A joint international conference co-led by the Research Institute for Healthcare Science (RHIS) at the University of Wolverhampton has boosted the exchange of biomedical research students from top Indian universities to study at the University of Wolverhampton.
The University hosted a joint online health research conference ‘Trends in Chemical, Nano and Synthetic Biology (ICCNSB) 2021’ with Vellore Institute of Technology (VIT) University and the Society of Synthetic and Chemical Biology (SCSB) last week, with an aim to showcase the opportunities available to students via the University’s Indian Research Student Exchange Scheme (IRSES) programme.
The IRSES programme is a research exchange initiative for top-grading undergraduate and MSc students to carry on their self-funded biomedicine-related exchange research studies at the Research Institute for Healthcare Science (RHIS) at the University of Wolverhampton.
Over 200 academics and students from India, Malaysia, Singapore, China and the UK attended the event which covered important areas of health research including drug design and delivery; cancer biology; pharmacology and toxicology; infectious diseases, molecular pathogenesis, and treatment strategies; and bioremediation, microbial and plant metabolites. Attendees heard from Professor Prashant Pillai, Associate Dean of Research in the Faculty of Science and Engineering and Professor Tracy Warr, Director of RIHS, and keynote and parallel presentations from a number of expert academics at the University.
A live-stream session showcased workshops and a live tour of the state-of-the-art laboratory facilities at University’s Rosalind Franklin Science building, attracting over one hundred prospective students seeking research exchange projects and postgraduate research opportunities.
Dr Vinodh Kannappan, Senior Scientist at the Experimental Cancer Therapeutics Research Group RIHS and the University’s spin out company Disulfican Ltd said: “In the last three and a half years, we have welcomed more than 25 IRSES students and 11 PhD/MPhil students from India, particularly from VIT.
“I’m so pleased that following this conference, to see many more Indian students have already applied to join the University of Wolverhampton for exchange study. This joint conference was a key step to the next stages of expansion of the programme to other Indian universities and research areas other than bio-sciences.”
Professor Weiguang Wang said: “Since the conference, many more Indian universities such as Amity Institute of Molecular Medicine, DG Vaishav College, Sri Shakthi Institute of Technology, University of Lucknow and SASTRA Institute joined the IRSES programme enabling more students from top Indian universities to study at the University of Wolverhampton. This will be a strong and sustainable win-win collaborative model between our University and the developing countries”.
Director of RIHS, Prof. Tracy Warr, added: “The IRSES programme has positively contributed to research in RIHS and many exchange students return to the University to enrol on full-time postgraduate research degrees. Showcasing our research capabilities to international students through this joint conference is pivotal in ensuring we maximise opportunities to increase our postgraduate research capacity in health research over the next ten years.”
During the conference, postgraduate research students from the University of Wolverhampton, VIT and many other Indian universities showcased their research and were presented with awards in recognition of their outstanding work.
