A delegation from member countries of the European Union visited the Institute of life Sciences (IlS) here on Friday and interacted with the faculties for collaborative advanced research in the areas of biotechnology, health sciences and environmental issues.
First Counsellor and Head of Research & Innovation of European Union Tania Friederichs, who led the delegation, said the purpose of their visit was to identify research institutions with potential for carrying out cutting edge scientific research for partnering with the EU countries. The research focus should include high-quality science addressing local problems with global relevance, translational research and scientific exchange of students and faculties.
IlS Director Dr Ajay Parida in his presentation to the delegation refereed to the ongoing research at the institute focusing on cancer biology, infectious diseases and plant and environmental biotechnology. The IlS has established partnerships at local, national and international levels and would be happy to collaborate with the EU countries on specific problems requiring high scientific inputs, he said.
The EU delegation included representatives of the Embassies of Belgium, Sweden, Norway, Poland, Switzerland, France, Italy, Hungary and Denmark. These countries are implementing several programmes in India in partnership with the Government of India’s Department of Biotechnology.
The delegation held discussions with IlS scientists and complimented them for their research work and hoped that in the coming days collaborative efforts would be undertaken to develop bilateral and multicounty partnership research programmes, students’ exchanges and joint consultations for identifying research priorities. The delegation agreed to facilitate short-term visits of experts from the EU countries to the IlS.