Simplifying Science
Simplifying Science is Asar’s strategic science communications programme, built to strengthen the narrative around climate change and climate science across India. India produces some of the world’s most rigorous climate research, but findings published in international journals rarely reach the communities most at risk — in the languages they speak, through the media they trust. The programme closes that gap: we partner with researchers and institutions to translate complex findings into accessible, evidence-grounded stories, then carry them across regional media in multiple Indian languages so the research reaches not just academic audiences but farmers, labourers, community workers, health practitioners and policymakers. The focus throughout is on climate’s impact on health, the environment, well-being, and on amplifying solutions.
Study on Moist heatwaves during monsoon (April 2026)
We ran the first Simplifying Science media campaign around Dr. Akshay Deoras’s Climate Dynamics study on moist heatwaves during the monsoon. The work began with the research team, drawing out the findings that mattered most for Indian readers, and turned into a long-form English article that put technical ideas (wet-bulb temperature, the role of the monsoon, four-week forecasting) into plain language without losing the science. After the authors reviewed it for accuracy, we translated and localised the piece into five regional languages and placed it through our media network, timing the regional push to coincide with the April heatwave.
The effort landed 45 stories across 6 languages over two weeks, weighted toward regional print, where it reaches readers most exposed to the risk, for an estimated reach of 50 million-plus. High points included a front-page placement in Dainik Bhaskar, a page lead across every Malayala Manorama edition, and a public endorsement from Dr. Soumya Swaminathan, who shared the coverage and tagged IMD, the health ministry and NDMA, carrying the research into policy conversation.
Supplementary read: full coverage report (45 placements, reach methodology, screenshots)
Particulate matter 20% higher along the Indo-Gangetic Plain and heading for the Himalayas (May–June 2026)
We followed with a second, larger campaign around Prof Abhijit Chatterjee’s 25-year satellite study on air pollution across the Indo-Gangetic Plain, the Himalayas and the North-East. Rather than one article, we wrote three press notes from the same research, each pitched to a different audience (a national note, a West Bengal note built around the threat to the Sundarbans, and an Assamese note for the North-East) so the story arrived in the form most relevant to each region. All three were author-reviewed before release and then disseminated through national and regional media, with PTI wire pickup considerably widening the spread.
The result: more tha
SimplifyingScience_Coverage Report_v3.pdf (2.5 MB)
SimplifyingScience_Coverage_Report_2Air.pdf (2.1 MB)
n 75 stories across 7 languages and 12-plus states, split roughly evenly between print and online. Coverage reached an estimated 80 million people and included Page 1 placements in The Times of India, both nationally and across all West Bengal editions, along with front-page placements in The Pioneer and Millennium Post, and multiple stories across the Northeastern states.
Supplementary read: full coverage report (75+ placements, language and state breakdowns, print screenshots)