IIT-Hyderabad to research on how ageing conceptualised in IVF

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Hyderabad: The Indian Institute of Technology-Hyderabad (IIT-H) will undertake a study on the ways in which ageing is conceptualised within in-vitro fertilization (IVF) by researching on elderly couples conceiving and birthing children through the method, it was announced here on Monday.

The project has been sanctioned with funding of Rs 25 lakh under the Wellcome UK Small Projects Grant for 2018 and is titled "A preliminary study of ageing and assisted reproduction in India".

The project will commence in April and includes fieldwork, a conference on 'Reframing the Biological Clock: Exploring Ethnographic Research on Ageing and Reproduction' in August with presentations from academics across the world, IIT Hyderabad 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 US and Asia will be presented at the conference, which will be hosted by IIT Hyderabad.

Anindita Majumdar, assistant professor, Department of Liberal Arts, IIT Hyderabad, will be leading the research. 

"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," said Majumdar.

This research firmly embeds itself within emerging issues of the "biological clock", and declining fertility which has long-term significance on demographic and population trends, as well as on the social care and responsibility of an ageing population.

Wellcome UK is a global charitable organization that supports scientists and researchers take on big problems, fuel imaginations, and spark debate. It supports over 14,000 people in more than 70 countries and is one of the world's biggest funders of biomedical research.