IIT Gandhinagar to collaborate with global institutions for SPARC projects worth Rs 6.63 crore
Palaj, Gandhinagar: A team of faculty from the Indian Institute of Technology Gandhinagar (IITGN) is collaborating with Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France, in designing and developing energy efficient building materials for the Indian context.
The project is one of 10 IITGN international research projects approved by the Ministry of Human Resources Development (HRD), Government of India, as part of the ‘Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration’ (SPARC). Enlarging its global footprint, the Institute will collaborate with faculty and researchers at ten international institutions in seven countries, France, USA, New Zealand, South Africa, Israel, Canada, and Australia. SPARC awarded IITGN’s 10 research proposals Rs 6.63 crore to bring together IITGN faculty and world-class scholars to work on fundamental, action-oriented and innovation driven research in emerging areas of impact.
The IITGN projects cover green and renewable technologies; river, ocean, aviation and space management technologies; affordable health care; energy and water sustainability; advanced functional and meta materials; computational and mathematical science; humanities and social sciences; and robotics and embedded systems.
Under the SPARC projects, IITGN will collaborate with prestigious global universities/institutes, such as Ecole Normale Supérieure de Cachan, France; Duke University, USA; The University of Auckland, New Zealand; University at Buffalo Suny, USA; University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Technion – Israel Institute of Technology, Israel; Queen’s University at Kingston, Canada; Flinders University, Australia; University of Texas at Austin, USA; and Columbia University, USA.
Prof Sudhir K Jain, Director, IITGN, said, “IIT Gandhinagar has always put great emphasis on global academic exposure and partnerships for our faculty and students. SPARC projects and funding will give further impetus to our continuing efforts and open new opportunities to build alliances with researchers and institutes from across the globe.”
IIT Gandhinagar collaborates with scores of prestigious educational institutes from more than 20 countries across the globe on various faculty and students exchange programmes and research partnerships. Nearly 40 percent of its undergraduate students receive study abroad or other international opportunities, among the highest in India and almost three times the average of US universities. Almost 80% of its faculties have overseas degree or postdoc experience.
The SPARC initiative of the Ministry of HRD is aimed at improving the research environment in India’s Higher Educational Institutions by facilitating academic and research collaborations between Indian Institutions and the top institutions in the world to jointly solve problems of national and/or international relevance.