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President's India visit cements ties with HE institutions and industry

29 Sep 2022

President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Nancy Rothwell is visiting India with a senior delegation from all three of our Faculties

India delegation visit

Building on her previous pre-pandemic visit in 2019, the aim is to develop existing ties with India and to explore new areas of joint collaboration in education, research and innovation. The visit underlines the key role of India to Manchester’s ambition to develop global solutions to global problems by collaborating with the brightest and best around the world.

Professor Rothwell said: "This is such an exciting time to be in India as the possibilities of international travel open up again.Whilst we’ve maintained and grown our links virtually over the pandemic period, there is nothing like the face-to-face contact of a visit to stimulate collaboration."

The delegation visited the Tata Medical Centre and Tata Cancer Research Centre in Kolkata (pictured above) which, along with IIT Kharagpur, has seen our University contribute to the development of cancer research and treatment in India.

Moving on to Bangalore, the delegation are attending the National Centre for Biological Sciences to build on links in areas such as stem cell research, exploring new areas of collaboration including infectious disease and vaccine development. While in the city considered to be the centre of India's hi-tech industry, Professor Rothwell will launch a new joint doctoral degree programme with IISc Bangalore, a first for a UK HEI. The agreement will see mobility of students between Bangalore and Manchester and will forge strong ties between the two institutions, with potential to increase funding and impact on both sides.

Professor Rothwell continued: "I am particularly pleased be able to launch a new Joint PhD programme with IISc Bangalore, the first if its kind with a UK institution. This agreement will allow for our academic links to grow a long term partnership, a key component of which will be the development of new technologies for industrial development in the UK and India." 

The group are also meeting with industrial titans Tata Group and Reliance Industries to explore new areas of translational research, drawing on Manchester’s key strengths in 2D materials, including Graphene, Industrial Biotechnology, Clean Energy and Environmental Science.