India and UK’s best scientists to make ‘game-changing ideas’ via new seed fund

India's best scientists are to collaborate with Imperial on ‘game-changing ideas’ supported by a new seed fund.

The India Connect Fund – launched by Imperial – will award grants for joint-projects between scientists in India and Imperial.

Imperial – a world top ten university and the UK’s leading university for research impact – hopes that the projects may lead to innovative ideas and breakthroughs in scientific discovery.

“Our new India Connect Fund looks to build on these strong ties by enabling the best scientists in India to work even more closely with colleagues at Imperial." Professor Ian Walmsley Provost, Imperial College London

The Fund is focused on projects that will benefit areas such as health, climate and sustainability and will see researchers in India and the UK join forces to tackle shared global challenges.

Professor Ian Walmsley, Provost of Imperial, who will launch the Fund at events in New Delhi and Bengaluru, said: “India is an incredibly exciting place for research and innovation, and a vital partner for UK scientists.

"Imperial’s researchers have co-authored more than 1,500 research papers in the last five years with our colleagues from almost 400 Indian universities and research institutes.

“Our new India Connect Fund looks to build on these strong ties by enabling the best scientists in India to work even more closely with colleagues at Imperial on cutting-edge research in health, climate and sustainability.”

The seed funding will support exploratory research, small-scale experiments or the development of prototypes, workshops and hackathons, and will enable the winning researchers and students to do exchanges to study and work at Imperial and partner institutes in India.

Each project will be led by a principal investigator based at the partner institution in India and one principal investigator based at Imperial.

Long-standing partners

Imperial College London is a global top 10 university, ranking sixth in the 2024 QS World University Rankings and eighth in the 2024 Times Higher Education World University Rankings.

India has been one of Imperial’s closest international partners for decades, with current research partners including the Indian Institute of Science Bangalore, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research.

Imperial scientists are working with academic, industry and government partners across a wide range of shared challenge areas, from developing next generation technologies for clean energy and co-producing policies for antimicrobial pollution, to training the next generation of infectious disease modelers. Last year, Imperial partnered with The George Institute for Global Health India to launch an ambitious NIHR Centre that is working with communities across India, Indonesia and Bangladesh to tackle challenges at the interface of non-communicable disease and environmental change.

Professor Walmsley added: “Imperial is proud to be home to a growing and thriving community of Indian students, alumni and researchers – with more than 800 Indian students based at our London campus. We also have more than 3,000 Indian alumni around the world who are making significant contributions to society and are a valued part of the Imperial community.”