Contact address

National Institute of Science, Technology and Development Studies, New Delhi is devoted to a study of various aspects of interaction among science, society and state and exploring continuosly the Interface Between Science,Technology And Society. Nistads is one of the 38 institutes/laboratories of the Government of India’s Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), New Delhi.

Currently, the faculty comprises 31 members (including the Director) out of which 11 are women. This faculty is drawn from a variety of academic disciplines: 23 have a degree in science or engineering while the remaining 8 are from social sciences. This intellectual diversity is the mainstay of the institute. Research students enrolled in the Institute obtain Ph.D. degree from different universities. Nistads has a vibrant visiting scholars programme, under which researchers from India and abroad are encouraged to spend time at the Institute.

The Institute has core competence in

•    Science and Technology policy Research
•    Dedicated to the concern and problems of developing countries.

Among the diverse fields the Institute is involved in, some are

•  Water
•  Rural areas
•  S& T mapping
•  High Technology
•  Entrepreneurship
•  Public Science and Technology

Our Strengths

•  Interdisciplinary research teams
•  Multi-discipline in faculty
•  Long research experience
•  Field research: designing/collecting primary data
•  Students, visitors network partners Indian as well as international
•  Access to CSIR resources, technologies, knowledge and people
•  World class IT Facility
•  World-class computerized library: access to several thousands of research journals and database.

 And we have proven our capabilities in

•  Water-resources, economics, management and life science.
•  Entrepreneurship and Micro- entrepreneurship development
•  Innovation-Strategy and management
•  Intellectual property issues
•  Knowledge management; R&D management
•  Law, technology and economics
•  Science policy
•  Resource mapping/geography.

The research activity of the institute can be grouped under the following broad programmes:      

• IPR: IPR & development studies
• ITBT: Information technology and biotechnology: Policy matters and ethical concerns
• InnP: Innovation policy
  
• INKS: Innovation & knowledge society
• TIARA: Technology & integrated assistance to rural artisans
• SD: Sustainable development
• STEVS: Science-technology-education valuation studies
• HPS: History & philosophy of science / Public awareness of science

A brief note on history

The roots of Nistads go back to August 1973 when the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) set up at its headquarters a Centre for the Study of Science, Technology and Development. On 30 September 1980, the Governing Body of the CSIR approved that the Centre “should function as an autonomous Centre with a separate budget”. Its objectives “would continue to be the same”, but it “will be autonomous, headed by a scientist of the rank of a Director of a National Laboratory, with its own infrastructure”. 30 September 1980 is then the birthday of the Institute (even though the present name came into effect on 1 April 1981).