South Asia
The University has a longstanding relationship with South Asia.
An early example of the University’s interest in South Asia is the work of Professor William Robertson, the University's Principal from 1762 to 1793.
Robertson’s work, ‘An Historical Disquisition Concerning the Knowledge which the Ancients had of India’, was published in 1791. It is one of the earliest European texts to take a serious interest in Indian commerce and culture.
By the nineteenth century the University had gained a strong reputation amongst Indian scholars, and Edinburgh was proud to honour its very first India graduate in 1876.
Centre for South Asian Studies
The Centre for South Asian Studies is the central academic unit in Scotland dedicated to the study of South Asia.
With 22 full-time associated staff, four honorary fellows, and 13 more staff affiliated across Scotland and northern Britain, it is one of the four leading centres for South Asian Studies in the UK.
The Centre maintains close links with Calcutta and Delhi Universities. It is working on funded projects in India, including education for the poor and understanding demographic change.
Global collaboration
The University has collaborative links with the University of Delhi, Calcutta University and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (TIFR).
The University is a member of the Research Consortium on Educational Outcomes and Poverty (RECOUP), a research partnership of seven institutions in the UK, Africa and South Asia. It studies the link between education and poverty in Ghana, Kenya, India, and Pakistan.
Through the Policy Innovation Systems for Clean Energy Security (PISCES) partnership we are working with organisations in Kenya, Tanzania, Sri Lanka and India to improve energy access and livelihoods in poor communities.
Other example of a current partnerships with Indian colleagues is our collaboration with Delhi University, and a Malaria-vaccine research link.
Exchange
We have a direct exchange link with the University of Delhi, and are partners in the Universitas 21 exchange network. We also have an exchange link with United Theological College, Bangalore.
Initiatives in India
ESRC Innogen Centre
Professor David Wield, Director of Innogen - our Centre for Social and Economic Research on Innovation in Genomics - collaborates with Professor Naushad Forbes, Director of Forbes Marshall - India's leading energy engineering firm - and Consulting Professor at Stanford University.
Their research on how companies in developing countries can improve technology management and become world leading has resulted in the book: “From Followers to Leaders: Managing Technology and Innovation”.
Other Innogen projects include investigating the organisation of HIV vaccine research, the role and impact of migration on knowledge diffusion in India, the changing global role of the Indian pharmaceutical industry and the impact and implications of new forms of agricultural research.
Mobile banking
Dr James Smith - Director of Developing Country Research in the Innogen Centre - has links with Microsoft India via a Microsoft Foundation-funded award winning project on mobile banking in Kenya.
Sterling Group
The University is a member of the Sterling group. The Sterling Group consists of research-led UK universities who share a commitment to international excellence in Engineering research and teaching.
UKIERI Awards
The UK-India Education and Research Initiative (UKIERI ) is a five-year programme that aims to substantially improve educational links between India and the UK.
Research projects funded by UKIERI
The University's Centre for Speech Technology Research was the recent recipient of a £150,000 award to collaborate with the Indian Institute of Technology, Guwahati for a study of speech synthesis and speaker recognition.
Professor Bernard Mulgrew from the University’s Institute for Digital Communications is collaborating with Professor Ganapati Panda - of the National Institute of Technology, Rourkela - on a biologically-inspired approach to distributed sensor signal processing.
Professor Asif Usmani, of the University's Centre for Fire Safety, is working with colleagues at the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore to carry out research on fire resistance and the repair of structures damaged by earthquakes.
- Centre for Fire Safety, Edinburgh
- Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee
- Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
This article was published on Sep 25, 2011