As per the fourth goal of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2023, providing quality education for all by 2030 is key to achieving equitable education. This becomes especially relevant after a global pandemic, during which 94% of the world’s student population was affected due to institutional closures. Teachers such as myself (Ananya) had to find emergency ways of handling the pandemic by trying different remote learning strategies. This had a disproportionate effect on students from marginalised communities in low- and middle-income countries.

Building on her reflections on project Biotales, in this second part, Aswathy Raveendran delves into the creative journeys of early career biologists. Through workshops enabling artistic expression, participants shared deeply personal narratives that explore the emotional, intellectual, and ethical dimensions of doing science—offering educators and readers a window into the lived experience of life science research.

This article explores a personal narrative by Aswathy Raveendran from Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, Mumbai, an awardee of the 5th IndiaBioscience Outreach Grant (IOG) who leads project Biotales. The project captures personal journeys of early career biologists through creative writing and art, offering insights into the nature and culture of biological sciences research.

Aditi Jain, an India-based publishing professional discusses how scientific communication thrives at the intersection of culture, clarity, and community. Drawing from her interactions within the global research ecosystem, she highlights why being culturally sensitive is necessary to disseminating research—to turn feedback into learning, communication into collaboration, and science into a genuinely inclusive and meaningful undertaking.

Can a simple kitchen test provide an estimate of protein in grains and pulses? Researchers from University of Mumbai-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Sciences have come up with a laboratory-free method using foam generation to teach students about protein estimation. The DIY approach provides a fun and scientific way to investigate nutrition of grains at home.