UPES hosts World Congress on Health Sciences and Technology 2026

October 9, 2026 /Posted byPrajwal EW / 0

UPES inaugurated the World Congress on Health Sciences and Technology (WCHST) 2026 at its Bidholi campus in Dehradun on October 7, bringing together researchers, clinicians, policymakers and industry experts to discuss healthcare research and innovation.

Organised by the university’s School of Health Sciences and Technology, the three-day congress, running from October 7 to 9, is being held under the theme ‘Transforming Health through Research and Innovation’. It is expected to attract more than 500 participants, with nine international and 18 national speakers.

The inaugural ceremony featured Padma Shri Professor Balram Bhargava, former Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, as chief guest. Dr Soumya Swaminathan, former Deputy Director-General of the World Health Organisation, delivered the presidential address virtually. UPES Vice-Chancellor Dr Sunil Rai was also present.

The scientific programme covers biotechnology, genomics, precision medicine, pharmaceutical sciences, biomedical engineering, artificial intelligence in healthcare, digital health and public health. Sessions include keynote lectures, panel discussions, research presentations and industry interactions.

Addressing the gathering, Bhargava called for greater investment in new drugs, biosimilars and pharmaceutical innovation. Rai said UPES was focusing on research involving biomarkers, artificial intelligence and genomics to support early disease detection and develop affordable diagnostic instruments.

The congress also features discussions on nutrition, preventive healthcare, Ayurveda and traditional knowledge, alongside five specialised pre-conference workshops on healthcare entrepreneurship, space technology for health, advanced microscopy, point-of-care diagnostics and human microbiome research.

Participants represent institutions including Purdue University, the Technical University of Munich, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, IIT Roorkee and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. Industry representatives are also participating in discussions on translating research into healthcare applications.

The programme continues on October 8 and 9 with further scientific sessions, industry interactions and the SYNAPSE Student Innovation Forum, aimed at encouraging research partnerships and student innovation.

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“Most schools never consciously chose their basic unit. They inherited one from the past: the class. With the class as the focus, the things that happen between people get squeezed out: the apprentice learning alongside someone skilled, the child taught where they are rather than where the class is, and the daily practice of getting along with people they did not choose. The most promising new schools are organising themselves around the individual child rather than the class. A better approach is to group children by readiness in each subject and change those groups as they progress. Communication, collaboration and handling disagreement need daily practice. In a school built around individual progress, teachers get time back to observe, diagnose, mentor and step in where they are most needed. Most teachers entered the profession to make a difference to children. Many spend their careers managing classes instead. The best new schools offer them a system that finally lets them do the work they signed up for.”

- Rahul Raghavan, Economic Times, (27/10)

“Government medical college seats are 100% filled, vacancies are confined entirely to the private sector. Colleges and state fee-fixation committees must re-examine these fee structures, because lowering NEET qualifying cut-offs will not resolve an affordability crisis when millions of candidates already qualify. The vacancies are an indicator that qualifying for medical admission does not necessarily mean students could afford a seat. Institutions charge full fees to early applicants and offer discounts to late entrants to fill the vacant seats. It reflects a purely commercial approach that compromises merit while still failing to fill classrooms. High management-quota fees are putting seats beyond the reach of many candidates. Some 24 lakh students write the entrance test for 1.4 lakh seats. While the cream gets government seats, the rest of the students cannot afford a management-quota seat.”

- Divyansh Kumar, The Times of India, (2/11)

UPES hosts World Congress on Health Sciences and Technology 2026

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