Initiative aims to boost links with India
Based in Dublin City University, the new Ireland India Institute will drive multi-tiered collaborations between Ireland and India.
Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw, Indian entrepreneur and founder, chairman and managing director of global biotechnology firm Biocon, is to be the institute’s patron.
Ms Mazumdar-Shaw said: “Contemporary Ireland and India face the same global challenges, issues such as healthcare, ageing and sustainability.
“The institute will help focus our joint efforts in achieving common solutions to these challenges. It will become a focal point for the study of contemporary India and a meeting place for all friends of India.”
The new institute’s initiatives will include an Ireland-India Research Fund supporting sustainable technologies, health and multiculturalism; scholarships for Indian scholars and researchers in their studies in Ireland; and an extensive seminar series.
Speaking at the launch, Minister for Education and Skills Ruairí Quinn said: “The establishment of this institute will see DCU host a national centre for the study of contemporary India.
“I have sought to drive the international agenda in our higher education institutions. I am delighted with this response to that drive,” he said.
President of Dublin City University Professor Brian MacCraith added: “On becoming president of DCU, I made engagement with contemporary India a strategic priority. Our faculty and researchers have made great strides in developing active research projects with our Indian partners in institutions such as IIT Madras, IISC Bangalore, JNU and IIT Delhi and others.”
The Ireland India Institute is to be hosted at DCU and is accessible online at www.irelandindiainstitute.ie
