A delegation of researchers from York's Faculty of Science & Engineering will begin a nine-day mission to India today to establish partnerships and collaborations with the country's researchers.
The group will visit seven top-tier universities and research institutes during their trip. Along the way they will stop at the India Institute of Technology's facilities in Mumbai (Bombay) and Madras, the University of Calcutta, the Indian Space Research Organization, the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research together with visits to other institutes and universities during the nation-wide trip
“Our faculty considers international partnerships as the key cornerstone supporting our strategic 
priorities. Partnerships like those with India stimulate the spirit of innovation with clear focus on research outcomes that have an international impact,” says Janusz Kozinski (right), dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering at York University and a member of the delegation to India.
The key mandate for the trip is to enable researchers from York University and across India to establish joint bilateral research and development projects. Halfway through their trip, the York delegation will pause to participate in a two-day workshop co-sponsored by the International Science & Technology Partnerships Canada, Global Innovation & Technology Alliance, the Society for Applied Microwave Electronics Engineering & Research and India's Defence Research & Development Organisation (DRDO).
The workshop will bring together more than 100 participants from research institutes and universities from Canada and England, and will include researchers and university vice-chancellors from across India. Rajagopala Chidambaram, the principal scientific adviser to the government of India, and Vijay Kumar Saraswat, director-general of DRDO, the secretary of defence research and development and scientific adviser to Indian Defence Minister Raksha Mantri, are among the diginitaries participating in the workshop.
This workshop will give participants the opportunity to discuss advances and innovations in their respective areas of research, exchange information and ideas and create further opportunities to establish research collaborations. The gathering will be held at the DRDO building in New Dehli.
Travelling in the York University Science & Engineering delegation are:
- Gerald Audette, professor, Department of Chemistry;
- Sampa Bhadra, professor, Department of Physics & Astronomy and associate dean of academic affairs in the Faculty of Graduate Studies;
- Sunil Bisnath, professor, Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering;
- Andrew Eckford, professor, Department of Computer Science & Engineering
- Sheila Embleton, professor, Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
- Dasantila Golemi-Kotra, professor, Department of Chemistry;
- Jorg Grigull, professor, Department of Mathematics & Statistics;
- Paulina Karwowska-Desaulniers, research officer, Faculty of Science & Engineering;
- Janusz Kozinski, dean, Faculty of Science & Engineering and professor, Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering;
- Regina Lee, professor, Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering;
- Brian Solheim, adjunct professor, Department of Earth & Space Science and Engineering;
- Suraj Unniappan, professor, Department of Biology.
For more information about the trip and the York University Science & Engineering delegation, visit the Mission to India website.
York computer science Professor Andrew Eckford will be blogging about his experiences on the trip. Over the next 10 days, watch YFile for selections from Eckford's blog.