Felix Bast

Background

About Felix Bast

I am working as a Professor and science writer based at Central University of Punjab (Ministry of Education Govt. of India) Bathinda Punjab India where I am heading Department of Botany. I am B.Sc. gold medalist and was educated at University of Madras Guindy campus and IIT Bombay. After earning PhD from MEXT Japan as a Japanese government scholar I have been serving Government of India since 2010 when I took an appointment at the Central University of Punjab (Ministry of Education Govt. of India). I served as an invited in-residence intern with the President of India as an “Inspired teacher” for one week at Rashtrapati Bhavan New Delhi in 2015. Amongst many discoveries that my research group at CU Punjab has made include a species of moss from Antarctica (featured in BBC News)- the first plant species discovery in 40 years of Indian Antarctic Mission and five new species of marine macroalgae from India. I am also passionate in the field of science communication through my writings outreach talks and YouTube videos fostering critical thinking and scientific scepticism. My works has been featured in numerous media including BBC The Independent The Hindu All India Radio Rajya Sabha TV and TEDx. I served as an elected national Core Committee member representing Biology and Medicine at Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (2020). Subsequently I founded India's first young academy open to all fields of knowledge Young Academy of India (YAI) and initiated its integral program MentX which is touted as one of the world's largest "Ideological-Matchmaking" platforms. I am also a member of National COVID-19 Task-Force by INSA and Indian Scientists Response to COVID-19 (IndSciCovid). In addition I am also involved with Swayam a flagship online education programme of Ministry of Education Government of India as a Course Coordinator. In 2020 one of the online courses that I offer through UGC-Swayam has been ranked as the 7th best online course in the world . I am also an avid cyclist a runner a frequent blood donor and an advocate of zero-waste and low-carbon footprint lifestyle.