IIT Hyderabad to collaborate with four Japanese institutions on research in earthquake engineering

Hyderabad: Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad (IITH) to collaborate with four major institutions in Japan to boost research in earthquake engineering and provide joint doctoral programmes to students.

Professor BS Murty, Director of IIT Hyderabad, signed the MoUs with the institutions during his recent visit to Japan. According to him, this will be a significant boost to Indo-Japanese collaborations in academic and research areas.

Murty was in Japan for discussion on the Japanese Technical Cooperation Project for Smart Cities for Emerging Countries — based on sensing, network and big data analysis of Multimodal Regional Transport System. He also held talks with Nagoya Electric Works of Nihon University.

BS Murty said, “IIT Hyderabad has signed MoUs with educational institutions in Japan to have a joint supervision programme. Through the latter, research students from India can go to Japan to continue some part of their research in their institutions. IITH is also working to have a joint doctoral programme in the future, through which students will benefit from dual doctoral degrees from institutions in both countries.”

He added that it would also focus on faculty exchange programmes and scale the quality of research. “The MoUs with National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) will benefit students with fellowship. Meanwhile, MoU with Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Research Division (EDMRD) will develop technology for earthquake-resistant buildings. The overall purpose is to enhance the quality of research in the institute,” Murty said. NIMS and EDMRD are various institutes based out of Japan, which also included the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience (NIED).

IITH, in collaboration with EDMRD and NIED, aims to establish a high-level cooperative framework for both institutions in earthquake engineering, while focussing on numerical simulation. The institutions will organise joint research activities, faculty exchange, joint seminars, and internship opportunities in both countries, alongside other academic exchange programmes.

The two countries will exchange staff and students, plan and implement cooperative research projects and educational programmes, and exchange academic materials, publications and information as part of the collaboration with Japan’s Saitama University.

The MoU between the Electrical Engineering department in IIT Hyderabad and Shizuoka University foresees the initiation of a Doctoral Degree Sandwich Program (DDSP). Both institutions will offer this for their doctoral students, through which they can take up research activities in collaborating institutions. The DDSP students will be considered as ‘visiting students’ by the respective host institutions.

The institutions will undertake research collaboration, promote the exchange of personnel and institutional exchange of scientific and technical information, organise symposia, conference, workshops, and encourage joint research, under the MoU signed with NIMS.

IITH and Nihon University are now considering collaboration in video recognition technology.

The MoU with institutions include:

1. Earthquake Disaster Mitigation Research Division (EDMRD) and National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Resilience focussing on Earthquake Engineering

2. Graduate School of Science and Technology of Shizuoka University regarding the Doctoral Degree Sandwich Program

3. Saitama University concerning the academic exchange of faculty, students and implementation of cooperative research projects and educational programmes

4. National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS) for strengthening research collaboration