IIT-BHU's Abhishek Kumar Srivastava Named COSPAR Inter-Commission Liaison Officer

Prof. Abhishek Kumar Srivastava of IIT (BHU) Varanasi has been appointed an Inter-Commission Liaison Officer at COSPAR, the Committee on Space Research, the international scientific body headquartered in Paris. His term runs for four years, from 2026 to 2030.

In the role, Srivastava will act as liaison officer for two of COSPAR's scientific commissions, C and E. He will handle scientific dialogue, coordination and the sharing of research information among COSPAR's scientific commissions, thematic panels and advisory bodies.

Commission E deals with research in astrophysics from space. Its work covers the study of stars, galaxies and the universe through space-based observation, including galactic and extragalactic astrophysics, solar studies, heliospheric research and exoplanet science.

Commission C covers space studies of the upper atmospheres of the Earth and planets, including reference atmospheres.

Put simply, Srivastava will help people working on the Sun and deep space talk to people working on planetary atmospheres, and the other way round, across COSPAR's structure.

COSPAR is one of the leading international scientific organisations working to promote space research and the exchange of scientific results, information and ideas among scientists around the world. It holds a large scientific assembly every two years, and its commissions and panels bring together researchers from space agencies, universities and institutes in many countries. Its office is in Paris, France.

IIT (BHU) Director Prof. Amit Patra welcomed the appointment. He said it was expected to further strengthen dialogue and cooperation between scientists and institutions.

A liaison officer's job is less visible than a research paper, but it carries weight inside the scientific community. The post is about connecting commissions that would otherwise work in separate lanes. Solar physics, for example, sits at the meeting point of both commissions: the Sun's activity is studied as astrophysics, and its effects on the upper atmospheres of the Earth and other planets are studied in Commission C.

For IIT (BHU), the appointment means one of its faculty members will sit within COSPAR's commission structure for the rest of the decade. The institute's director has framed it in terms of cooperation: better communication between scientists and between institutions.

COSPAR's commissions are organised by subject. Commission C and Commission E are two of several, and each has its own sub-commissions and panels. An inter-commission liaison officer works across those boundaries, keeping the flow of scientific information moving between groups that might otherwise work in isolation.

Srivastava's four-year term begins this year and runs until 2030. During this period he will work with COSPAR's scientific commissions, thematic panels and advisory bodies on dialogue and coordination between them.