A new Australia-India Fellowship Fund will support more than eighty scientists from Australia and India to spend time at a research institution in the other country.

The program, supported by the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, a joint government initiative, will build stronger ties between the two research communities. Around 11 crore rupees has been committed to the fellowship program in its first year.

The program offers opportunities for promising researchers at the beginning of their careers. Sixteen young scientists from Australia and 21 from India have received early career Fellowships, which support stays in the other country for between 3 and 12 months.

11 senior Indian researchers and 33 Australians will receive Senior Visiting Fellowships, which support shorter visits of up to two weeks to strengthen existing collaboration and develop new links.

The projects areas include climate change impacts on dengue fever transmission, treatment and prevention of obesity and diabetes, drought tolerance in chickpeas and preventing degradation in solar cells.

“There is great potential for Australia and India to strengthen ties in science and research and address these common challenges together. The fellowship program is an important component of the knowledge partnership our two countries are building”, said Peter Varghese, Australian High Commissioner to India in a press release.

Indian researchers travelling to Australia will be hosted by some of Australia’s top universities and research institutes, including the Australian National University, CSIRO, Deakin University, Monash University, the University of Queensland, the University of Sydney and the University of Western Australia. Australians visiting India will be based at leading institutions including Jawaharlal Nehru University, the Indian Institute of Science, IIT Delhi and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

>somasekhar.m@thehindu.co.in

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