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Kim Bredesen

Visual Intelligence builds bridges with Indian research communities

The delegation lasted from April 23rd to 27th and aimed to develop and strengthen existing and future collaborations between UiT and Indian universities and research institutions.

Visual Intelligence builds bridges with Indian research communities

We were happy to take part in UiT The Arctic University of Norway's delegation to India. The delegation lasted from April 23rd to 27th and aimed to develop and strengthen existing and future collaborations between UiT and Indian universities and research institutions.

Associate professor Elisabeth Wetzer participated on Visual Intelligence's behalf and got to visit the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi (IIT Delhi) and All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS). The delegation and IIT Delhi faculty discussed research overlaps between the institutions, resulting in the identification of multiple common and intersecting research interests.

Wetzer got an extensive tour at multiple labs by Dr. Atanendu Sekhar Mandal, which involved topics such as telecommunication, robotics, image processing, and AI.

Similarly to the IIT Delhi meeting, Wetzer and other UiT delegates visited AIIMS to discuss common research grounds and shared ideas on what UiT projects could benefit AIIMS and vice versa. AIIMS then gave the UiT delegation a tour to the Centre for Dental Education to learn more about a large digital pathology database and oral cancer detection system AIIMS are working on.

Wetzer presenting the UiT Machine Learning Group at the Norwegian embassy in India. Photo: UiT.

The delegation was then invited to the Royal Norwegian Embassy in India to present research projects through presentations and scientific panel discussions between UiT researchers. Wetzer gave participants an overview of research areas within UiT Machine Learning (ML) group, which was followed by a signing session of six Memorandums of Understanding between UiT and Indian universities later that evening.

Wetzer at a Memorandum of Understanding signing session with pro-rector Jan Gunnar Winther (2nd to the left). Photo: Cordian Riener.

On the 25th, the delegation split up to visit different collaborators across India. Wetzer headed to Kolkata and was welcomed by professors Ashis Kumar Dhara (NIT Durgapur) and  Sudipta Mukhopadhyay (IIT Kharagpur). She met several students at Mukhopadhyay's lab at the Department of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering at NIT Durgapur and gave a presentation about UiT, life in Tromsø, the ML group, VI and herself.

Wetzer visited the Department of Biotechnology to give a presentation at the Bioprocess and Bioproduct Development Laboratory on April 26th. The laboratory is involved in a large ongoing collaboration with UiT on Strategic Planning for Water Resources, Development and Implementation of Novel Biotechnical Treatment Solutions and Good Practices (SPRING). Wetzer, Mukhopadhyay, Sen and professor Ashis Kumar Dhara met with professor Debasish Chakravarty, the associate dean for alumni affairs and international relations, to discuss the possibility of an MoU and a student exchange agreement with UiT which is currently in the making.

Prof. Sudipta Mukhopadhyay and Prof. Ashis Kumar Dhara  and me at the Dept. of Electronics and Electrical Communication Engineering at IIT Kharagpur. Photo: Private.

The collaboration between UiT and Indian partners now involve fields such as energi technology, mathematics, machine learning, sustainable development and environment, aquaculture, and research on the Arctic and climate change. Visual Intelligence look forward to future collaborations with the Indian academic community.

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