The Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA) is a joint initiative consisting of established researchers and joint PhD candidates from the University of Melbourne and a group of India’s elite research universities. Collaborative research teams from Melbourne and India are engaging in projects that address key issues in science and technology.
The MIPA joint PhD candidates working on these projects benefit from being part of a collaborative international research community. They will receive mentorship from global experts, learn how to adapt to new cultural and research environments, and gain access to the best facilities and resources from two universities. The MIPA bi-annual conference provides further opportunities for researchers to network, share knowledge and partake in professional development opportunities.

MIPAC-23: 15-17 November 2023 in Melbourne. Registrations open NOW.
The fourth MIPA Conference – MIPAC-23 – will take place on 16-17 November 2023 in Melbourne, with a pre-conference academic workshop on 15 November.
The two-day conference and the workshop will provide an excellent platform to expand your academic network and share your research with the elite research community from the University of Melbourne and the collaborating Indian Institutes of Technology: Kharagpur (IIT-KGP), Kanpur (IIT-K), Madras (IIT-M), the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore (IISc) and the Indian Institute of Education and Research Tirupati (IISERT). This diversity offers an enriching environment for the exchange of ideas and sparks multi-disciplinary collaborations. Registrations are now open, so please register and be part of this exciting opportunity to strengthen your existing collaborations and build some new ones.

Joint PhD opportunity
Extracting the semantics of places from natural language descriptions
The ability of artificial intelligence like Siri and Alexa to extract information from human speech has progressed tremendously in the last decades. However, challenges still remain. One such challenge is the difficulty for AI to process spatial language and contextualised language about places. For example, the phrase "at the back of the store" may appear clear to a human listener, but to an AI, such language is ambiguous. This project aims to investigate conversational patterns about places and represent them in a database so that we can ultimately further the development of artificial intelligence. To view this joint PhD opportunity (and others) in detail, click on the button below.
News
Director wins India Australia Business and Community Alliance Australia India Impact Award
MIPA Director Associate Professor Meenakshi Arora has been awarded the India Australia Business and Community Alliance (IABCA) Australia India Impact Award (Individual). IABCA is the largest platform that exists to strengthen the India-Australia relationship and contribute to its development through people-to-people links. The award acknowledges Associate Professor Arora’s work in developing collaborations between the University of Melbourne and India through her position as MIPA Director.


Project spotlight
Transport phenomenon of surface modified bimetallic nanoparticles
Nanoparticles are solid particles engineered to be the size of a molecule or an atom. They are useful in the field of nanotechnology, an advanced field of technology with many real-life applications. A bimetallic nanoparticle is a nanoparticle created from two different types of metals. This project examines the movement of bimetallic nanoparticles thorough porous media. Research outcomes will help scientists apply nanotechnology to environmental remediation, generating a tangible impact on our society.
Meet our directors
Associate Professor Meenakshi Arora is the current Director of the Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy. Her main research interests relate to urban water cycle modelling, water quality, contaminant transport modelling, and groundwater remediation. Associate professor Arora has made significant contributions in the area of water resource management, including the development of a cost-effective defluoridation plant to provide safe drinking water to communities in rural India. As a faculty member of the Department of Infrastructure Engineering at the University of Melbourne, she teaches a variety of subjects and supervises Masters and PhD candidates.


Dr Surinder Singh Chauhan is the Deputy Director of MIPA. Dr Chauhan has multinational experience in teaching and research in Veterinary and Animal Sciences, and has delivered his services successfully in Australia, India and USA. His research program strives to deliver solutions to promote sustainable, and efficient livestock production systems (cattle, sheep, goat, and pigs) capable of producing quality animal protein for the consumers.
Keep reading
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Joint PhD opportunities
See which joint PhD projects are currently open for enrolment in Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy joint PhD program.
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Find a supervisor or research project
Discover how to find a supervisor and learn how they can support your graduate research, or search available research projects.
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Life as a researcher
Read the stories of current and past graduate researchers. Find out about their experiences at the University and where their degrees have taken them.
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Research degrees
Become a graduate researcher at the University of Melbourne.