Indian and Australian scientists will jointly undertake 13 new research projects.
Developing new batteries for electric vehicles, recycling of hazardous e-waste, method to manage wastewater discharged from ethanol distilleries, new vaccines against tuberculosis, etc will be the focus of some of the collaborative work.
The broad areas of research identified are environment science, materials science, stem cells and vaccines. The Australian and Indian Governments will support these projects as part of a joint multi-crore rupee program. A few workshops also will be organised.
An Australia-India Strategic Research Fund has been created for which the Australian Government has committed a total Fund of Australian $64 million.
For the current joint projects, Australia has committed Rs 23 crore . The Indian Government will fund the Indian teams’ participation.
In a press release, the Australian High Commissioner to India, Mr Peter Varghese said: “This program brings together leading scientists in both countries for truly world-class research. This is Australia’s largest science fund with any country and one of India’s largest sources of support for international science”.