India, UK scientists form consortium to solve environment problems

Scientists from India and the United Kingdom (UK) have formed the Innovation and Sustainability Chemistry Consortium, which aims to bring together scientists from both countries to solve challenging sustainability problems pertaining to the environment or industries

Scientists from India and the United Kingdom (UK) have formed the Innovation and Sustainability Chemistry Consortium, which aims to bring together scientists from both countries to solve challenging sustainability problems pertaining to the environment or industries. The consortium aims to start taking up projects from April this year.

HT Image

On February 26, led by the Institute of Chemical Technology (ICT), Mumbai, a consortium of 14 scientists — seven each from India and UK— was officially launched. It has received a seed fund of £100,000 from UK’s department of business energy and industrial safety. Founding member of the consortium and assistant professor at ICT Anant Kapdi said, “The aim of the consortium is to establish research collaborations to tackle fundamental questions with potential commercial applications; promote academia-industry partnerships to solve key problems associated with current chemical process developments, optimisations, environmental remediations; as well as the proliferation of future technologies and conduct outreach programs using virtual reality to spread scientific awareness, encourage mentorship and training of early-career scientists and wider audiences.”

The seven scientists from India are from institutes such as the Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research, Pune, and Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai.

“We are spanning areas such as environment, future technologies, flow chemistry, electrochemistry, sustainable material and technologies, alternative and efficient synthetic pathways. Some of the selected members also have extensive experience collaborating with industries and would be beneficial in creating a conducive environment for promoting more such interactions,” said Kapdi.

Kapdi said the consortium expected to be “ completely functional” by April and would take up projects related to challenges associated with academia and industry. “This is a first of its kind in India and would promote a more conducive dialogue between academia and industry. Mentoring the next generation to further proliferate this idea along with the sustainability goals would be achieved as a part of the consortium,” he said.