The Ambassador of India visited TU Delft and joined our fall 2022 India on campus event

In the Echo Arena, students and researchers interested in India-TU Delft collaborations gathered to exchange and learn more about each other’s current endeavors. TU Delft University Ambassador India, Prof. dr. Jenny Dankelman opened the event and shared information on our large Indian student and researcher community, current partners in India and TU Delft’s interest in strengthening our collaborations in India. 

H.E. Mrs. Reenat Sandhu, the Ambassador of India to the Kingdom of the Netherlands elaborated on the strength of Indo-Dutch ties and indicated the need for collaboration on important global challenges, such as climate, energy, and water. She highlighted the current Indo-Dutch WAH! (water, agriculture, health and key emerging technologies) shared research and technology agenda.  

Prof. Dankelman’s group in the Biomechanical Engineering Department is also working on various projects in India like the 100$ 3D printed hand, affordable and reusable steerable laparoscopic instruments and cleaning and sterilisation of these laparoscopic instruments.

Prof. P.V. Aravind then described the ambitions of the Climate Neutral Coffee project in Wayanad, Kerala. Their farmer first approach aims to combine emission reduction efforts with income generation for farmers.

PhD candidate Rohan Varma detailed the long-standing collaborations between TU Delft’s Architecture Department and various partners in India, such as the exposition Charles Correa’s Built & Unbuilt Designs for Housing, Global Housing Design MOOC, and Global Housing Studios in India. 

Dr. Ranga Rao Venkatesha Prasad detailed the work being done between TU Delft and India on Next-Generation Networking Systems. Projects include a tactile robotic hand, the Standard Positioning System TU Delft provided in ISRO satellites, and an Omnidirectional Balloon-Drone Hybrid for emergency communications. 

Dr. Taneha Bacchin presented on the Indo-Dutch consortium project Water 4 Change on integrative and fit-for-purpose water sensitive design and governance for fast growing liveable cities. The project is producing case studies on the cities of Bhopal, Bhuj and Kozhikode and promotes learning alliances, participation and experience for equitable, inclusive and adaptive regeneration of urban water systems.  

Students from the Lunar Zebro lunar rover project were also able to show an example rover to the Ambassador and discuss the large-scale project with colleagues. The event ended with an Indian snack and networking time.