SWEDISH SOUTH ASIAN STUDIES NETWORK

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SASNET in Stockholm and Västerås, 15–16 June 2009

Stockholm

From left to right: Ramon Wyss, Göran Baurne, Anna Lindberg and Prosun Bhattacharya.

Anna Lindberg and Lars Eklund from SASNET visited Stockholm on Monday 15 June 2009. The visit was part of SASNET’s efforts to secure funding for the Swedish South Asian Studies Network after 31 December 2009, when the current funding period ends. Since its inception in the year 2000, SASNET has been jointly funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida, and Lund University, but from next year Sida’s contribution will most probably go down. Therefore a new model has to be found for the continued running of SASNET.
A working group, consisting of members of SASNET’s board, has worked over the last year to develop a new strategy, and contacts have been initiated with other Swedish universities to possibly increase their direct involvement in the network.
In Stockholm, Anna and Lars had a meeting with representatives of the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH), and INSTEC, the Swedish network for Indo-Swedish Cooperation on Technical Research and Education. The meeting was held at KTH, where Anna and Lars met with Prof. Ramon Wyss, recently appointed new Vice Rector for International Affairs at KTH; Prof. Prosun Bhattacharya, member of SASNET’s board; and Prof. Göran Baurne, coordinator of INSTEC. Fruitful discussions were held regarding possible forms of collaboration in order to secure the continuation of SASNET’s networking activities with Swedish and South Asian partners.

Researchers and students at the department. From left to right: PhD Candidate Mohammed Hossain, University of Dhaka; Prof. Prosun Bhattacharya; and the Linnaeus Palme exchange programme scholarship students Sarmin Sultana and Mokleksur Rahman, both from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

After the meeting, Lars and Anna joined Prof. Bhattacharya to visit his department, the Dept. of Land and Water Resources Engineering, where he is heads the KTH International Groundwater Arsenic Research Group (GARG) that carries out impressive research work in collaboration with partners in India, Bangladesh and Pakistan. Several KTH researchers are involved in such water related projects and there are always a number of guest researchers and students from South Asia at the department. We were able to meet a few of them, PhD Candidate Mohammed Hossain, and the Linnaeus Palme exchange programme scholarship students Sarmin Sultana and Mokleksur Rahman, all from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh.

While at KTH, Anna and Lars took the opportunity to meet one of the many other KTH researchers involved in South Asia related research. A typical networking visit by SASNET’s staff to members of the network. Associate Professor Hans Bodén (photo to the left) at the Marcus Wallenberg Laboratory for Sound and Vibration Research (MWL), a unit within the KTH Department of Aeronautical and Vehicle Engineering, met us at his office, and later took us for a guided tour in the laboratories. Dr. Bodén is involved in a research collaboration project with the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) in Dhaka. The project deals with environmental noise impact in Dhaka and is funded by agrant from the Swedish Research Links programme (funded by Sida and the Swedish Research Council). Dr. Bodén took over the responsibility for this collaboration project from Associate Professor Shafiquzzaman Khan who left the department in 2008. In April 2009, Hans Bodén visited Dhaka and discussed setting up joint courses with the contact person on the Bangladeshi side, Dr. Mahbub Razzak at BUET. More information.

In the afternoon, Anna and Lars visited Sida and had a meeting with Mr. Jan Essner, Deputy Head of the Asia Division within Sida, and a member of SASNET’s board during the period 2001–06. Jan Essner has been involved in the development of SASNET ever since the idea to establish a Swedish South Asian Studies Network first came up in the late 1990s as a result of the Swedish government’s strategy to broaden and strengthen relations with South Asia. We now had a constructive discussion on which different options are available to secure funding from various sources for SASNET from 2010 onwards.

Visit to Mälardalen University, Campus Västerås

The following day, Tuesday 16 June 2009, Lars Eklund went on another networking contact tour to Mälardalen University (Mälardalens Högskola) and its Västerås campus – the other campus being in Eskilstuna. Lars was invited to Mälardalen University by Prof. Sasikumar Punnekkat from the School of Innovation, Design and Engineering. Prof. Punnekkat is the coordinator of the Erasmus Mundus External Cooperation Window (EMECW) programme entitled EURECA (European Research and Collaboration Project with Asia), that Mälardalen University administers since 2008.
The EURECA project (lot No. 12 in the 2008 announcement of EMECW programmes) is run by a consortium comprising of 16 universities, eight in Europe and eight in South Asia – out of which 4 are in India, and 1 each in Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka. Uppsala University is another Swedish member of the consortium.
The South Asian universities within the consortium are Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University in Coimbatore; Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Kerala (IIITM-K) in Thiruvananthapuram; Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Kanpur; XLRI School of Business & Human Resources in Jamshedpur; Institute of Engineering at Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu, Nepal; Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS), Pakistan; and University of Colombo, Sri Lanka. The mobility flow consists of 320 fully funded students, researchers and academic staff per year. More information at the EURECA web page.
A few days after Lars visit to Västerås it became clear that the EURECA consortium led by Mälardalen University will not get continued funding for the coming years, but the mobility that has already started during 2008/09 is however in full swing. Many students and researchers from the partner universities in India, Pakistan, Nepal and Sri Lanka have arrived to Västerås where they have joined courses and programmes. (Photo to the right: Prof. Punnekkat with EURECA students at his department).
The School of Innovation, Design and Engineering has also other connection to South Asia, especially India. A top-talent program in Software Engineering for Indian students with scholarships was introduced in the Fall 2008, and the School has an extensive collaboration, including a Linnaeus Palme project, with Welingkar Institute of Management Development and Research in Mumbai and Bangalore.
Besides, Prof. Punnekkat is also involved in the Sustainable Kerala Network group, formed in early 2009.

A meeting was organised by Prof. Punnekkat, to which several of the South Asian researchers were invited along with staff from the university. Lars was given the opportunity to present SASNET and what the network may offer to Mälardalen University, and the participants informed about their respective research areas connected to South Asia.
Participants:
• Prof. Sasikumar Punnekkat, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering
• Associate Professor Michaël Le Duc, School of Business, Mälardalen University. Working on courses in IT Management and International Marketing. Interested in Asian Philosophy, and tries to include this in the management training.
• Ms. Malin Rosqvist, Research Coordinator, School of Innovation, Design and Engineering
• PhD Candidate Prafulla Acharya, International Coordinator, Mälardalen University. Has sent a PhD proposal to a British university to carry out a project on Indian Values.
• PhD Candidate Fahad Javed, Lahore University of Management Studies, Pakistan. Working on a project regarding sustainable technology.
• Dr. Senthil Kumar Chandran, Indian Atomic Energy Regulatory Board, Government of India. Presently on a one-year post-doctoral fellowship under EURECA scheme at Mälardalen University in the area of software reliability for safety critical systems.
• Radhamani Pillay, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham University
• Anju S Pillai
• Jessy Parokaran Varghese
• Abhilash Thekilakkattil
• Pradeep Pookot

After a good meeting, Prof. Punnekkat was kind enough to take Lars for a sightseeing tour to Västerås, to see the Cathedral with the tomb of King Erik XIV, the beautiful houses along the river Svartån, and Vasaparken with its famous tree hotel (Hotell Hackspett) located 13 metres up in the crown of a big tree.