SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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Department of Mathematics, Physics and Chemical engineering; School of Engineering, Jönköping University:

Postal address: Avdelningen för Matematik, fysik och kemi, Ingenjörshögskolan, Box 1026, SE-551 11 Jönköping, Sweden
Visiting address: Gjuterigatan 5, Högskoleområdet, Hus E
Web page: http://hj.se/jth/om-oss/organisation/matematik-fysik-och-kemi.html

Contact person: Senior Lecturer Bo Nordström, Ph D; phone +46 (0)36 10 16 46

Cooperation project with India:

Bo Nordström and Vikram S Ghole.

A collaboration project has been established between Dr. Bo Nordström at the School of Engineering and the Dept. of Environmental Science at Pune University, India. The contact person on the Indian side is Prof. Vikram S. Ghole, Co-ordinator and Head Of the department.

Since 2003, the collaboration project has got financial support from the Swedish International Programme Office for Education and Training (Internationella programkontoret) in the form of Linnaeus-Palme International Exchange Programme grants. During the first phase it covered travel costs for Bo Nordström and Vikram S Ghole to plan for the project, but now it includes an intensive exchange of students and teachers between the two departments. The idea behind the collaboration is to stimulate the studies of environmental issues, to compare environmental problems and strategies how to tackle these. It is meant that students should be able to spend one semester in the other department, join courses and do field work.
The experiences are very good. Prof. Ghole has been active in widening the collaboration to other fields of studies, and the vice-chancellor of Pune University has met Bo Nordström and discussed the setting up of a formal MOU, Memorandum of Understanding, between the universities of Pune and Jönköping. And Prof. Ghole personally has been in touch with the School of Education and Communication (HLK) at Jönköping University.

Dr. Arundhati Vishwasrao (photo to the right) from the Department of Environmental Sciences in Pune has also been a frequent visiting lecturer to Jönköping. She is a researcher in Environmental Education, specialised in global survival issues (like water, ESD, biodiversity), and Intercultural teaching. She has established several academic contacts with Swedish colleagues both in Jönköping and other places.

Besides this, the Dept. of Chemical Technology was able to secure two Minor Field Studies for its students to carry out fieldwork in Pune during the Spring 2005, where they were supervised by Prof. Ghole. Finally Bo Nordström was asked to take part in the evaluation of a dissertation project in 2005 by one of Prof. Ghole’s doctoral students in Biochemistry at Pune University. A new batch of MFS students from Jönköping went to Pune in the Spring 2008.

In November 2007, SASNET’s Director Anna Lindberg and Deputy Director Lars Eklund visited Pune University. Prof. Ghole and Dr. Vishwarao were the hosts at the university, organising a meeting with faculty at the Dept. of Environmental Science, as well as facilitating a meeting with the Vice Chancellor. Read the SASNET Report from Pune University.

With the help from a SASNET planning grant for a guest lecture tour (more information), in March 2007 the department was able to invite Dr. Jayant Mahadev Doke from the Dept. of Environmental Sciences in Pune. Dr. Doke spent a week in Jönköping, lecturing on ”Environmental Challenges in India today”, ”Rural Development in India and the Role of BAIF in Pune”, and ”Spirulina Algae and their potentioal for Sewage clean-up”. As per the regulations of SASNET’s guest lecture programme grants, Dr. Doke also visited and lectured at another Swedish university/research institution, namely the Swedish Environmental Research Institute (IVL) in Göteborg.