The LifeScience Club Pune is being launched with a simple but important goal: to create a space where people working across different areas of the life sciences can connect, talk, and learn from one another. Pune is home to students, researchers, clinicians, and industry professionals across biology, chemistry, data science, medicine, and biotechnology — yet meaningful interaction between these groups remains limited. This community is a small step toward changing that. As a local chapter of a growing global initiative supported by the Next Gen Scientists Foundation (NGSF), LifeScience Club Pune aims to provide an open and inclusive platform for interaction. NGSF was founded by Indian students with a vision to support early-career scientists through grassroots efforts such as mentorship, internships, and peer-led communities. Through LifeScience Club, this vision extends to building local networks that grow organically and respond to the needs of their members.
Why we are starting this?
Many students and early-career researchers face similar questions, regardless of their background or institution:
How do we find the right opportunities?
How do we approach people outside our own domain?
How do we move between academia, industry, and interdisciplinary research?
These challenges are often amplified for those working at the interface of fields — such as biology with computation, chemistry with medicine, or basic science with translational research. While opportunities exist, guidance and access to the right conversations are often missing. LifeScience Club Pune is being created to help fill this gap by making interaction easier and more approachable.
What this community aims to offer?
As the community begins to take shape, the initial focus will be on interaction and visibility. Members will be encouraged to introduce themselves, share their interests, and communicate what they are looking for — whether it is collaboration, guidance, or simply discussion. This will help make the diversity of the Pune life sciences ecosystem visible within a single space.
Regular discussion prompts and open question threads will be used to encourage conversation across domains and career stages. These discussions will not be limited to research alone, but will also include topics such as skill development, career pathways, internships, PhD applications, and transitions between academia and industry.
Another important aspect of this initiative is connection-building. By identifying overlapping interests and complementary skill sets within the community, we aim to facilitate introductions and encourage interdisciplinary dialogue. Over time, member spotlights and shared resources will help people discover potential collaborators and mentors within the network.
Looking ahead
While the community will begin online, there is a strong intention to gradually expand into informal, low-pressure offline interactions — such as small meetups, discussion circles, and skill-sharing sessions — shaped by the interests and availability of the members themselves.
LifeScience Club Pune is not intended to be a top-down organization, but a collaborative space that evolves through participation. Its success will depend on openness, curiosity, and the willingness of members to engage with one another beyond their immediate circles.
An invitation
We are just getting started, and this community will grow in the directions its members find most meaningful. Whether you are a student, researcher, industry professional, or simply curious about life sciences, you are welcome to join, participate, and help shape what this network becomes.
Let’s build this together — one conversation at a time.
About the author
Khushi
BS-MS student
IISER-Pune
Lifescience.club 
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