On April 08, 2026, as part of the broader MoU between Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) and Merck, the Department of Applied Statistics and Data Science (DASDS), PSPH, Manipal initiated the Catalyst Program for the MSc Biostatistics and MSc Data Science students, aimed at building strong industry-relevant competencies in clinical trials, regulatory affairs, and statistical programming, with a structured format that includes two offline sessions, four online sessions, and a capstone project to ensure meaningful hands-on learning and exposure to real-world applications in the pharmaceutical and clinical research domain.