environmental geochemistry – The KGP Chronicle

International Workshop on Biodiversity & Climate Change

We are the first generation to feel the impact of climate change and we are the last generation that can do something about it. We only get one home, one planet, there is no plan B. The climate has changed, we have changed, our tolerance and habits have changed. Biodiversity is our most valuable asset but least appreciated resource. Despite our many advances, our environment is still threatened by a range of problems including global climate change, energy dependency on unsustainable fossil fuels and loss of biodiversity. Therefore, there is a need to create an awareness about maintaining ecology among the masses and address the graving concerns that pose a threat to the natural habit of human beings.

On the lines of creating awareness about biodiversity and climate change, the 3^rd International Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Change (BDCC-2023) was organized by the Centre for Ocean, River, Atmosphere, and Land Sciences (CORAL) at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur on the rising diminishment over ecological disruptions. The four-day programme including field trips to Sundarbans and Similipal Biosphere Reserve was attended by over 230 participants who arrived at the IIT Kharagpur campus on 15^th February. The Inaugural session was organized at Kalidas Auditorium on 17^th February 2023 in the august presence by eminent Professors and Scientists comprising of Dr. M Mohapatra, Director General of Meteorology, IMD; Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. V P Singh, Texas A&M University, USA; Dr. S Behera, Director of Application Laboratory, JAMSTEC, Japan; Prof. B Pani, Dean of Colleges, University of Delhi; Dr. T Meloth, Director, NCPOR, MoES; Prof. S K Dube, Former Director, IIT Kharagpur; Prof. K Kumar, Chairman CORAL and Prof. M D Behera, Organizing Secretary BDCC – 2023.

Prof. K Kumar, Chairman of BDCC-2023 welcomed the delegates on the dias, followed by lighting of the auspicious lamp by Dr. M Mohapatra and Prof V K Tewari in the presence of other dignitaries followed by a recitation of national anthem by a few students from Kendriya Vidyalaya, IIT Kharagpur. Dr. M D Behera, the Organizing Secretary provided an overview of the event with connection to the past two BDCC workshops and highlighted on the GOI Net Zero targets and nature-based climate solutions.

Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur remarked, “If we look at the nature closely, every species is a masterpiece, exquisitely adapted to the particular environment in which it has has survived. I feel honored and proud to witness the 3rd International Workshop on Biodiversity and Climate Change (BDCC-2023) organized by CORAL at IIT Kharagpur. Biodiversity forms the backbone of any Nation’s prosperity and development. India is bestowed with immense biological wealth in its different habitats and they provide various ecosystem services like carbon sequestration, food provision etc. However, with climate change crisis exacerbating biodiversity losses and shifts in ecosystems dynamics, it is the need of the hour to adopt multifaceted mitigation and adaptation measures for ecosystem restoration and sustainable development.”

Prof. S K Dube deliberated on the genesis of CORAL and its journey in the frontier era of climate change education and research. Prof. B Pani explained the compliance of the National Education Policy with climate studies, while Dr. T Meloth appraised on climate change footprints on the 3^rd pole. Dr. S Behera emphasized on the prediction of monsoon and its impact on the economy in terms of crop yield and diseases like malaria. Prof. V P Singh highlighted the importance of water resources and its conservation in the era of changing climate. A pheno-meteorological observation tower installed in Similipal Biosphere Reserve was e-inaugurated by Dr. M Mohapatra in presence of Prof. V K Tewari; Dr. B K Bhattacharya and Dr. C P Singh, Scientists from Space Application Centre (SAC-ISRO), Ahmedabad.

The workshop started with four tutorials including (i) Species Distribution Modelling (SDM) using Machine Learning (ML), (ii) Soft Techniques in Environmental Geochemistry and Sediment Analysis, (iii) Geomatics and Data Analytics using Open Source – Google Earth Engine (GEE), and (iv) A Hierarchy of Glacier Models on 16^th February with hands-on training by the Research Scholars of CORAL. Participants including students and young scientists from various international, national, and state institutes also attended the tutorials.

India is a very committed towards tackling the effects of climate change and has promoted and enacted various initiatives. India has tapped the potential of nature-based solutions to achieve net zero targets and uphold its commitment to the Paris Agreement. India’s commitment towards achieving Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs) of creating an additional carbon sink of 2.5 to 3 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalents through additional forest and tree cover, Mission LiFE, Honourable Prime Minister’s ‘Panchamrit’ or five-fold declarations project our stance for circular and sustainable economic development,” remarked Prof. V K Tewari, Director, IIT Kharagpur.

The workshop accommodated seven technical sessions such as Biodiversity and Land Cover Dynamics; Geomatics and Data Analytics; Forest and Agricultural Resource & Biotechnology; Extreme Weather Events and Natural Hazards; Global Cryosphere and The Himalayas; Biogeochemistry- Terrestrial and Marine; Nature-based Solution and Net-Zero Targets. The technical sessions were conducted in parallel in three halls with three keynote talks in each technical session by eminent scientists, who also co-chaired the sessions.

The first plenary session was chaired by Prof V P Singh, wherein Dr. M Mohapatra, Mr. D Ray, PCCF and CWLW, WB state and Dr. S Behera talked on ‘Climate Change and Extreme Weather Events’, ‘Climate threats to Sunderbans Mangroves’ and ‘Monsoon Climate and Food Security’ respectively. The plenary session-II was chaired by Prof B Pani, wherein Dr. E Sharma, Ex-DDG, ICIMOD and Dr. T Meloth and Dr. C Biradar, Country Director, CIFOR-ICRAF, Delhi talked on ‘Himalayan responses to changing climate’, ‘Climatic responses of polar regions’, and ‘Agroforestry interventions towards food security in the warming world’. The plenary session-III was chaired by Prof. S K Dube, wherein Dr. S Nayak, Former Secretary MOES, GOI); Dr. A Orr, British Antarctic Survey, UK; Dr. D H Bromwich, Ohio State University, USA and Dr. Kyle Clem, Victoria University of Wellington, NZ, deliberated on a wide range of topics with respect to climate actions in different spheres.

“All these key policy decisions and initiatives clearly demonstrate that our efforts for climate change mitigation should begin at the grassroot level starting from an individual and become unified as a massive wave for the common goal of preserving our planet. Being blessed with lush green campus, our staff and students of IIT Kharagpur have a plethora of opportunities to create a better world. We are proud to have undertaken different projects to enhance and maintain IIT-KGP campus a green campus. With our vision being – Dedicated to the service of the Nation, we seek to impart value based knowledge in addition to academic curriculum to our students in order to transform them into future leaders of tomorrow. This International workshop is a critical step in that direction which combines both traditional as well as modern fields of science. I congratulate Dr. Mukunda Dev Behera and the entire team for organizing this great event. I strongly encourage the researchers and participants to take full advantage of this workshop,”

stated Prof. V K Tewari.

The keynote talks of each technical session were oriented towards sustainable development perspectives. The participants presented their works in terms of rapid-oral and standard-oral as per specific format and allotted time. A few awards were adjudged from each session by the session co-chairs and the awardees were given a certificate and momento in the Valedictory session on 18^th Feb 2023. Field trips to Sunderbans and Siilipal Biosphere Reserve on 19^th and 20^th February. Several deliberations in the event have led to better understanding of how can we better understand feedbacks between climate change and biodiversity, how do we maintain a balance between bioresource management and socio-economic development, how do cryospheric changes in polar regions and high mountains affect biodiversity, water cycle and global climate etc. Forecasting and preparing for natural hazards and extreme weather events, understanding the intricacies between terrestrial and marine bio-geochemical cycles, geomatics perspective on spatial biodiversity and ways to achieve the net-zero targets through nature-based solutions were among the other topics of discussion.

Healthy ecosystems constitute healthy planet. In this connection, ecosystem restoration is a win-win strategy that is crucial to attain Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and climate targets of the Paris Agreement. The on-going climate change is unequivocally anthropogenic and together with other stressors like deforestation, land degradation, biological invasion, etc. has resulted in species losses and shifts in landscape dynamics. The carbon cycle and the water cycle, arguably the two most important large-scale processes for life on Earth, depend on biodiversity at genetic, species, and ecosystem levels and can yield feedbacks to climate change.

Inputs by: Prof. M D Behera, CORAL, IIT Kharagpur
Email: mdbehera@coral.iitkgp.ac.in

Edited by : Poulami Mondal, Digital & Creative Media Executive (Creative Writer)
Email: poulami.mondal@iitkgp.ac.in, media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282007

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IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester Rolls out its first batch of Dual Doctoral Students

IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester is proud to roll-out its first batch of Dual Ph.D students for autumn 2021. The news of this prestigious association was first announced in April, 2021 highlighting the unique character of the Programme. All facets of the programme including selection, admission, supervision and evaluation has been jointly administered with perfect synchronicity by competent authorities on both sides.

Owing to the pandemic disruptions in 2020-21 and because of the programme protocol that required selected students to spend their first year at IITKGP, in its first year the programme was open to only Indian students satisfying the eligibility criteria. The partners are optimistic that in the following years when travel restrictions are lifted and normalcy is restored world-wide, the programme will be made available to international applicants as well.

For IITKGP-UMan Dual Doctoral Programme, jointly supervised projects were chosen from across a number of thematic areas including computational chemistry, healthcare and medical technologies, environmental geochemistry, biomaterials and Industry 4.0.

The selection process involved a rigorous multiple level review and evaluation by the Joint Programme Board comprising of the Deans and Associate Deans of both the institutions. All 50 applicants had commendable credentials and it was a difficult task for the selection committee to select the five final awardees based on the understanding of their projects, a short verbal presentation on their proposed research and plans, and a concluding Question & Answer session.

Prof. G.P. Rajasekhar, Dean Faculty of Science and a member of the selection committee feels, “Selecting the 5 awardees was the most difficult decision we had to make because all of them were outstanding. The rigor of the selection process indeed made this a very prestigious programme for students across the country.”

Mr. Aniruddha Das and Mr. Sumanta Laha who have completed their Masters from IITKGP, will be associated with the Departments of Chemistry and Mechanical Engineering respectively. While Mr. Das will be working on, ‘Transition Metal Mediated Difunctionalization of Arynes’ under the joint supervision of Dr. Ganesh Venkataraman at IITKGP and Prof. Michael Greaney from Manchester; Mr Laha will be working on Hydrodynamics of Prosthetic Mechanical Heart Valves to investigate the hydrodynamics of a mechanical heart valve in an effort to develop an ideal design of the valve to enhance the life expectancy and improve the quality of the patient’s life style.

Sumanta believes, “I am not only happy but also lucky to receive such a prestigious scholarship from IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester. Though the selection processes was rigorous, it was quite interesting. With this scholarship, it has become my responsibility to complete the project and contribute to the area of cardiovascular research which may help the doctors save lives around the globe.”

Mr. Shubhra K. Nandi another final awardee, who has completed his Masters from IIT Ropar, will be working on a project titled, ‘Development of novel metal/ceramic composites via laser-assisted additive manufacturing processing for advanced surface engineering applications’ at the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP. He will be supervised by Dr-Ing. Siddhartha Roy (IITKGP) and Prof. Philip Withers (UMan) as Principal Investigators, and Prof. Indranil Manna (IITKGP) and Prof. Allan Matthews (UMan) as Co-Principal Investigators. Nandi expresses an “ardent desire to contribute to the field of additive manufacturing and advanced materials” and feels that the project is very much aligned with his interests.

Ms. Juhi Srivastava from IIT Jodhpur and Ms. Anjali Srivastava from IIT Guwahati were among the other awardees of this prestigious scholarship. Ms. Srivastava, who would also be affiliated to the Metallurgical and Materials Engineering Department of IITKGP, will be working on, ‘Microstructural effects on environmentally assisted cracking in model 7xxx alloys.’ Juhi opined, “I really appreciate the assistance and financial aid and cannot express my gratitude enough. With this scholarship, I am able to set higher goals for myself and push myself harder.”

Ms. Anjali Jayakumar will be conducting her project work at the School of Nano Science and Technology IIT Kharagpur, followed by the Department of Chemical Engineering and Analytical Science, at University of Manchester. She will be working on the ‘Synthesis of graphene and graphene-based composites using agriculture waste for desalination’. Through her research, Anjali will attempt to tackle the global water scarcity phenomenon by employing advanced materials such as graphene to desalinate seawater and counter the rising demand of pure drinking water. Anjali feels delighted as she will be getting a unique opportunity to work with two different research teams of two different world class institutions during her doctoral research. Anjali feels, “I have always wanted to pursue my doctoral research on a topic with a great societal impact. I am excited as my project strives to tackle the world water crisis, one of the grandest challenges of recent times.”

The five awardees will spend their first and third year of study at IITKGP punctuated by year 2 at Manchester and year 4 at Manchester again. Upon successfully defending the thesis as per regulations at both the institutions, the Doctoral Degree will be jointly awarded by both the Institutions.

Dr. David Polya, Associate Dean for Internationalization, who has been the chief architect of this Joint Programme from University of Manchester strongly feels that, “The JDP between IIT Kharagpur and University of Manchester represents a mutually beneficial partnership for two institutions that are drawn together both by strong similarities and also highly complementary differences. Both institutions are driven by an ambition to achieve not only research excellence but also for their research and teaching to have a positive practical impact on the world. Both institutions take an immense pride in their graduates and have influential alumni networks spanning the globe. And, of course, there are also differences – not just in the countries in which they are based, but also the way in which things are done. What has been very heart-warming about this JDP is the goodwill that has existed between those involved in sharing the design and implementation of the JDP – we have a lot to learn from each other and the widespread goodwill and flexibility has created conditions where we can readily swap best practice. Most importantly, as our first cohort of JDP PhD research students are recruited, we are confident that the JDP will soon be producing highly trained doctoral graduates of which both institutions will be immensely proud.”

On the other side of the aisle, Dr. Anandaroop Bhattacharya, Associate Dean, International Relations & Ranking, who was instrumental is driving this partnership and formulating the selection process at IITKGP is delighted with the launch of this programme. “We at IIT Kharagpur are delighted to launch this prestigious and unique programme with one of the top ranked universities in the world. I am deeply indebted to my predecessor, Prof. Baidurya Bhattacharya who played a key role in the formative stages of this partnership. To be considered by Univ. of Manchester as an equal partner, is a matter of great pride for us and goes to show the high esteem that our students and faculty are held worldwide.”

As an integral aspect of IITKGP’s concerted effort towards internationalization strategy, the start of this esteemed programme marks IITKGP’s entry into the United Kingdom after running successful initiatives with its preferred partners in Australia, New Zealand and Canada. Both IITKGP and University of Manchester are optimistic that the start of the Dual Doctoral Programme will usher further opportunities of academic and research collaboration between the partners in areas of mutual interest and will go a long way in solving shared problems of an increasingly complex world.

Content Writer:- Koushiki Mukherjee, Office of International Relations.

Contact: Paramita Dey, Junior Assistant

Email: media@iitkgp.ac.in, Ph. No.: +91-3222-282004