About us

We are the ‘Friends of Researchers in the Indian Subcontinent’, a charity designed to promote and support advancement of biomedical education through collaboration between researchers of the UK and the countries of EU and those based in the 7 different countries of the subcontinent. We believe that ‘only collaborative biomedical research will eradicate diseases and make this world disease free. We urge you to join us in this journey and take a step forward to a healthy and happy world for everyone by donating to our cause.

We are working for the eradication of human diseases in the Indian subcontinent by promoting and supporting the advancement of biomedical research through collaboration with researchers in the UK and the countries of EU. It is expected to lead to the furtherance of biomedical education and add to the availability of highly trained researchers ready to address the healthcare needs of the subcontinent.

Friends of Researchers in the Indian Subcontinent (FRIS) does not support investigative research merely on a particular disease, instead it focusses on training researcher, equipping them with the most modern research tools, which can be used to study molecular basis of different diseases, and help to improve the health of the population at large in the subcontinent.

We will achieve our mission by: supporting reciprocal visits of researchers, exchange research materials and technologies, providing a platform for lectures, seminars, webinars, conferences and training, funding research in the UK/EU carried out by students from the subcontinent (at PhD and above) that cannot be completed in their home country due to unavailability of equipment/resources, funding research positions in UK/EU institutions that will promote biomedical education in the subcontinent and publicly disseminating the useful knowledge resulting from the research that is funded.

As biomedical sciences are the cornerstone of modern medicine, our activity of promoting and supporting advances in biomedical education through laboratory-based research will inevitably lead to research programmes to address the nation’s health. They will help to develop new technologies/ideas/innovations that would be employed in future for disease prevention, early diagnosis, effective disease management, repurposing of established drugs and improved treatment modalities. This will also help raise public awareness about the benefits of healthy lifestyle in disease prevention which will contribute immensely to the economic growth of the region.

We work in the UK, European Union and in the 7 countries of the Indian subcontinent including Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Being a tropical region with its own blend of food and culture, the subcontinent has health issues which are relatively uncommon in the Western countries. To provide diagnosis, management and treatment for such conditions, it is important to understand the molecular basis of the diseases, and for that, one must not only have biomedical research infrastructure but also public awareness of the importance of such research.

The COVID pandemic has enlightened the public on the importance of biomedical research in general and the need for research infrastructure in their respective countries. Most researchers in these countries are English speaking and yet they find it challenging to access technologies developed in the West and adopt them according to their needs in their countries. FRIS is going to change that by encouraging and supporting collaborations between the biomedical researchers based in the UK/EU and those based in countries of the subcontinent.

The projects we support must be non-clinical biomedical research or those at the interface of basic and clinical research. Such projects are generally not on the radar screen of most private and public funding agencies in the developing countries. However, the recent pandemic has shown the importance of such research and therefore the FRIS founding Board of Trustees of FRIS is determined to ensure that researchers in the subcontinent are adequately prepared for such an eventuality going forward.

As FRIS is just being set-up, we are at present not accepting applications for grant support.