Signing of the memorandum of understanding marks milestone in Canada-India relations
On November 6, a memorandum of understanding was signed between York and the Defence Research and Development Organization in India, which will facilitate collaborative research in the area of defence technology.
VK Saraswat of the DRDO and Robert Hache, York’s vp research and innovation, signed the MOU in the presence of Prime Minister Stephen Harper and India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
“It should make it easier for our colleagues to access research funding available in India for international partnerships,” writes Janusz A. Kozinski, dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering, in an email to Excalibur.
York will link its researchers with potential partners in India, fitting with Harper’s focus on strengthening bilateral relations during his India trip. However, it will be up to individual researchers whether they want to collaborate.
York will also not offer individual, stand-alone funding for research projects, Kozinski says.
Several collaborative projects are possible in areas like chemical-biological defense, advanced materials, and nanotechnology.
The DRDO, India’s military research and development agency, also funds much of the research done in top Indian universities.
“It’s important to clarify that India does not have an equivalent to the Canadian Tri-Council granting agencies,” writes Kozinski, referring to the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, which fund most of the research in Canadian universities.
Currently, York is not collaborating with DRDO on any projects, but a number of initiatives were discussed at two workshops in 2011, on which the MOU is based.
Kozinski mentions the Early Warning and Advance Response Network [e-WARN] project, designed to detect, identify, and neutralize chemical and biological agents released in public buildings. The e-WARN system would save lives in events like the Tokyo subway sarin attack in 1995.
In March 2011, the e-WARN response time was seven seconds. Researchers at York and DRDO both want to decrease this time by 0.5 to 1.5 seconds.
York and DRDO officials hope the MOU and future collaborations will benefit both nations in years to come.
Tamara Khandaker, Copy Editor
