Amrita signs MoUs with 2 UK-based institutions

: In a major boost to its ongoing research in Landslide Early Warning Systems (LEWS), multi-hazards, geo-hazards and community resilience, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham (Amrita) has signed Memorandums of Understanding (MoUs) with two UK based institutions.

The MoUs with King's College London and the British Geological Survey will give Amrita the much need fillip in its research and unravel many collaborative academic and research opportunities between India and the UK, a press release from Amrita said Tuesday.

The ongoing research collaborations between Amrita Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications (Amrita WNA) and the Department of Geography, KCL, has led to this initiative between the two universities.

King's College, London, is ranked as the eighth best university in the world and a MoU with them would allow Amrita to further explore and pursue deep collaborations like twinning arrangements and student/faculty exchanges in any of the academic disciplines available at both universities.

Another MoU was signed between Amrita and BGS to develop robust practices in the fields of earth sciences, mineral prospecting and disaster management, the release said.

BGS is a world-leading geological survey and UK's premier provider of objective and authoritative geoscientific data, information and knowledge.

Through this initiative, Amrita has become the first Indian University to have signed a MoU with the prestigious research institution, the release said.

Dr Maneesha V Ramesh, Dean, International Programs, AmritaVishwa Vidyapeetham, said such networking and cooperation opportunities are extremely valuable for sharing information on new approaches and resources but also acquiring specialized and new expertise.

Amrita's Vice Chancellor Dr Venkat Rangan aid these initiatives would pave the way for good quality collaborative research between the institutions.

Amrita got its recognition as the World Centre of Excellence for Landslide disaster reduction in the year 2017.

The Centre had received funding from the UK Natural Environment Research Council,Department for International Development, Science for Humanitarian Emergencies & Resilience programme for a landslide-research project called "Landslip" in collaboration with British Geological Survey, the UK Met Office and King's College, among other partners from India and the UK.

The main aim is to develop regional thresholds for landslide warning from the real-time data of Amrita's field deployments in the Himalayas and the Western Ghats, the release said.