The main objective of this joint project is to strengthen and expand the existing research collaborationbetween the partner institutions resulting in close ties in educational activities and increase in studentand staff mobility within the field of nanomaterials for clean energy applications.
Goal 1
Increased mobility of master students, Ph.D., research fellows and academic staff
Activities and measures:
Since the signing of MOU in 2011, supervision and fundings for Ph.D., scholars from CIT in the field ofnano materials have been provided by HIB. Two Ph.D., students from CIT have had research stays at HIB/UIB, and Professor DhayalanVelauthapillai from HIB has had several research stays at CIT. Under thiscollaborative project, we plan to increase the mobility both ways and the number of participants in theproject at both institutions.
Please refer to B.1.4 for the clarification of activities related to mobility.
Goal 2
Increased supervision of Master and Ph.D., students
Activities and measures:
Altogether five postgraduate (1 Ph.D., and 4 master) students from HIB and seven postgraduate (6 Ph.D.,and 1 master) students from CIT will be supervised by the joint supervision team from HIB, UIB and CITduring the project period and beyond. Ph.D., student at HIB has already enrolled formally, and the degreewill be accredited to UIB. Another master student at HIB and three Ph.D., scholars from CIT are alreadyselected to be included in this project. Further, three master students from HIB, three Ph.D., scholars andone master student from CIT will be selected in the spring and autumn of 2015.
The supervising team from HIB and UIB consists of:
From CIT the following staffs are attached to the supervising team:
The supervision will be done through research visits as both the staff and the students are intended tobe covered by the mobility program. We have also planned to have two-way staff visits every year inconnection with the joint workshops and international conferences. Both the master and Ph.D., candidateswill have at least one research stay of two months at the respective host institutions. In addition,Master and Ph.D., supervision will be carried out regularly through telephone calls, skype and mailcorrespondence.
Goal 3
Building and teaching a research-based course
Activities and measures:
Goal 4
Exchange of knowledge within nanomaterial research for clean energy applications
Activities and measures:
a) Joint workshops and conferences
HIB and CIT have experience in arranging joint conferences and workshops in the past. With theassistance from the NANO2021 program at the Norwegian Research Council and (Indian fundingorganizations DRDO, DST), HIB and CIT in association with collaborators from UiB, UiO, IFE jointlyarranged an International Conference on Nanomaterials for Frontier Applications and an Indo-Norwegian workshop on advanced nano materials for Solar Cell applications in India in July 2013
(www.icnfa2013.in). Another joint international conference is already arranged by HIB and CIT and willtake place in India in December, 2014 (www.icghia2014.in).
During the project period, following Indo-Norwegian seminars/workshops and international conferences will be arranged:
Funding
Part of the funding to arrange the Indo-Norwegian workshop in Bergen in March 2016 and March 2017will be provided by HIB, and these internal fundings related to hospitality expenditures are not included inthe budget proposal.
CIT and HIB will use their own fundings along with the support from research funding institutions in Indiain organising the two international conferences, ICNFA 2015 and ICNFA 2017 at a large scale as theprevious conferences were organised. In this INCP proposal, we apply only for funding to cover theparticipation of students and staff from HIB at these conferences. Thus, the total budget for organisingthe two conferences is not included in this proposal.
b) Joint dissemination
CIT will be responsible for developing and running the Web Site of the collaborative project, and theactivities related to the joint project will be published regularly.
One of our primary motives of the dissemination plan is to strengthen Norway’s and India’s positionin advanced materials in renewable energy research by communicating the research results to thescientific community, actively participating in national and international network building in the researchfield of next-generation solar cells, educating and informing the users and the public of the findings.
The research team from HIB and CIT has already a high scientific output in terms of publications inrecognized scientific journals, and will continue to strive for high-quality scientific publications also in thisproject (See attached CVs of the applicant and the research team).
Articles in popular science journals will also be published. Regular reporting to SIU and UGC will bedone by the respective institutions.
c) Collaborative research project applications
During the project period, the collaborators will work systematically on new joint research projectapplications and will strive to generate external fundings from Indian, Norwegian and European researchfunding institutions.