Research By IIT Hyderabad On Ageing And Assisted Reproduction

Hyderabad: IIT-Hyderabad is going to undertake a study on ways in which ageing is conceptualised within In-Vitro Fertilisation by researching on elderly couples conceiving and giving birth to children in north India with the help of IVF.

The project has been sanctioned funding of Rs 25 lakh under the Wellcome UK Small Projects Grant for 2018, the institute said in a statement. The project will commence next month and includes fieldwork and a conference on 'Reframing the Biological Clock: Exploring Ethnographic Research on Ageing and Reproduction' in August this year with presentations from academics across the world, it said.

The conference will focus on ongoing research on aspects of the ageing reproductive body and how technology and society imagine childbirth and families in such a context. Research from Europe, the USA and Asia will be presented at the conference, which will be hosted by IIT Hyderabad.

Dr. Anindita Majumdar, Assistant Professor, Department of Liberal Arts, IIT Hyderabad, who will be leading the research, said, "The aim of the research is to contribute conceptually and through field data to ongoing, and future research on assisted conception, infertility and reproduction in India." "This would include publications emerging from research, and the development of a larger research project that will look at the impact that societal and environmental factors have on increasing fears of declining fertility in urban India."

According to the statement, Wellcome UK is a global charitable organisation that supports scientists and researchers take on big problems, fuel imaginations, and spark debate. (PTI)