42 Indians win prestigious Endeavour Scholarships and Fellowships

Australia's High Commissioner to India, Patrick Suckling, today announced that 42 Indian students and researchers have won Endeavour scholarships or fellowships to study in Australia.

"I congratulate all 42 recipients, who will be part of the next generation of academic leaders in India. They have won these awards against extremely fierce international competition," Suckling said.

He added: "I'm pleased they will have the opportunity to build strong personal and research links with Australia and I'm confident these networks will continue long after the scholars have returned to India. This will reinforce our strong and enduring bilateral relationship."

One of the winners, Ms Ramya Puttegowda from the University of Mysore, said she was delighted to receive a fellowship to pursue post-doctoral research in physics at the University of Western Australia.

"I am overjoyed by this fellowship. It will be an important step towards my long term research career, and provide me with ample opportunities to interact with experts in my field in Australia and across the world," Puttegowda said.

Puttegowda's work will focus on polymer composites which could be used in renewable energy devices like solar cells.

"The University of Western Australia has highly specialised facilities and world leading experts in this area, and I look forward to collaborating with them to take my research further," Puttegowda said.

Each year, the Australian Government offers Australia Awards scholarships to high achieving students, researchers and professionals from around the world to study in Australia's world-class education institutions or undertake a professional development program. The scholarships are internationally-competitive and merit-based.

This year a total of 476 endeavour scholarships have been offered to international students and 150 to Australians to undertake study and research outside their home country.

The awardees will undertake study or research at vocational, postgraduate, and postdoctoral level or undertake professional development at some of Australia's most prestigious Universities in fields that include Science, Environment, Agriculture, Health, Engineering, Hospitality, Business, Education, Law, Regional Stability and Governance, and Creative Arts.