Association between RMIT and IICT must venture towards multi-institutional

Hyderabad: Padma Shri Prof Goverdhan Mehta, University Distinguished Professor & Dr Kallam Anji Reddy Chair, University of Hyderabad, said the association between RMIT and IICT must venture towards multi-institutional and multinational cooperation.
As a chief guest, speaking at a two-day workshop “Creating Profound Impact Through Multidisciplinary Collaborations (CPIMC-2022)” organized as part of the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), Australia, and CSIR- Indian Institute of Chemical Technology (IICT) joint collaboration program held here on Monday, Prof Mehta said d “Chemistry must be a science for global sustainability. Engagement of Chemistry is essential for resilience, mitigation, decarbonization and sustainability.”
The Earth system is complexity ridden; its interconnectedness makes it resilient as well as vulnerable, seemingly trivial perturbations can lead to unexpectedly swift and profound outcomes, he reiterated.
Prof Mehta urged scientists to adopt new symbols – Su (Sustainability) and Id (Interdisciplinary) which together equal to Es (Elemental Stewardship) and Soc (Societal Connect) – in the ever-expanding canvas of chemistry.
Prof Calum J Drummond, Deputy Vice-Chancellor, RMIT University, Australia, said working with industry is the core idea of RMIT, which is similar to the central theme of CSIR. “Conduct of research is essential but it must benefit beyond and bring about economic utility, ‘ he said.
Prof Suresh K. Bhargava, Organizing Chair, Dean, RMIT University, Australia, on the occasion said the collaboration between the two institutes has been built on trust and mutual benefit. He also indicated that efforts will be made to extend this collaboration between Australia, India, Japan, and the United States.
Dr D Srinivasa Reddy, Director of CSIR-IICT and Program Convener, said “IICT and RMIT have been cherishing well established cooperation in terms of research and academic programs as well as cultural exchange.
As a part of this program, we made big progress with 33 Indian research scholars awarded Ph.D., more students enrolling for the sandwich program, 150 research papers published in international journals, 50 articles in various conference proceedings, and a few patents filed too.”
He said identifying new research areas and visiting postdoctoral students and faculty between the institutes can be the future step in the international collaboration.
While presenting the overview of the workshop, Dr S Sridhar, Chief Scientist of CSIR-IICT, said the present program is the second workshop held at CSIR-IICT, while the first one was held in 2018. (UNI)