Eminent speakers including Ms Priyanka Chaturvethi, Vice-President of Seva Sena, shared their views on what India must do to promote women into leadership positions.
In opening the forum, La Trobe University’s Vice-Chancellor, Professor John Dewar, said promoting gender equity is very important both to the University and to him personally.
“Achieving gender equality in all of La Trobe University’s operations is one of the University’s key missions,” Professor Dewar said.
“As a global University, we are pleased to share our experience with colleagues in India, and to provide a forum for discussing ways to promote women into leadership roles in India.
“While there can be important cultural dimensions to the issues faced by women in different parts of the world, the forum provides an opportunity to consider what has been done in India, and in Australia and elsewhere, to promote women into leadership positions, and the role that education has played in supporting women into leadership.”
La Trobe University also presented a Women in Leadership discussion in Delhi in 2017 as part of the University’s 50th anniversary celebrations in India.
Support for Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation
Connected to the theme of empowering women, prior to the Women in Leadership forum, Professor John Dewar presented a AUD $4,717 donation to Geetika Hazari, Managing Director of Shah Rukh Khan’s Meer Foundation.
Proceeds were raised from a ceremony held at La Trobe University in August when multi award-winning actor, producer and women’s equality advocate, Shah Rukh Kahn (pictured), was awarded with an Honorary Degree, Doctor of Letters (honoris causa), in recognition of his wide-ranging humanitarian work, including establishing the Meer Foundation to support and empower women who have survived acid attacks in India.
Asian Smart Cities Research and Innovation Network
Professor Dewar is currently in India to formally announce the establishment of the Asian Smart Cities Research and Innovation Network with the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur (IIT Kanpur) and the Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Pilani (BITS Pilani).
Professor Dewar said the Asian Smart Cities Research Hub draws upon La Trobe’s proven research and innovation strengths in Australia - adapting and applying them to Asian cities to help solve global issues and improve the welfare of people and communities.
More than 70 academics from the three universities have already joined the Research and Innovation Network, with the aim of creating new joint research professorships and a joint PhD program with more than 50 PhD scholarships offered, worth over 65 crores Indian rupees.
Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University PhD Scholarship
The Shah Rukh Khan La Trobe University PhD Scholarship was also created to provide a life-changing opportunity for an aspiring female researcher from India to make a meaningful impact in the world. More than 700 high-achieving female scholars have already registered for the scholarship.
Background – La Trobe University and India
- La Trobe University is ranked in the top 1.2 per cent of Universities worldwide *
- Dignitaries La Trobe University has hosted from the Indian subcontinent include Prime Minister Mrs Indira Gandhi, Kapil Dev, Malaika Arora Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Rajkumar Hirani, Abhijat Joshi and, most recently, actor, producer and women’s equality advocate, Shah Rukh Khan
- La Trobe University is one of only two universities in Australia teaching Hindi, and the only Australian University to teach a subject on the history, music, and storytelling of popular Hindi cinema
- La Trobe University is one of the founding members of the Australia India Institute
- The La Trobe Library collection houses more than 38,000 volumes of monographs, journals, magazines and government publications from India, one of the largest collections in Australia.
*Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019 | Webometrics Ranking Web of Universities 2019
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Media Contact: Claire Bowers – c.bowers@latrobe.edu.au - 9479 2315 / 0437279903
