34
Education
OCTOBER 2015
Monash University
Photo: eamon gallagher
Professor Mohan Krishnamoorthy
Hands
across
the
water
Overcoming challenges of distance, language and
discipline delivers a unique Australian–Indian collaboration
that benefits students and industry alike.
Words Bianca Nogrady
I
n an era when research collaboration is
greatly prized yet challenging to achieve, two
institutions have managed to overcome barriers
of distance, language and scientific disciplines to
establish a unique multidisciplinary, international,
cross-cultural collaboration that is tackling some of
the biggest scientific challenges of our time.
The IITB–Monash Research Academy is a joint
effort of the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay
and Monash University. The partnership has set
out to provide industry-focused, applied research
projects for PhD students in India.
The Academy’s inaugural chief executive,
Professor Mohan Krishnamoorthy from the Monash
Faculty of Engineering, says the strength of the
collaboration is its multidisciplinary nature.
“We have projects where we have a mathematician
working with a metallurgist, a biochemist working with
a hydrologist, or a chemical engineer working with a
biologist,” says Professor Krishnamoorthy, now Pro
Vice-Chancellor (industry partnerships) at Monash.
The project concept is central to each collaboration,
and is what attracts the primary investigators, industry
partners and students. Professor Krishnamoorthy
says this project-centred approach makes it easier for
multidisciplinary collaboration to occur.
The IITB-Monash Research Academy was
founded in 2007 and was led by Professor
Krishnamoorthy until June 2015 when Professor Murali
Sastry took over as CEO. To date, 12 PhD students
have graduated from the Academy with another 18
graduations imminent at time of going to press.
Significantly, a large number of the PhD projects
run under the auspices of the Academy have been
put forward by industry partners, which include
national and international companies such as Orica
Limited, BHP Billiton, global materials manufacturer
SABIC and Indian companies Infosys (business
systems), Reliance (materials, petrochemicals and
energy) and JSW (minerals and energy).