As Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Amma conferred Honorary Doctorates on Mr. T. Denny Sanford, world-renowned philanthropist, and Prof. Pradeep Khosla, Chancellor of the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). Amrita established the degree initiative in 2022 to recognize the world’s leading scientists, academics, and public servants for their contributions to humanity.

Representing the flames of hope, self-motivation, and selfless service, Amma launched the logo for India’s Civil 20 engagement group (C20). India is this year’s official host for the G20 Summit, a gathering of the leaders of most of the world’s largest economies. The Summit will take place in New Delhi in September.

Amma is the Chair of C20, a branch of G20 that functions as a platform for civil society organisations (CSOs) on a global scale to bring forth non-government and non-business voices to the G20 leaders. Other committee members include Sri M of the Satsang Foundation as a Participant; Sudha Murthy, Chair, Infosys Foundation as a Participant; Rambhau Mhalgi Prabodhini as Secretariat; and the Vivekananda Kendra, Kanyakumari as Institutional Partner.

Our project in Africa with Visio Sense Fronteres, Spain partnered with Don Bosco Fambul in Sierra Leone to carry out 134 cataract surgeries. The 10-day outreach and medical camp took place at Don Bosco Fambul's small hospital in Freetown where dental procedures were also performed.

The Visio Sense Fronteres volunteers started with two optometrists visiting villages in the surrounding area to reach out to people in need of eye and vision care. Patients with cataracts were supported to come to the hospital for surgery.

The event was the launch of this year’s initiative to reach more than 200,000 women who belong to the 13,000+ self-help groups in India.

Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala - November 27, 2022

Amrita Self-Reliance Education and Employment (AmritaSREE) held its inauguration for the coming year in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. About 15,000 women who belong to AmritaSREE Self-Help Groups (SHGs) in the district attended. They received aid packages that included financial aid, food supplies, and new clothing for family members.

The film kicked off the Illuminate Film Festival in Arizona and won a prestigious award

“Amma's Way: A Journey to Embrace the World Again” made its North American debut on opening night at the Illuminate Film Festival in Sedona, Arizona. More than 500 people attended the screening at the Sedona Performing Arts Center.

The documentary also won the ManguTV Award for Conscious Documentary Filmmaking. ManguTV’s $2500 cash prize was awarded to Amma’s Way since it exhibited the strongest story arc, most compelling subjects, and the highest impact potential. ManguTV invests in the distribution and completion of paradigm-challenging and consciousness-expanding visual content.

Amrita’s two UNESCO Chairs take part in the initiative’s 30th anniversary celebrations in Paris

Today, it involves more than 850 institutions in 117 countries to promote international cooperation between universities so that together they can share knowledge and uplift our world. With this impressive global reach, UNESCO launched the University Twinning and Networking Programme (UNITWIN) in 1992 to establish Chairs in key areas such as education, the natural and social sciences, culture, and communications.

With its two UNESCO Chairs, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham plays an active role in these efforts to partner with institutions to pool resources, both human and material, and address the world’s pressing challenges, as well as contribute to the development of society as a whole. The networks serve as think tanks and bridgebuilders between academia, civil society, local communities, research, and policymaking.

Amrita Hospital, Kochi hosts the 18th International Telemedicine Conference

As digital networks continue to evolve, telemedicine is rapidly expanding its reach between healthcare providers and patients. Amrita Hospital, Kochi hosted this year’s International Telemedicine Conference where healthcare professionals discussed how to most effectively implement new technologies, especially in rural and isolated areas. One of the key issues at Telemedicon 2022 was how to ensure access to care is affordable to all while also developing new aspects like virtual and augmented reality.

The Telemedicine Society of India (TSI) in collaboration with its Kerala chapter organised the three-day gathering. Specialists from different parts of the world, including representatives of the World Health Organization (WHO), took part. The conference discussed in detail the possibilities of telemedicine and its future, legal aspects including patient confidentiality, matters related to digital health, the Internet of Medical Things (IOMT), and Tele-ICU monitoring.

Making a remarkable achievement, researchers with Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham have been ranked in the world’s top 2% list of scientists by Stanford University. Categories are based upon papers published and years spent on research. It is the university's third year in a row in the database, and the number of researchers increases from 10 to 15.

The rankings, considered the most prestigious worldwide, are drawn from the bibliometric information contained in Scopus, the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature including scientific journals, books and conference proceedings. It contains more than 180,000 researchers from the more than 8 million scientists considered to be active worldwide, with 22 scientific fields and 176 subfields taken into account.

Two lists are published for the year 2022. The first list is based on the number of research papers published and amount of years spent on research. It includes eight scientists from the university:

• Dr P Venkat Rangan, Vice-Chancellor of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
• Dr Maneesha V Ramesh, Provost, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham
• Dr Shantikumar Nair, Dean of Amrita School of Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine
• Dr Jayakumar Rangasamy, Professor, School of Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine
• Dr R Krishnakumar, Professor and Head at Department of Pediatric Cardiology, Amrita School of Medicine
• Dr Madhav Datta, Emeritus Professor
• Dr N Radhika, Professor at Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore
• Dr Bijo Mathew, Professor at Amrita School of Pharmacy

The second list is based upon excellence in research during the past year. Mentioned again are Amrita's:

• Dr Maneesha V Ramesh
• Dr Shantikumar Nair
• Dr Jayakumar Rangasamy
• Dr R Krishnakumar
• Dr Bijo Mathew
• Dr N Radhika

The following researchers also appear:

• Dr KP Soman, Associate Dean of Amrita School of Computing
• Dr KA Ramachandran, Professor at Amrita School of Engineering, Coimbatore
• Dr K Manzoor, Professor at Amrita School of Nano Sciences and Molecular Medicine
• Dr R Krishankumar, Assistant Professor, Amrita School of Computing, Coimbatore
• Dr M Suresh, Professor at Amrita School of Business, Coimbatore
• Dr A Anitha, who is now with Queensland University Australia, is listed via Amrita School of Nanosciences and Molecular Medicine
• Dr Denny John, who is now Adjunct Professor at Ramaiah University of Applied Sciences, is listed via Amrita School of Allied Health Sciences, Kochi

Amrita is a research-intensive university and among the fastest-growing institutions of higher learning in India. It is accredited with an A++ rating, the highest possible, by the National Assessment and Accreditation Council (NAAC). It is also ranked as India’s 5th Best University in the 2022 National Institution Ranking Framework (NIRF) and the country’s 8th Best Medical College.

On the international level, Amrita is ranked 41st in the world, the only Indian university in the top 50, by the Times Higher Education (THE) Impact Rankings, 2022—a system of global indicators to assess the progress of universities towards the UN's 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In addition, the United Nations has awarded the university two UNESCO Chairs, namely the UNESCO Chair for Experiential Learning for Sustainable Innovation & Development and the UNESCO Chair on Gender Equality & Women’s Empowerment.

Amrita is headquartered at Coimbatore and spread across seven campuses in four states—Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh. The university globally partners with academic, industry, and governmental institutions to accomplish human-centred, translational, and groundbreaking research.

To date, Amrita has more than 500 collaborations from more than 200 signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs). Some of its partners include Harvard University, Columbia University, King’s College London, KTH - Royal Institute of Technology, VU Amsterdam, the British Geological Society, University of Oxford, Italian National Research Council, Deakin University, and the University of Tokyo.

Amma is the Founder, Chancellor, and guiding light of Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham. Her words, thoughts, and vision for education and research founded upon universal values have shaped the university’s mission.

The Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh visited Amritapuri to take part in the inauguration of this year’s distribution to self-help groups in 21 states.

Sri Shivraj Singh Chouhan, Honorable Chief Minister of Madhya Pradesh, arrived in Amritapuri last night. He joined Amma to inaugurate $10 million (₹850 million) of economic support for the 250,000 women who belong to AmritaSREE’s Self-Help Groups (SHGs).

“Amma is a symbol of love and compassion who is providing people with the basic means to live. I am blessed to meet you,” said CM Chouhan. "Similarly, let governments also be able to help the poor in this way with so much love and compassion. Amma’s gestures have touched me and I will also try to implement the same.”

Amma launched this year’s AmritaSREE package with a third installment of additional assistance that began in 2020 to support the SHG members and their families during the COVID-19 pandemic. It includes financial aid, grocery kits, and clothing.

Amrita Hospitals, Kochi has successfully conducted its 12th hand transplant surgery. Gulnora, 45, is from Uzbekistan and lost her hands in an accident at her workplace. She has just completed her month-long treatment in Kochi and, with happiness and gratitude, returned home. Gulnora will be able to move her hands completely after undergoing follow-up treatments, including physiotherapy.

The new limbs were donated by Anita from Nagercoil, Tamil Nadu. Having expressed a wish to be an organ donor upon her demise, she was declared brain dead at a hospital in Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala on September 21, 2022. Her hands were airlifted to Kochi, and the surgical team at Amrita Hospital successfully attached them to Gulnora in a 16-hour surgery.