Spurred by investment from the government, biological sciences in India are growing at a refreshing pace. Several initiatives have been sanctioned to strengthen the research and education enterprise in India with a commitment to make Indian biology globally competitive. This rapid growth has presented two central challenges — recruiting the best researchers to drive new initiatives and providing support and mentoring to these new researchers to thrive and excel.
In the face of these challenges, there is an urgent need to get researchers vested in the success of Indian biology. Also, the lack of centralised information on the 'what, how, why and where' of finding and applying for jobs, getting funds and setting up labs remains a serious barrier for aspiring researchers wanting to return to India.
YIM participants at a poster session. 
The overall optimism was backed by open discussions among young and established researchers on issues of personnel management, quality of students, picking research problems, publishing and common frustrations of investigators going solo.
Post-doctoral fellows got a realistic picture of what setting up a research lab in India entails and that it differed from other parts of the world only in the details. Since Indian science is still relatively small and not rigidly structured, young faculty also talked about the possibilities of exciting and unexpected collaborations, flexible funding and the opportunity these provide investigators to move rapidly in new directions. In addition to showcasing their science, these meetings have brought the young faculty together, allowing them to interact, develop collaborations and build a sense of community.
The commitment to make Indian Biology 'globally competitive' was highlighted at both YIMs by Maharaj Kishan Bhan, Secretary of India's department of biotechnology. The range of initiatives sanctioned by the government including the creation of a large number of new universities and research institutes, revamping and extension of existing institutions, and several new funding initiatives, gave the sense that India is going to be a happening place for science. This came through even more explicitly in YIM2010, where on hearing the scope, projected hiring and budgets of one upcoming institution, a post-doc attendee could only whistle in surprise and appreciation.
The impact of these meetings has already begun to show. YIM participants are interviewing at institutes across the country, several with job offers in hand. In addition, funded collaborations have been established amongst young faculty who met for the first time at YIM 2009.
Another significant outcome of the YIM effort is the development of a web resource called IndiaBioscience.org, the idea for which was initiated during YIM 2009. The site hopes to serve as a central 'gateway' for jobs, grants, collaborations, and exchange of ideas that will join Indian biologists as a virtual world-wide community. The success of YIMs in India, supported by the Wellcome Trust — DBT India Alliance and a host of other funding agencies and institutes, has led to the spread of follow-up meetings in international settings such as Boston, Chicago, and San Francisco. The YIM brand name is now perceived as a coordinated effort to recruit scientists and to build and support the Biological Sciences Community in India.
The authors were among the organisers of the meetings.
