Representative image (AI-generated)

NEW DELHI: India-headquartered Global Biofuels Alliance (GBA) has selected 15 early-career researchers from leading universities and research institutions across the world for its Global Biofuel Champion Fellowship.The fellows will each receive a $15,000 research grant and work with the Alliance over the next two years to advance research, knowledge exchange and international collaboration in sustainable biofuels.From India, two researchers – Ruchi Agrawal of The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI) and Abhisek Sahoo of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi – have been selected for the fellowship.The programme brings together researchers working on biofuels, sustainable energy systems, transport decarbonisation and the circular economy. The inaugural cohort was selected through a three-stage evaluation process from applications received across 32 countries.The selected fellows represent institutions including the University of Michigan, the University of Manchester, Monash University, Polytechnique Montréal, and research organisations across Africa, Brazil and India.The fellowship aims to strengthen international cooperation by connecting academic research with policy and industry. It seeks to promote collaborative research, knowledge exchange and the development of scalable bioenergy solutions.In his keynote address, petroleum secretary Neeraj Mittal said India’s bioenergy journey could serve as a blueprint for other countries, demonstrating how supportive policy frameworks can deliver economic and environmental benefits.GBA director Josh Wycliffe said the Alliance has put in place a long-term engagement roadmap to ensure the fellows continue contributing to global biofuel research and policy beyond the fellowship’s launch.The Global Biofuels Alliance is an international initiative comprising 34 member countries and 14 international organisations. It seeks to accelerate the adoption of sustainable biofuels through policy cooperation, technology exchange, capacity building and international partnerships.