English and Kannada.

• Suchetana Chatterjee
  Presidency University

• Virendra Yadav
  Aryabhatta Research Institute of Observational Sciences (ARIES), Nainital

  Virendra is a scientist at ARIES and takes care of the institute’s science popularisation and public outreach activities. He did his PhD research in the field of space physics at the Indian Institute of Geomagnetism (IIG), Mumbai and had post-doctoral stints at IIG and IIT Roorkee. He is keenly interested in astronomy outreach, education and cultivation of scientific temper among students and society at large. He was the co-chair of the ASI-POEC for 2022-25.

Previous POEC members are listed here.