• On the occasion of World Space Week, a 1-day workshop Nabh-Sparsh was organised by Prof. Sarita Vig, Dept of Earth and Space Sciences, for college students (Bachelors and Masters level) on 10 Oct 2022. Nearly 45 students (Bachelors and Masters in physics) from 11 Govt and Govt-aided colleges of Thiruvananthapuram participated in the workshop. The workshop included lectures, lab-visits and demonstration activities. The workshop was supported by sponsorship from the SERB project - Dept of Science and Technology (DST) of Dr. Sarita Vig and IIST.

• Nirmaan is the social outreach club of IIST, with Prof. Lekshmi Nair, Dept of Humanities, as the faculty coordinator. Nirmaan organized science camps for the students of the Government UP School, Ponmudi every weekends from 13th August 2022 to 3rd December 2022 and a 3 day camp for the students of Villumala tribal settlement of Thenmala forest division from 31st December 2022 to 2nd January 2023. The later was organized in collaboration with the Forest department, Government of Kerala.

Department of Avionics organized a 4 days Online Faculty Development Programme on Control Systems Technology and Applications from 12th to 16th December 2022. The programme was susbscribed by about 60 participants. Resource persons were drawn from different IITs, ISRO, DRDO, IIST etc.

Dr. Chinmoy Saha, Associate Professor, Department of Avionics was invited as one of the panel members in the ‘Microwave for Humanities Workshop (M4HW)’ held in conjunction with International Microwave and Antenna Symposium 2023 (IMAS) in Cairo, Egypt during February 06-09, 2023. The workshop and the conference was technically supported by IEEE Antennas and Propagation Society (AP-S) and IEEE Microwave Theory and Technology Society (MTT-S). Apart from Dr. Saha who is the region-10 coordinator of IEEE MTT-S, leaderships from AP-S and MTT-S, Dr.

The department has organised the 10 th edition of Model United Nations for March 4–5, 2023. About 60 participants from various parts of the country along with IIST students have participated in two councils, namely UNHRC and UNCOPOUS. The event was inaugurated by renowned diplomat Ambassador T P Sreenivasan, IFS (Retd.), and Dr. Raju K George, Dean R& D, presided. Student delegates take on the roles of international diplomats and ambassadors in various organisations and agencies of the UN.

The Social Outreach activities of IIST exemplify the unwavering dedication of faculty members and students to make a positive impact on society. With a will to “demystify” science to the less privileged students, the social outreach club of IIST- Nirmaan organized the following programs

• The IIST student chapters were invited to demonstrate optics experiments to school students as part of an interschool science exhibition organized by Amrita Kairali Vidya Bhavan on 23-25 November 2023.
• The chapter members interacted with students of grades 6 to 10 from various schools and their parents.
• Live optics demonstrations were shown on all three days.

• We organized an outreach program at the UP school Aryanadon 15 February 2023 where we got an opportunity to interact with students of grades 9 and 10.
• The chapter members demonstrated live optics experiments in front of the students which showed various optical phenomena and principles. The students showed active participation throughout the event.

The SPIE and Optica student chapters at the Indian Institute of Space Science and Technology (IIST) have been actively engaged in organizing outreach programs at various schools as part of their annual chapter activities. During these events, chapter members engage with students, demonstrating optics experiments and fostering interaction. These programs serve as a platform to promote science, especially optics, among school students, aiming to inspire them to consider research as a viable career path.