Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy

Join a collaborative research project between Melbourne and an elite Indian research university

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.

The MIPA Conference 2023 has concluded but you can view the conference page for more information.

MIPA Report 2023

The Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy Report 2023 has been released.


Read messages from our Melbourne and India leadership teams, meet the PhD candidates, explore our summary activities, outreach, and conferencing, and a comprehensive list of publications from MIPA candidates 2019=2023.

Read the report

Delegates to the conference holding the new report

Our partner universities

There are currently five Indian universities partnering with the University of Melbourne to operate the Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy. Learn more about each university by following the links below.

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.

View all MIPA opportunities

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.

Read more

Meenakshi Arora with her trophy

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.

Find out more

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.

Associate Professor Meenakshi Arora
Surinder Singh Chuhaun

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.