University of Melbourne-Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Workshop

3 Minute read

June 25th, 2021

In early 2021 the Indian Institute of Science (IISc) signed a joint PhD agreement with the University of Melbourne, as part of the Melbourne-India Postgraduate Academy (MIPA). Under this partnership, IISc and University of Melbourne agreed to support up to 10 joint PhD candidates each year for the next five years.

To kick start this collaboration, a Zoom workshop was held 2 June 2021 to discuss opportunities for collaboration through recruitment of joint PhD students in areas of mutual interest. The workshop attracted 47 participants from both institutions and across seven disciplines, including chemistry, mechanical engineering, computing and information systems, biological/medical sciences, civil/transport engineering, design and architecture and agricultural sciences.

A/Prof Meenakshi Arora, Director MIPA, introduced the MIPA program to academics and facilitated the interactions between academics from both universities.  Prof Praveen Kumar from IISc provided an overview of IISc, its research focus and specific eligibility requirements for MIPA for IISc candidates.

The faculties of Science and Engineering and IT were represented by A/Prof Alex Johnson and Prof Shanton Chang respectively who shared their vision for the future of the collaboration and confirmed the faculty’s strong support for the program.

While current collaborations in engineering and science are well established, there is an increase in interest from the biomedical sciences disciplines to engage and establish formal collaborations between the two institutions.

There is also a potential for interdisciplinary collaboration between architecture and design and the design school at IISc which has research groups with expertise in the built environment and civil engineering which would enhance research projects focusing on design solutions.

A very positive outcome of the workshop is the continued development of relations between the two institutions and discussions on new projects and potential PhD candidates to join the program.

Further information on the collaboration is available from jointphd-admin@unimelb.edu.au