Meeting between IIT Roorkee delegates & representatives of GFZ

On March 24th, 2023, a meeting was held between the IIT Roorkee Delegation and representatives from GFZ. The participants present from GFZ included Christine Bismuth, the Projects and International Office representative, Prof. Dr. Bruno Merz, the Head of Section 4.4 Hydrology, and Prof. Dr. Niels Hovius, the Head of Section 4.6 Geomorphology. The IIT Roorkee delegation consisted of Prof. K.K. Pant, the Director of IIT Roorkee, Prof. Vimal C. Srivastava, the Dean of International Relations, Prof. Ankit Agarwal, Assistant Professor in the Department of Hydrology and Co-PREPARE (PI) member, Prof. P. Arumugam, a Physics Professor, Dr. Ravikant Ranjan, the Executive Officer of International Relations, and Mr. Ravi Kumar, a Technical Project Assistant from the IR office.

The agenda for the meeting included a welcome and overview of GFZ and funding possibilities presented by Christine Bismuth. The participants then engaged in a common discussion on further cooperation activities. The IITR delegation briefed about the 175-year existence of IIT Roorkee, and Prof. Vimal C. Srivastava discussed international relations. The representatives from GFZ expressed their interest in collaborating with IIT Roorkee in the areas of sustainability, landslides and seismic hazards, water extremes and quality, and geodata science and AI&ML. Both parties agreed to hold a follow-up discussion during the IUGG conference in July 2023. It was also agreed that an Indo-German collaboration brainstorming session would be held either in Berlin or Roorkee.

The meeting ended on a positive note with both parties expressing their commitment towards further cooperation and partnership between IIT Roorkee and GFZ. The discussions and agreements made during the meeting are expected to lead to fruitful outcomes in the future, benefitting both institutions and contributing towards the development of science and technology in their respective countries.