More Indo-French science collaborations for northeast

Kolkata, November 21: Working with India's leading research centres, the Indo-French Centre for the Promotion of Advanced Research (CEFIPRA) is seeking more scientific partnerships for the country's remote areas, particularly the northeastern states, an official said here Thursday.

CEFIPRA is India's first and France's only bilateral organisation, committed to promoting collaboration between the scientific communities of the two countries across the knowledge innovation chain. The centre, established in 1987, receives financial support from the department of science and technology under the central government, and the foreign affairs ministry of France.

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"We want to reach out to the remote corners now and we are trying to get northeast states to participate more," CEFIPRA council member A. Ajayaghosh, a CSIR-Outstanding scientist at the CSIR-NIIST Thiruvananthapuram, told IANS. CEFIPRA has 10 council members -- five each from France and India. Apart from funding studies in various scientific disciplines, it also organises exchange visits for Indian and French scientists, providing them an opportunity to work in French and Indian laboratories.

"We want students from the northeast to submit research proposals. There are a few projects from that area but there is a gap," A. Sathidevi, scientific officer of the centre, told IANS. "We will meet the representatives of various scientific institutions from the northeast here to find out why there is a gap and try to publicise our initiative," she said. The CEFIPRA is hosting a two-day outreach programme here.

IANS