UNSW Sydney and Manipal Academy Choose Inaugural Fund Recipients

Leaders of the two institutions revealed the first 10 schemes to obtain seed grants for joint research during a programme in Manipal

MUMBAI, Dec. 17: A scheme to enhance women's security in public zones and another searching for sustainability in the apparel industry are among the first schemes to obtain funds under the recently founded UNSW-Manipal Academy of Higher Education (MAHE) Collaborative Research Seed Funding Scheme. 

UNSW President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Ian Jacobs and Dr. Vinod Bhat, Vice-Chancellor of MAHE, revealed the 10 joint grant recipients during a programme in Manipal on Saturday.

Professor Jacobs observed: "I am excited by the potential of the MAHE-UNSW partnership. These new grants will help academics at both universities bring the collaboration to life. They will link brilliant minds to jointly address complex and important global research challenges."

Endorsing the opinion of the President of UNSW, Dr. H Vinod Bhat remarked, "The two-way engagement between the two premier institutes would transform the lives of the students' and academics, build capacity in higher education based on joint research, prepare them for a better future and promote strong India and Australia relations."

The seed funding project is component of the landmark association for education the two institutions revealed the previous year. The collaboration attempts to provide an improvement in articulation programs, pathways and grant revenue, while enhancing opportunity for knowledge exchange, visiting fellowships and staff career progress for students and staff from both institutions.

UNSW and MAHE together committed $AUD5 million of joint funding to 2025, to provide concrete results and guarantee the success of the collaboration.

The first round of the Research Seed Funds presents 10 grants worth a $20,000 each. The project was unveiled in August 2019 and attracted 44 UNSW-MAHE joint applications from across seven UNSW Faculties.

The 10 fruitful schemes are:

• Dr. Brian Lee, UNSW Built Environment and Professor Sanghamitra Roy, Manipal Faculty of Architecture, exploring ways of improving women's safety in public spaces.
• Dr. Vipul Agarwal, UNSW Engineering and Dr Manasa Nune, Manipal Institute of Regenerative Medicine, to research three-dimensional multifunctional nanofibrous scaffolds for nerve regeneration.
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow Lisa Dillon, UNSW Science and Professor G. Arun Maiya, Manipal College of Health Professions, to investigate the epidemiology of fall risk and visual deficits among older people with peripheral neuropathy associated with Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus.
• Dr. Mariano Ramirez, UNSW Built Environment and Dr. Veena Rao, Manipal Department of Design, for research exploring new business models to achieve sustainability within the apparel industry.
• Dr. Sridhar Ravi, UNSW Canberra and Dr Mohammed Zuber, Manipal Department of Aeronautical and Automobile Engineering, for bio-inspired solutions towards small scale flight.
• Dr. Peter Wich, UNSW Engineering and Professor Raghu Radhakrishnan Manipal College of Dental Sciences, for the development of novel anti-fibrotic nanoformulations for the treatment of oral submucous fibrosis.
• Dr. Pankaj Sharma, UNSW Science and Rajendra BV, Manipal Department of Physics, to develop lead-free wurtzite piezoelectrics for sustainable applications in energy harvesting and electronics.
• Dr. Anshu Gupta, UNSW Science and Debbijoy Bhattacharya, Manipal Center for Natural Sciences, for the study of relativistic jets powered by supermassive blackholes using multi-band observation and modelling.
• Dr. Naresh Kumar, UNSW Science and Dr. Bharath Prasad AS, Manipal School of Life Sciences, to explore the role of antimicrobials in inactivating/neutralizing the virulence factors of Pseudomonas aeruginosa responsible for delayed wound healing process.
• Professor Megan Lord, UNSW Engineering and Professor Ritu Raval, Manipal Department of Biotechnology, for understanding chitin-based biopolymers for drug delivery applications.

The UNSW-MAHE Landmark Partnership was founded in December 2018 during Vice-Chancellor Bhat's first visit to UNSW. This followed a visit to MAHE by UNSW Pro-Vice Chancellor International and CEO of UNSW Global, Mr. Laurie Pearcey and the Dean of UNSW Engineering Professor Mark Hoffman in July of the same year. During 2019, UNSW Faculty delegations visited MAHE on two occasions.

About University of New South Wales, Sydney

UNSW, Australia's global university positioned among the top 50 Universities in the globe, offers programs in engineering, business, law, architecture, art, and design, medicine and science. Situated in Sydney, a secure and student-friendly city, UNSW is home to over 52,000 students from approximately 130 nations. UNSW has been attracting an expanding number of meritorious Indian students for undergraduate and postgraduate studies.

As one of the globe's top research and teaching universities UNSW's advanced research and innovation facilitated by 3000 faculty is famous for acceptance and successful commercialisation.

By ANJISHNU BISWAS