At A Kashmir Science Congress, Young Minds Confront A Changing Future - Kashmir Observer

(MENAFN- Kashmir Observer) By Syed Sammar Mehdi

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Srinagar- By the final afternoon at the Nund Reshi Auditorium in Awantipora, the stage had become a meeting point for two versions of Jammu and Kashmir's future.

Scientists had spent three days discussing climate change, shrinking glaciers, disaster risks and emerging technologies. Nearby, school students presented models, posters and projects, giving a younger generation its own place in the proceedings.

The J&K Science Congress 2026, held at the Islamic University of Science and Technology under the theme“Science, Innovations and Emerging Technologies for Sustainable and Viksit J&K,” brought together about 700 researchers and 4,000 participants for 26 technical sessions covering 14 themes. Five plenary lectures and two panel discussions added to the programme.

At the closing session on Thursday, School and Higher Education Minister Sakina Itoo said the future of Jammu and Kashmir would depend on more than roads, buildings and other physical infrastructure.“The knowledge created and the young minds empowered,” she said, would define what comes next.

Her message turned toward employment, one of the central challenges facing a young population. Students, she said, need preparation to become“creators of employment.”

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Talent exists throughout the region, she added, while opportunity needs to reach the same places.

That question gained a sharper scientific dimension during a plenary lecture by IUST Vice Chancellor Shakil Ahmad Romshoo on climate change and the changing cryosphere of the Upper Indus Basin.

Romshoo described the region through its exposure to climate change, disaster vulnerability and emerging glacial hazards. Changes in the basin's glaciers and snowfields have consequences extending beyond mountains, affecting water security and infrastructure in a region where millions depend on seasonal flows.

The subject placed the congress's larger theme in a practical setting.

Science, Romshoo said, has to serve society and sustainability. He pointed to the contrast between serious climate risks in the Upper Indus Basin and the creativity displayed by schoolchildren during the event.

The student programme, organised with the National Children's Science Congress, brought together more than 80 students from 20 schools. Their posters, models and projects placed young people alongside researchers who spent the same three days examining problems that will define their future.

Advisor to the Chief Minister Nasir Aslam Wani praised IUST and the Jammu and Kashmir Science, Technology and Innovation Council for creating a platform where scientists, researchers and students could meet.

The closing ceremony also recognised the strongest oral and poster presentations. Dean Research Aabid Hussain Shalla presented the congress report, while Dean Academic Affairs Ajaz Bashir welcomed participants and Dean Outreach Ruheela Hassan delivered the vote of thanks.

The scale of the gathering suggested an ambition larger than a three-day academic event. Jammu and Kashmir is trying to build an economy in which scientific knowledge produces new ideas, enterprises and solutions to local problems.

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That ambition now faces the realities discussed inside the auditorium: changing glaciers, water pressures, disaster exposure and a rapidly evolving technological landscape.

Romshoo put the challenge in terms that reached beyond the congress itself. A developed Jammu and Kashmir, he said, can emerge only when young people learn to think scientifically and act for a sustainable future.

The students who displayed their projects in Awantipora were already beginning that work.

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