SPARC Success for MIPP and MIPA

May 30, 2019

Academics from The University of Melbourne’s Melbourne School of Engineering and The Faculty of Science were recently awarded grants through the Indian Government-sponsored ‘Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration’ (SPARC). SPARC aims to foster the development of collaborative research linkages between top Indian and international universities.

5 grants were awarded 4 for projects with selected partners of the Melbourne India Postgraduate Program (MIP) and the Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA) including the IITs Kharagpur, Madras, and Kanpur. These grants are representative of the significant networks that have been generated through MIPP and MIPA via active research collaborations that have developed from joint PhD supervision and academic and student exchange.

29 SPARC grants were awarded in total to Australian universities, with the UoM and the University of Queensland the top recipients with 5 grants each. UoM projects include:

1. Integrated Urban Water Management for Enhanced Water Security ($ 124,000) with IIT Kharagpur. UoM Academics: Meenakshi Arora, Wenyan Wu, Peter Scales and Anthony Stickland.
2. Park IT: Advanced Parking Information and Management for Indian Traffic ($120,000) with IIT Kanpur. UoM Academics: Stephen Winter, Kourosh Khoshelham
3. Liposomes for controlled release of health-promoting factors such as multivitamins (Vit D, A, B9 and B12), omega 3 fatty acids and bioactive (bacosides): Names of all investigators: India: Prof. Dr H N Mishra IIT Kharagpur and Prof. Dr S.K. Khare IIT Delhi; Australia: Prof. Muthupandian Ashokkumar and Dr Greg Martin
4. Advanced photonic signal processing for future optical and wireless communication systems with IIT Madras. UoM Academics: Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas
5. Ultrasonically synthesised microspheres for biomedical and Food industries with NIT Tiruchirapalli. UoM Academics: Muthupandian Ashokkumar
6. Functional Polymers via Ultrasound Assisted Polymerization; A Green Technology. UoM Academics: Prof. Greg Qiao and Prof. Muthupandian Ashokkumar; IIT Kharagpur: Prof. Nikhil Singha

Visit the SPARC webpage for a full list of successful proposals: https://sparc.iitkgp.ac.in/apProposal_list.php