Conference program

Conference program details

View conference program sessions and speakers. Note some details are still to be confirmed and will be updated asap.

  • 9:00am – 9:10am

    Welcome by Prof (Ashok) Muthupandian Ashokkumar - Director Melbourne Global Centre (Delhi)

    9:10am –  9:35am

    Introductions

    9:35am – 9.55am

    Overview of MIPA and MIPA Recruitment Process including Discussion on Call for Proposals

    9.55am – 10:55am

    Brief Research pitches by UoM and Partner Institutions Senior Academics on Engineering, Medicine and Science

    10:55am – 11:20am

    Morning Tea

    11.20am – 12:20pm

    Small group discussion (Theme based)

    12:20pm – 1:30pm

    Lunch

    1:30pm – 3:00pm

    Visits to various departments and lab tours

    3:00pm – 5:00pm

    Free time

  • 9:00am – 11:45am

    Departmental Visits

    12:00 – 1:00pm

    Lunch

    1:00 – 2:00pm AEDT

    7:30 – 8:30am IST

    Plenary Session – Keynote Speakers

    1:00 – 1:10pm AEDT

    7:30 – 7:40am IST

    A/Prof Jagannath Aryal – Director of Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA)

    1:10 – 1:20pm AEDT

    7:40 – 7:50am IST

    Prof Bhattacharya Santanu – Director IISER Tirupati

    1:20 – 1:30pm AEDT

    7:50 – 8:00am IST

    Prof Debashish Chakravarty – IIT Kharagpur, Vice President (Online)

    1:30 – 1:40pm AEDT

    8:00 – 8:10am IST

    Prof Margie Danchin – Associate Dean, International (MDHS)

    1:40 – 1:50pm AEDT

    8:10 – 8:20am IST

    Prof Ramray Bhat – IISc Bangalore, Chair Office of International Relations (Online)

    1:50 – 2:00pm AEDT

    8:20 – 8:30am IST

    Short Break

    2:00 – 5:30pm AEDT

    8:30 – 11:30am IST

    Graduate Research Presentations Session 1
    Session Chair: Sai Vikas Kona

    2:00 – 2:10pm AEDT

    8:30 – 8:40am IST

    Zain Torres - Directional Spectra of Waves and of Wave-Breaking by Means of Explicit Measurements and Modelling

    2:10 – 2:20pm AEDT

    8:40 – 8:50am IST

    Hema Jha – Enthalpy generation during Hydrothermal Carbonization of Food Waste

    2:20 – 2:30pm AEDT

    8:50 – 9:00am IST

    Vivek Kumar Yadav – Causality in Hydrometeorological Systems: Process Understanding and Predictions

    2:30 – 2:40pm AEDT

    9:00 – 9:10am IST

    Kunwar Abhishek Singh (Online) – Towards Robust Monitoring of Turbidity in the Ungauged Urban Reaches of Downstream Ganges River, India, using Sentinel-2 and Machine Learning Approaches

    2:40 – 2:50pm AEDT

    9:10 – 9:20am IST

    Sumit Shankar Sarvankar - On the efficacy Of Riblets in mitigating losses due to wake induced transition over T106C blade

    2:50 – 3:00pm AEDT

    9:20 – 9:30am IST

    Subham Saha (Online) - Reconfigurable Resistive Switching in Halide Perovskite-based Memristors for Neuromorphic Computing

    3:00 – 3:20pm AEDT

    9:30 – 9:50am IST

    Networking break/afternoon tea

    3:20 – 4:20pm AEDT

    9:50 – 10:50am IST

    Graduate Research Presentations Session 2
    Session Chair: Shubham Verma

    3:20 – 3:30pm AEDT

    9:50 – 10:00am IST

    Mehdi Alam - Soft-rigid bonded granular mixes

    3:30 – 3:40pm AEDT

    10:00 – 10:10am IST

    Aditya Aditya (Online) - Vegetation Segmentation from Aerial LiDAR Point Clouds

    3:40 – 3:50pm AEDT

    10:10 – 10:20am IST

    Nimisha Kattumunda - Effect of activators on the performance of one-part alkali activated materials

    3:50 – 4:00pm AEDT

    10:20 – 10:30am IST

    Sri Priyanka Kommula (Online) - Data-Driven Rainwater Harvesting Site Selection: A Machine Learning Approach

    4:00 – 4:10pm AEDT

    10:30 –10:40am IST

    Sai Keertana Kappagantula (Online) - Charged low complexity protein regions regulate fungal pathogenesis in Cryptococcus neoformans

    4:10 – 4:20pm AEDT

    10:40 –10:50am IST

    Day 2: Concluding remark

  • 6:00pm – 9:00pm AEDT

    Conference Dinner

    Venue: the Upper East Room, University House, 53 Professors’ Walk, The University of Melbourne, Parkville VIC 3010

    How to get there: University House

    5:30pm – Doors open

    5:50pm – Bar ready for early arrivals

    6:15pm – Opening welcome: A/Prof Jagannath Aryal, Director, MIPA

    6:20pm – Dr Sushil Kumar, Consul General of India (Melbourne)

    6:30pm – Entree served

    6:50pm – Presentation from AICC: Nikita Chopra, CEO, AICC

    7:00pm – Singing Performance

    7:10pm – Main served

    7:20pm – Vote of Thanks, A/Prof Debnath Ghosal, Faculty Lead, MIPA (once main is served)

    8:00pm – Dessert served

    8:20pm – Tea and coffee served

    9:00pm – Event concludes

  • 9:00am – 11:45am

    Departmental Visits

    12:00-1:00pm AEDT

    Lunch

    1:00 -2:00pm AEDT

    7:30- 8:30am IST

    Plenary Session – Keynote Speakers

    1:00 – 1:10pm AEDT

    7:30 – 7:40am IST

    A/Prof Debnath Ghosal – MDHS Lead, Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA)

    1:10 – 1:20pm AEDT

    7:40 – 7:50am IST

    Prof Collette Boskovic – On behalf of Willa Huston, Science Lead, Melbourne India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA)

    1:20 – 1:30pm AEDT

    7:50 – 8:00am IST

    Dr Annapurna Devi Allu – Associate Dean of International Relations. IISER Tirupati

    1:30 – 1:40pm AEDT

    8:00 – 8:10am IST

    Prof (Ashok) Muthupandian Ashokkumar - Director Melbourne Global Centre (Delhi)

    1:40 – 1:50pm AEDT

    8:10 – 8:20am IST

    Dr Sreeparvathy Vijay – Assistant Professor at IIT Madras (Online)

    1:50 – 2:00pm AEDT

    8:20 – 8:30am IST

    Prof Stan Skafidas - Deputy Dean Engagement (Faculty of Engineering & Information Technology)

    2:00 – 3:00pm AEDT

    8:30 – 9:30am IST

    Graduate Research Presentations Session 3
    Session Chair: Nimisha Kattumunda

    2:00-2:10pm AEDT

    8:30-8:40am IST

    Sai Vikas Kona - Improving streamflow record reliability through heteroscedastic error modeling and detection of rating curve shifts

    2:10-2:20pm AEDT

    8:40-8:50am IST

    Susithra Sureshkumar - Cellulose Nanofiber-Based Gel Polymer Electrolytes: Influence of Functionalization on Ionic Conductivity for Na⁺ and Li⁺ Batteries

    2:20-2:30pm AEDT

    8:50-9:00am IST

    Poornima Posa (Online) - Evolving Spatiotemporal Dependence of Flood Extremes across Australia: A MaxStable Process Approach

    2:30-2:40pm AEDT

    9:00-9:10am IST

    Baral Joydeep (Online) - Minimal but mighty: structural and functional dissection of NHEJ in Mycobacterium tuberculosis

    2:40-2:50pm AEDT

    9:10-9:20am IST

    Dhiren Swain - Digitalization of Slum lands: Effects of Digitalization on the Community and State Spaces

    2:50-3:00pm AEDT

    9:20-9:30am IST

    Shilpa Koyyan (Online) - Assessing the transferability of L-band UAVSAR soil moisture retrieval parameters across agricultural crops

    3:00 - 3:20pm AEDT

    9:30 – 9:45am IST

    Networking break/Afternoon tea

    3:20–4.10pm AEDT

    9:50 – 10:20am IST

    Graduate Research Presentations Session 4
    Session Chair: Dhiren Swain

    3:20-3:30pm AEDT

    9:50-10:00am IST

    Srujan Shetty Kundapura - Ultrastructural Analysis of the Oral Microbiome Using Cryo-Electron Tomography

    Ankit Bhadouriya - Role of sea ice formation in the Antarctic Ocean boundary layer

    3:30-3:40pm AEDT

    10:00-10:10am IST

    Ashwani Kumar (Online) - Stride length estimation using UWB sensor aided by inertial sensors

    Srujan Shetty Kundapura - Ultrastructural Analysis of the Oral Microbiome Using Cryo-Electron Tomography

    3:40–  3:50pm AEDT

    10:10-10:20am IST

    Subham Verma - Oxygen facilitated visible light mediated Iniferter RAFT Polymerization

    3:50-4:00pm AEDT

    10:20-10:30am IST

    Shruti Agnihotri - Potential of electrospun PCL-PANI-Gelma Scaffold for osteogenic differentiation through electrical stimulation

    4:00-4:10pm AEDT

    10:30–10:40am IST

    Santanu Soe - The Golden Ratio Primal-Dual Algorithm with Adaptive Step-size Rule for Convex Concave Saddle Point Problem

    4:10 – 5:10pm AEDT

    10:40 –11:40am IST

    Panel Discussion on Professional Development

Download conference program PDF

First published on 3 November 2025.

Share this article

Keep reading