India Connect Fund selects latest round of UK-India research projects

The latest recipients for a fund supporting high impact joint projects between Imperial and top Indian universities and institutes have been selected.

Ten projects bringing together researchers at Imperial and experts at top Indian institutions will benefit from the India Connect Fund – which supports co-created research across strategic areas within Emerging Technologies for Innovation, Climate and Sustainability, and Health.

The fund, now in its third year, was set up to support exploratory research, small-scale experiments or the development of prototypes, workshops and hackathons. It aims to enable researchers to take part in exchanges to work at Imperial and partner institutes in India, building on Imperial's longstanding connections with India.

The India Connect Fund will play a key role in meeting Imperial’s goals of deepening our scientific and technology relationships with India and strengthening the flow of ideas and talent between our two countries. Professor Sanjeev Gupta Academic Co-Director for Imperial Global India

This year’s joint projects have a focus on interdisciplinary research, bringing experts together to tackle real-world challenges which are relevant to India, the UK and the rest of the world.

Earlier this year, Imperial launched Imperial Global India – a new hub in Bengaluru which will strengthen scientific, education and innovation partnerships between India and the UK.

Professor Sanjeev Gupta, Academic Co-Director for Imperial Global India, said: “It is great to see this support for such exciting and innovative projects that will have high impact on society.

“The India Connect Fund will play a key role in meeting Imperial’s goals of deepening our scientific and technology relationships with India and strengthening the flow of ideas and talent between our two countries.

“We were impressed by the range of projects in this year’s applications, from robotics to climate mitigation strategies, which truly highlight the strength of collaborations between Imperial and Indian institutions.”

Imperial – ranked second best university in the world in the latest QS World University rankings – has more than 3,000 alumni in India and 840 current Indian students. The university also has research collaborations with more than 400 institutions across the country, with around 2,000 joint research publications over the last five years and a growing number of industry collaborations – such as Imperial and Tata Steel's Centre for Innovation in Sustainable Design and Manufacturing.

Nine different departments across Imperial are represented in the funding round, with researchers from the Faculty of Medicine, Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Natural Sciences and the Business School co-leading projects.

Unique projects

The India Connect Fund recipients for this year are working on research in a diverse range of areas, such as climate mitigation, digital health, and nanorobotics.

Some examples of the projects funded are:

• A highly interdisciplinary collaboration led by Professor Po-Heng Lee (Civil Engineering) and Professor Indajit Chakraborty (IIT Bombay) that uses Quantum computing tools for climate change adaptation in arid lands.
• Research led by Dr Claudia Contini (Life Sciences) and Professor Ambarish Ghosh (Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru) on engineering magnetically steerable synthetic cells which could allow for more precise control of cells for environmental and biomedical uses.
• A collaboration led by Professor Sunitha Pangala (Life Sciences) and Dr Monali Rahalkar (Maharashtra Association of Cultivation of Science, Pune - & NISER) on improving our understanding of how trees can act as a methane sink in ecosystems in Eastern India.
• AI for Healthcare research led by Professor Rafael Calvo (Dyson School of Design Engineering) and Professor Janakarajan Ramkumar (IIT Kanpur) on how to develop culturally sensitive conversational agents for healthcare to improve social integration of South Asian immigrants in the UK healthcare system.

The research projects selected also stretch across India, with collaborations taking place at institutions such as IIT Kanpur, the Indian Institute of Science, IIT Bombay, the George Institute for Global Health India, and the National Institute of Science Education and Research (NISER). Each project will be led by a principal investigator based at Imperial and a principal investigator based at a partner institution in India.

The full 10 recipients of the India Connect Fund are:

• Professor Rafael Calvo (Dyson School of Design Engineering) and Professor Janakarajan Ramkumar (IIT Kanpur) - 'Addressing social integration of South Asian immigrants through value-sensitive and culturally responsive healthcare conversational agents'
• Professor Po-Heng Lee (Civil Engineering) and Professor Indajit Chakraborty (IIT Bombay) - 'Plant–microbe–biochar crosstalk: quantum tools for climate adaptation in arid lands'
• Dr Mirabelle Muûls (Business School) and Professor Suryanarayana Doolla (IIT Bombay & MP Ensystems) - 'Regulatory sandbox on demand flexibility for developing data driven power sector reforms in India'
• Professor Sunitha Pangala (Life Sciences) and Dr Monali Rahalkar (Maharashtra Association of Cultivation of Science, Pune - & NISER) - 'Cultivating methane-removing microbes from trees: a UK–India partnership for climate mitigation, ecosystem restoration, and resilience'
• Dr Claudia Contini (Life Sciences) and Professor Ambarish Ghosh (Indian Institute of Science) - 'Synthetic cells–nanorobots for environmental and biomedical sensing'
• Dr Timothy Rawson (Infectious Disease) and Professor Nusrat Shafiq (Postgraduate Institute of Medical Education and Research, Chandigarh) - 'Development of a point-of-care, quantitative colistin assay to support real-time therapeutic drug monitoring'
• Dr Adria Junyent Ferre (Electrical and Electronic Engineering) and Professor Rajeev Kumar Singh (IIT (BHU) Varanasi) - 'Supporting low-voltage distribution systems using power electronics'
• Professor Niladri Banerjee (Physics) and Dr Karthik Raman (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Hyderabad) - 'Magnetic, superconducting and topological materials'
• Professor Martina Di Simplicio (Brain Sciences) and Professor Pallab Maulik (George Institute for Global Health India) - 'Developing a novel cross cultural brief intervention for dysregulated behaviours in young people that increase risk of mental disorders'
• Professor Julien Vermot (Bioengineering) and Professor Kundan Sengupta (IISER Pune) - 'Expansion microscopy for nuclear architecture visualisation'

Support for international collaborations

The wider Imperial Global Connect Fund is open all year round to applications from all Imperial staff who want to connect to India, Singapore, USA and West Africa. The fund provides opportunities for Imperial's community to establish impactful, long-term collaborations with global partners through the university's international hubs.

The fund supports the Imperial Global network, which has boosted Imperial’s presence in pivotal and emerging regions worldwide, fostering relations and establishing deep links between the university community and regional partners.

More information on the Imperial Global Connect Fund

Main image credit: Claudia Contini.