The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bhubaneswar, in association with the Nottingham Trent University, UK, organised an international conference and workshop on “Embracing diversity in Asia through the adoption of inclusive open practices (DiversAsia)” on January 3.
The two-day international conference was inaugurated by Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities Department Principal Secretary, Bishnupada Sethi. Prof David Brown, Coordinator, Nottingham Trent University (NTU), UK; Prof Dinakar Pasla, Dean-Sponsored Research and Industrial Consultancy (SRIC), IIT, Bhubaneswar; Prof Subhransu Ranjan Samantaray, Head, School of Electrical Sciences, IIT Bhubaneswar and Dr M Sabarimalai Manikandan, Project Investigator of the Divers Asia project also graced the inaugural session.
Prof Dinakar delivered the welcome address and summarized the collaborative research activities. Sethi emphasised the Government policies and best practices adopted for ensuring social security and empowerment of persons with disabilities in Odisha. He appreciated IIT Bhubaneswar and the team of DiversAsia for taking up the initiative towards making higher education inclusive through the utilization of advanced assistive technology and artificial intelligence.
Prof Brown introduced the DiversAsia Project and the Toolkit.
Prof Samantaray stressed the development of technology for making higher education inclusive for the students having disabilities.
The event witnessed several sessions with the deliberations on inclusive education and assistive technologies, best practices and policies for higher education in India and outcomes of DiversAsia toolkit piloting.
