Recipients of second annual Strategic Partner Funds with AIIMS and IIT-D

20 January 2021

A total of 12 projects were awarded funding from two joint partner funds between UCL and partners in India

sunset traffic in New Delhi, tuc tuc cars on the road to the Presidential Residance.

12 projects have been awarded funding through the UCL-AIIMS and UCL-IIT Delhi Strategic Partner Funds. The two funding calls support collaborative and interdisciplinary education and research initiatives.

This year, 11 applications were received from UCL & AIIMS and 10 from UCL & IIT Delhi. Of these, each call awarded six successful projects £10,000. The proposals were assessed by selection panels chaired by UCL’s Pro-Vice-Provost for South Asia, Professor Monica Lakhanpaul.

She said: “Both panels received excellent proposals this year, across all fields including healthcare, engineering and sustainable development. UCL’s partnerships with both AIIMS, New Delhi and IIT Delhi have gone from strength to strength, and our annual joint funding schemes with these institutions have been an integral part of deepening those relationships.”

Both the UCL-AIIMS and UCL-IITD Strategic Partner Funds are in their second year. Last year, four projects were awarded funding under each call.

Congratulations to all the 2020-21 funding recipients and thank you to all applicants.

UCL-AIIMS Strategic Partner Fund recipients

Project	Research area	UCL PI	AIIMS, New Delhi PI
Exploring the electrophysiological signatures of essential tremor and essential tremor plus	Neuroscience	Professor Kailash P Bhatia, Department of Clinical and Movement Neurosciences	Dr Roopa Rajan, Deptartment of Neurology
Building evidence-based knowledge to address the mental health impact of COVID-19 in vulnerable and at-risk groups in India with a wider focus on South Asia	Mental health	Dr Preethy D'Souza, Institute of Education	Dr L. Gopichandran, College of Nursing
Development and optimization of cell-free bio-inks to generate 3D-printed implants for endochondral regeneration	Healthcare engineering	Dr Deepak Kalaskar, Division of Surgery and Interventional Science	Professor Sujata Mohanty, DBT Centre of Excellence Stem Cells Facility
Comparison of metabolomics profiles between patients with proliferative and membranous lupus nephritis in London and New Delhi	Rheumatology	Professor Anisur Rahman, Centre for Rheumatology Research Division of Medicine	Dr Ranjan Gupta, Deptartment of Rheumatology
Maternal and fetal outcomes after exposure to COVID-19 at various stages in pregnancy	Maternal and fetal health	Dr Sara Hillman, Institute for Women’s Health	Dr K Aparna Sharma, Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology
Effect of trans 4-BCCA upon epileptogenesis and neurodegenerative changes following status epilepticus	Pharmacology & neurology	Professor Matthew Walker, UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology	Dr. Sudhir Chandra Sarangi, Department of Pharmacology

UCL-IIT Delhi Strategic Partner Fund recipients

Project	Research area	UCL PI	IIT-D PI
Integrated sonomyography and soft haptics-based intuitive control of upper-extremity prosthetic devices	Healthcare engineering	Dr Helge Wurdemann, Department of Mechanical Engineering	Dr Biswarup Mukherjee, Centre for Biomedical Engineering
Development and impact assessment of TEG enabled cook-stoves in rural communities for sustainable environment	Sustainable environment	Dr Priti Parikh, Director of EFID Centre & Bartlett	Professor Virendra Kumar Vijay, Centre for Rural Development Technology
E-waste recycling: Development of green and sustainable technology for recovery of metals from electronic waste	Sustainable environment	Dr Vivek Dua, Department of Chemical Engineering	Professor Kamal Kishore, Department of Chemical Engineering
Learning based security of cyber-physical systems	Cyber Security	Professor Kai-Kit Wong, Chair in Wireless Communications	Dr Arpan Chattopadhyay, Department of Electrical Engineering
Vulnerability analysis of basalt fibre reinforced polymer-pre-stressed concrete integral bridge under dynamic live-loads, earthquakes, and diurnal temperature variations	Advanced materials & sustainable environment	Professor Dina D'Ayala, Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering	Professor Vasant A. Matsagar, Department of Civil Engineering
Making local knowledge matter for landslides and flooding preparedness	Sustainable environment & urban regeneration	Professor Muki Haklay, Department of Geography	Dr Manabendra Saharia, Department of Civil Engineering

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