First on-line meeting of NTU-PU STPC identifies research areas for joint initiatives

Chandigarh: First on-line meeting was held at University Institute of Engineering and Technology(UIET), Panjab University (PU) with Nottingham Trent University (NTU)  with respect to taking forward the activities of the Science & Technology  Partnership Centre(STPC)  that was inaugurated at UIET on Feb 4th, 2020.  
 
The meeting with the objective of planning joint future research initiatives through the NTU-PU STPC   had presence of 11 faculty from NTU, led by Prof Clare Newstead, NTU Global-College International Manager and Prof Neil Mansfield, Head Engineering, College of S & T, and 10 faculty from Panjab University, guided by Professor Savita Gupta, Director UIET and Professor Rakesh Tuli, Senior Research Advisor, UIET  and had 3 hours of extensive discussion on priority areas. The Meeting was conducted in an elevator pitch style where each participant pitches his/her best ideas succinctly to meet the objectives of a meeting. This is like giving a quick persuasive briefing to colleagues, while spending one minute together in an elevator.  
 
The faculty in engineering and biology from the two universities (program attached) gave technical details of their dream areas for joint work. Some of the most promising areas that were identified for synergy in research included implantable medical devices, smart sensing prosthesis, wearable external devices, body part regeneration and engineering, systems biology and functional foods. Given the current limitations of physical co-activity, the Consultative Group will converge the twin-university teams around these subjects and conduct area specific on-line meetings through the next three months. The objective would be to build multi-disciplinary teams that would address complex problems in bio-engineering, initially through on line methods like collaborative meetings, data analytics, simulation and modelling through sharing of expertise and computational resources. Once the exchange of personnel becomes feasible, joint laboratory training and research will be taken up.

Participants from both the universities were extremely pleased that online tools were being very effective in bringing the sister institutes together in developing new ways of carrying out science and teaching globally.

In February 2020, an NTU sponsored STPC  was established at UIET in PU. The center is to promote academic excellence through sponsored joint research and student and faculty exchange visits. For three years, NTU has set aside seed funds to sponsor such programs. The first bursary scholarships for student visits had just been announced in February, when the universities closed due to breakdown of the Coronavirus pandemic.