Inspection of IIST by the second sub-committee of the Committee of Parliament on Official Language was held on 9th January 2025. IIST has been selected as one of the organizations for inspection by Parliamentary Committee on Official Language along with 25 other Government organizations in Kerala.

An IIST team comprising Prof. Dipankar Banerjee, Director, along with Prof. Umesh Kadhane and Prof. Sarita Vig were invited as guests for panel discussion at the Cosmic Fest held at Nehru Science Centre Mumbai, Mumbai, on 25 April 2025. The event was organised by Sky Explorers with participation from numerous schools and colleges in Mumbai.

A special moment unfolded at the GLEX 2025 venue, as the IIST alumni gathered to meet with Dr. B.N. Suresh (Honourable Chancellor, IIST), Prof. Dipankar Banerjee (Director, IIST), Prof. Kuruvilla Joseph (Registrar & Dean (Academics)), and faculty rekindling old connections and sharing their journeys. The Global Space Exploration Conference 2025 - GLEX 2025 is happening from 7 to 9 May 2025 in New Delhi.

A team from IIST led by Prof. Dipankar Banerjee (Vice Chancellor,IIST), and coordinated by Prof. Priyadarshnam, visited office of the Haryana Space Applications Centre (HarSAC), Gurgaon, on 10 May 2025. Both the teams discussed possible collaboration opportunities in areas of mutual interest: (1) Capacity building of students and staff in the area of Space Science and Technology, (2) Jointly establishing ground station for operating student satellites in the amateur band, (3) Collaborative development of UAVs and student satellites for remote sensing.

We are happy to announce that Prof. K. G. Sreejalekshmi and Ms. Srujana Juratagi from the Department of Chemistry have been granted a patent for their research work.

Patent No.: 566746

Ms. Subhadrita Ghosh, M.Tech student, Department of Avionics, Thiruvananthapuram, has received the Mojgan Daneshmand Award 2025 at IEEE APS/URSI 2025 for her paper titled "Surface Wave Reflector Integrated Dual Polarized Wideband

Ms. Aishwarya Satheesh, PhD scholar, has been awarded the Korea Foundation Fellowship. She is currently pursuing her research under the guidance of Dr. Babitha Justin in the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences

Advancing Indo-French Space Academic Cooperation

On 20 June 2025, IIST hosted H.E. Dr. Thierry Mathou, Ambassador of France to India, and a distinguished delegation from the French Embassy, CNES, and academic institutions.

* Discussions reaffirmed the strong India–France strategic partnership in space, science, and education.

* The Ambassador emphasized France’s goal of hosting 30,000 Indian students by 2030, with new PhD/postdoc fellowships, internships at CNES, and research mobility schemes.

A team from IIST participated in the 43rd annual meeting of the Astronomical Society of India (ASI), held between 16-19 Feb 2025 at NIT-Rourkela. The team included Prof. Dipankar Banerjee, Director, IIST, who was the President of ASI, Prof. Sarita Vig, who is the Secretary of ASI, Prof. Umesh Kadhane – invited Plenary speaker and a number of PhD, Masters and undergraduate students. Prof Dipankar Banerjee delivered the Presidential address. Prof. Sarita Vig carried out the proceedings of the Inaugural and Concluding sessions as well as chaired the session on ASI Awards talks.

In a remarkable event, Dr V. Narayanan, Secretary DOS / Chairman, ISRO / President, GB, IIST, visited the IIST campus on 21st February 2025 and delivered an inspiring talk to the academic community of IIST. He recollected the humble beginning of the IIST and contributions made by Dr APJ Abdul Kalam, Shri. G. Madhavan Nair, Dr K. Radhakrishnan, Dr B. N. Suresh etc. He urged IIST students to have great aims in life and to be the brand ambassador of the institute. He stressed the need for intellectual and value based education for the society.

IIST MUN 2025 was organised from 21st February to 23 February 2025. The three-day national-level conference provided participants with a unique and immersive experience, mirroring the operations of the United Nations. This event challenged inspired, and shaped the leaders of tomorrow, allowing students to enhance their skills in negotiation, public speaking, and critical thinking while addressing global issues. This year, IIST MUN featured three committees: UNHRC, UNCOPUOS, and NYP. Shri. T.P. Sreenivasan IFS (Retd.), Former Ambassador, inaugurated the 12th edition of MUN.