The Global Challenges Institute, to be established between India and the US, will not only work on cutting-edge research on complex issues plaguing the world but also “enable mobility of researchers and foreign educators”. The institute, which will function as a virtual network of partner universities, will work in the energy, healthcare and telecom sectors, said IIT-Kanpur director Prof Abhay Karandikar, who will be co-chairman of the institute. The research will be conducted in partner higher education institutions from both countries.
The initiative to set up the institute was announced last week when a joint statement was issued following a bilateral meeting between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and US President Joe Biden during the G20 leaders’ summit. An agreement was signed between Indian universities, represented by the Council of Indian Institute of Technology (IIT Council) and the Association of American Universities (AAU), to establish the India-US Global Challenges Institute.
In an interview with News18Prof Karandikar spoke about how the institute will work, what it means for India’s higher education and research culture, as well as the much-needed mobility of PhD fellows and foreign faculty. Fragments:
As head of IIT-Kanpur, you co-chair the Global Challenges Institute. What made IIT-K the first choice for this?
As co-chairman, I will represent not only the IITs but all higher education institutions in India. There have been several discussions between India and the US on cooperation in critical and emerging technologies such as semiconductors, sustainable agriculture, artificial intelligence and quantum science, among others. These collaborations take place at different levels – between government agencies, industry and academic institutions.
That is why the Ministry of Education established a task force, which I chaired, for international cooperation on cutting-edge research into complex problems currently facing the world, such as the recent Covid-19 pandemic. Also because at IIT-K we are working on setting up our own medical school for research and developing technology in this field, which is likely to happen in the next two years. When the Prime Minister visited the US in June this year, the intention to establish such an institute was announced. We have had discussions with the AAU to shape this. We want it to be a comprehensive institute, not just limited to IITs, but drawing expertise from all other institutions focusing on research in these areas. While many IITs, including Kanpur and Bombay, already have dual PhD programs with US universities, the idea for this kind of institute was to take research to the next level, consolidate all collaborations and work towards global impact.
There is a trend that even at top institutions, only a few students want to pursue full-time research or, even if they do want to, move to foreign universities. Will such an institute boost the research culture in India?
It is a common problem these days that students do not apply to PhD programs, and this applies not only to IITs and others, but even to American universities. This type of collaboration will certainly enable the mobility of PhD students, especially postdoctoral fellows, who can work in leading research laboratories and vice versa. If you participate in a dual PhD program, and even with this new partnership, we hope that students will spend half their time in India and the other half at American universities. They receive a diploma from both.
We think it will be a win-win situation for both that good students will have the opportunity to pursue their PhD there, and that we will have some of their best talent here. This collaboration will help nurture this talent pool. While it is true that we still need to motivate young and bright students to do research instead of immediately taking a job.
Indian institutions have also so far failed to get foreign teachers on board. Will this collaboration change the scenario?
With this collaboration we are committed to faculty mobility. They will be our collaborators, so they will spend a significant period of time in Indian universities. They will be our host faculty and can stay here for extended periods of time; it could be a semester or even a year or more. They could not only work on this joint research project, but also contribute to lecturing and teaching.
How will this institute work?
It will work as a virtual network of partner universities. There may be a secretariat or program management office in Delhi or other suitable location, while the AAU has an office in Washington DC. The institute will have a governing council, which will include members from both India and the US. Over the coming months we will deliberate on the themes and identify a number of leading institutions from both countries working in these areas that can act as a hub. To name a few, there may be institutions like the Indian Institute of Science in Bengaluru; then there are Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research (IISERs), IITs, IIITs, NITs, Delhi University and Jawaharlal Nehru University among others. These institutes and researchers will then write proposals, which, once approved, can be funded by agencies from India and the US. Currently, $10 million has been allocated to the Institute as a seed fund to kick-start research activities, but once actual research projects with results and milestones on any of these themes are formulated, further funding will be needed. The idea is that for each of these five broad themes we can have a number of multi-institutional and multi-faculty projects, where we can work on these problems, find solutions and have a global impact in frontline research and technology development.
Is there a timeline for when the institute will start functioning? What could be the initial project areas?
We will soon have the first meeting of the board of directors. In the next three months we hope to be able to carry out a number of research projects at some level. I think we can start with themes around energy, health and telecommunications.
In what ways can such a global institution help Indian higher education and research?
Nowadays, research has become interdisciplinary. This multi-institutional approach, in which different countries come together for research, is therefore desperately needed to solve complex problems around the world. No institution in the world can do this on its own; it will require multi-stakeholder efforts to find solutions to such challenges, be it climate change or a pandemic. We view this partnership as a mutually beneficial one as India is a leader in many areas, including cybersecurity and telecom, as well as in bio- and medical technology, where we have conducted cutting-edge research and can contribute important contribution.
