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2022 Christie Eliezer Memorial Lecture: “Epidemic to immuno-epidemic models of COVID-19”

On 21 November 2022, the School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences in collaboration with La Trobe Asia, were delighted to present the inaugural Christie Eliezer Memorial Lecture.

Professor Malay Banerjee from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, India presented the inaugural memorial lecture following an introduction from Renuka Eliezer and Geoff Prince. Christie’s daughter, Renuka, gave a short speech about her father’s time at La Trobe University. Emeritus Professor Geoff Prince, who was one of the last PhD students to be supervised by Christie, spoke about the hugely important influence Christie had on his learning and career.  Geoff had nothing but praise for the collaborative way Christie supervised, and shared some memories of working with Christie that illustrated his humble, kind, gentle, generous and inclusive personality.

Professor Banerjee’s presentation, although quite mathematical at times for some participants, was fascinating as he shared how he and his team developed a new modelling approach for the COVID-19 epidemic that accounts for the variation of how people experience COVID within a population. We thank Malay for travelling all this way, and for sharing his knowledge and expertise with us.

The event can be viewed here.


Air Pollution Issues in Smart City Development

On 9 November 2022, the the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the eighth and final webinar for 2022: Air Pollution Issues in Smart City Development presented by the Health and Wellbeing Theme.

We are extremely grateful to our panel members:

  • Professor Mukesh Sharma, Department of Civil Engineering, IIT Kanpur, India
  • Dr Anju Goel, Research Fellow at The Energy and Resources Institute (TERI), India
  • Professor Bin Jalaludin, Chief Investigator – Centre for Air pollution, energy and health Research, The University of New South Wales

and our moderator, Dr Ruth Gamble, La Trobe University.

The panellists covered what air pollution is, what some of the causes of air pollution are, the effects of air pollution on the health of people, and how governance can exacerbate or alleviate air pollution.  There was discussion about what is and what is not working  in both India and Australia - it was a fascinating and informative event.

Thank you Mukesh, Anju, Jal and Ruth for sharing your knowledge and expertise in an engaging and interesting way and for explaining how (and why) we all need to do what we can to improve air quality each and every day, no matter where we live!  If we take on even one of the many suggestions such as making more use of active transport (walking, bicycle) it can have a significant impact on improving our health and air quality.

You may view the event again here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Risk Management in Smart Cities - Webinar

On 1 September 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the seventh webinar: Protecting Critical Infrastructure and Risk Management in Smart Cities presented by the Security and Safety Theme.

We are extremely grateful to our panel members:

  • Bijoy Singhal, CTO & Principal Architect, Nephor Research Labs
  • Dr Urbi Chatterjee, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur
  • Ritu Dahiya, Cyber Security Risk & Compliance Analyst, Block (formerly Afterpay)

and our moderator, Professor Naveen Chilamkurti, Associate Dean (International Partnerships), Head of Cybersecurity Discipline, School of Computing, Engineering and Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University.

The panellists covered the security and safety of critical infrastructure from quite different perspectives.  Bijoy presented on cybersecurity attacks, how/why they occur, and what we can learn from such attacks to prevent future attacks.  We then heard from Urbi about how security can be built into device hardware and what some of the challenges are.  Finally Ritu shared her experiences working for a corporation and how they might think about and manage cybersecurity, along with some of the challenges they face.

Thank you Bijoy, Urbi, Ritu and Naveen for sharing your knowledge and expertise in an engaging and interesting way and for explaining why we all need to remain vigilant with regards to cybersecurity threats in our work and personal lives!

You may view the event again here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Evidence Based Urban Governance: Water - Webinar

On 21 July 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the sixth webinar: Evidence Based Urban Governance: Water presented by the Theme Leaders of the Energy, Water and Waste Theme.

Panel members:

  • Viraj Tyagi, CEO - eGov Foundation, India
  • Pawan Sachdeva, Director - Avendus Capital Pte Ltd., Singapore
  • Professor Nick Bond, Director - Centre for Freshwater Ecosystems, La Trobe University and Theme Leader for the Energy, Waste and Water theme
  • Dr Ruth Gamble, Senior Lecturer and DECRA Fellow, La Trobe University and moderator of the panel.

The panellists set the scene about urban water governance in various settings, what it means, explaining how water is deliver to residents in large cities.  The major issues facing water governance in large cities in Asia and Australia were discussed and each panellist then shared their expertise including insights into improving governance through technology, along with ecological issues such as storm water impact and strategies for mitigating the impacts.  We are very grateful to Pawan, Viraj, Nick and Ruth for giving their time and sharing their knowledge and expertise in an engaging and interesting way!

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Grand Challenge – High School Edition 2022 - Awards Presentation

On 28 June 2022, the winners of the inaugural round of this competition were announced.

The keynote was presented by Mr Mathew Johnston, Minister Counsellor (Education and Research) – South Asia, Australian Government Department of Education, Skills and Employment, from the Australian High Commission in Delhi.  We thank Mathew for giving up his valuable time to make his inspiring and supportive comments.

Dr Stacey Farraway, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Recruitment & International Operations, Global and Regional Division at La Trobe University announced the overall winner: Team Promeck - an all-female team from Birla Balika Vidyapeeth in India.  Team Promeck (Pragya Rajpurohit and Mishika Goyal) will each receive an iPad as their prize.

The Runners Up - Team DynaDevs from Step by Step School India and Team Lanturn from Australian International School Vietnam will receive tech vouchers to the value of AUD$300.

Congratulations once again to our winners and runners up!

If you were unable to attend or would like to view the event again you can do so here.


Geo-Spatial Data for Smart Cities - webinar

On 31 May 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the fifth webinar: Geo-Spatial Data for Smart Cities presented by the Theme Leaders of the Urban Planning Theme.

Panel members:

Professor Bharat Lohani began the presentations with an overview about Geospatial data.  Brian Nicholls then shared his experiences, clearly demonstrating how Geospatial Data is critical to the Digital Infrastructure for Smart Cities and gave examples of the work AAM, a Woolpert Company, is doing in this space.  Finally Ruma Chakraborty presented her experiences with GIS Technology for Smart City Planning, again with clear examples  using case studies.  Thank you Bharat, Brian and Ruma for being such engaging and interesting presenters!

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


5G Technology and Applications to Smart Cities - webinar

On 27 April 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the fourth webinar: 5G Technology and Applications to Smart Cities presented by the Theme Leaders of the Infrastructure and Technology Theme.

Panel members:

  • Mr Amit Manocha, 5G Task Force in TCS
  • Ms Semra Barutchu, Head of Engineering Services ASIA, Infosys
  • Dr Rohit Budhiraja, Associate Professor, Department of Electrical Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur and co-theme leader
  • Professor Aniruddha Desai, Director, Centre for Technology Infusion, La Trobe University, co-theme leader and moderator of the panel.

Our speakers started with a brief overview of 5G technology, and the transformational potential of its use in Smart City infrastructure and solutions.  Then we heard from two industry experts and how businesses incorporate next generation communication technologies, in particular 5G, to improve their products and solution in context of Smart City applications, sharing some use cases of 5G that are already being operationalised, and ideas on what new use cases might leverage next-gen 5G capabilities.  We thank our speakers and moderator for giving their time and sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Corporate Governance and Interorganisational Partnerships - webinar

On 28 March 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the third webinar: Corporate Governance and Interorganisational Partnerships: Digitisation and Deployment of Essential Health and Emergency Systems presented by the Theme Leaders of the Governance and Engagement Research Theme.

Panel members included:

Our speakers started by explaining what the ambiguous term ‘governance’ means from their perspective. They then shared their experiences of governance in the corporate, government, non-government and volunteer sectors, with examples of what happens when governance structures are challenged by unpredictable events such as bushfires, floods, pandemics. We thank our speakers and moderator for giving their time and sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Blockchain for Smart Cities: An overview - webinar

On 24 February 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy held the second webinar.  This webinar was presented by the Theme Leaders of the Security and Safety Research Theme.

Panel members included:
Dr Amey Karkare - Associate Professor, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur and co-theme leader
Professor Naveen Chilamkurti - Associate Dean - International Partnerships, Director, La Trobe Cybersecurity Research Hub, Head of Cybersecurity Discipline School of Computing, Engineering & Mathematical Sciences, La Trobe University and co-theme leader
Mr Abe Sahely - Co-founder, CEO at beNEXT.io (representing Industry)
and were guided by chair of the panel Associate Professor Bec Strating - Director - La Trobe Asia, La Trobe University.

The speakers provided a brief introduction to Blockchain as well as examples of how Blockchain is used in Smart Cities.  We heard the academic / researcher perspective along with the industry perspective and our engaged audience asked many excellent questions and we thank our chair and speakers for giving their time and sharing their knowledge and expertise with us.

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Smart Cities Mission in India - webinar

On 24 January 2022, the IIT Kanpur-La Trobe University Research Academy launched their monthly webinar series.

Mr Kunal Kumar, Joint Secretary and Mission Director (Smart Cities Mission) at the Ministry of Housing and Urban Affairs, Government of India provided a comprehensive overview of the Smart Cities Mission in India.  He showed a practical and tactical approach to the implementation of public policy where solutions at scale are repeatable, and can provide outcomes for the communities in which they are delivered.  Many concrete and real life examples were shared from which people around the world are able to learn from.  The webinar series was introduced by the Director of IIT Kanpur, Professor Abhay Karandikar and the Acting Vice-Chancellor, Professor Susan Dodds.

You may view the event here.

For more information about the Research Academy including how to get involved, you can visit their website.

For more information about the Asian Smart Cities Research Innovation Network (ASCRIN) look around this website.


Technology Infusion Grand Challenge 2020-21 - Awards Presentation

On 15 December 2021 the winners of the third round of this competition were announced.

Keynotes were presented by Jason Bamert, Associate Director of Education, Optus Enterprise and Dr Harsha Vardhan, Founder and Managing Director, MedAchievers.

Professor John Dewar, Vice-Chancellor, La Trobe University announced the overall winner and the People's Choice award:

Team Catalysts - an all-female team from SRM Institute of Science and Technology in India won the grand prize of an all-expense paid mentorship stay in Melbourne. Team Catalysts (L-R - Team Catalysts: Rashmi Lenin, Priyanka Saravanan, and Srinidhi Sonai Anand) displayed their originality and creativity by developing a Smart Solution for membranes used in water filtration.

Team Workify - (Akankshi Vaishya, Antariksh Ray, Prateek Kaistha, Mayur Bhosale, Pawan Wadhwani) from SRM Institute of Science and Technology won the People's Choice award for their concept "Machine Learning and Robotics Powered Segregation of Solid Waste"

The two teams competed against a total of 88 teams from 22 different universities in the Asia region including India, Sri Lanka, Pakistan, Indonesia and Vietnam. From those teams, 19 finalists were chosen and received an investment of up to AUD$1000 to build their prototypes, while another two teams used their own funding to participate in the final stages of the Grand Challenge.

The 2021-22 round is now open - click here for more information on how to enter.  Entries close 28 February 2022.

You can view the event here.


'India in Focus' Seminar Series - Seminar #1

Australia’s Relationship with India

On 19 August 2021, La Trobe Asia (at La Trobe University) held the first of six seminars focused on India.

Our first 'India in Focus' event was a live recording of La Trobe Asia’s Asia Rising podcast with Lisa Singh - Deputy Chair, Australia India Council and Former Australian Senator (2011-2019).

The event can be viewed here or an audio recording is available here.


Developing Partnerships Between Australian and Indian Universities

On 11 August 2021, La Trobe Asia hosted a panel as part of 'India Week' with the Australia India Institute.

The panel discussed the importance and value of partnering and sharing their experiences in setting up the Asian Smart Cities Research and Innovation Network (ASCRIN). Our speakers, representing each of the institutional partners (IIT Kanpur, BITS Pilani and La Trobe University) provided information about how the 10 themes were developed, the challenges to operationalise the partnership, the importance and value of industry partners, and where they hope to see the partnership go in the future.

We thank the speakers for sharing their valuable time with us and also for their insights and reflections:

  • Professor Aniruddha Desai, Founding Director of ASCRIN, La Trobe University
  • Professor Susan Dodds, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research and Industry Engagement), La Trobe University
  • Professor Yogesh M Joshi, Dean of International Relations, IIT Kanpur
  • Professor Sudhirkumar Barai, Director Pilani Campus and Director International Programs & Collaborations, BITS Pilani

The panel was moderated by Dr Bec Strating, Executive Director - La Trobe Asia.

The event can be viewed here or an audio recording is available here.


Mahatma Gandhi’s Principles: In the Perspective of Alcoholism and the Road Crashes

On the eve of 150th Birth Anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi, Saturday 29 August 2020, the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur and La Trobe University (SPARC Team # 1442) jointly presented this symposium.  The symposium was grouped into three key themes: Justice System and Policing; Personal, Social and Community Issues: responsibilities and impacts; and Governance, Innovation and Solutions.  This was the first ysmposium for ASCRIN.

The event was recorded and can be viewed in its entirety here.  Each speaker contributed a unique perspective on the complex issues of addressing alcohol and road crashes.  It was a formidable task, but together, they elucidated Gandhian principles, values and beliefs about prohibition and temperance to provide the rationale for limiting exposure, consumption and impacts of drinking.

The order and summary of speakers is below, and individual presentations can be viewed according to the links below.

Welcome:

Professor Aniruddha Desai (La Trobe University)

Professor Abhay Karandikar (Director - IIT Kanpur)

Part 1: Justice System and Policing

Presentation 1:

Justice Abhay Manohar Sapre, Hon'ble Chairman, Supreme Court Committee on Road Safety, New Delhi, India.

Title: Prohibition from Gandhi's Perspective and its Effect on Road Safety

Presentation 2:

Mr. Raja Srivastava, Indian Police Service, Addl Director General of Police, Uttar Pradesh, India.

Title: Gandhi’s Principle, Road Safety and Alcohol: A Policing Perspective

Presentation 3:

Inspector Donna Mitchell, Local Area Command Goldfields Police Service Area, Victoria Police, Australia

Title: Case Study – What methods are being used to address Regional Road Trauma in Central Victoria?

Part 2: Personal, Social and Community Issues: responsibilities and impacts

Presentation 1:

Dr Anne-Marie Laslett, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Alcohol Policy Research (CAPR), La Trobe University, Australia.

Title: Alcohol’s Impact on Ourselves and Others: In Our Homes and on Our Streets

Presentation 2:

Dr Anubha Goel, Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur

Title: Drunk-Driving RoadAccidents and the Survivor’s Perspectives

Presentation 3:

Professor A Raghuramaraju, Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Indian Institute of Technology, Tirupati

Title: Mahatma Gandhi On The Idea Of The Normal

Part 3: Governance, Innovation and Solutions

Presentation 1:

Professor Adarsh Kumar, Forensic Anthropology and Forensic Radiology, AII India Institute of Medical Sciences

Title: Drunk/Drunken Driving vis a vis Disability and Death

Presentation 2:  NOT RECORDED

Mr Vijay Kalakala, Dy. General Manager, Occupant Safety, Mercedes-Benz Research and Development India

Title: Continuing the Decade of Action for Road Safety 2021-30

Presentation 3:

Professor Uday S. Racherla, Innovation Management Consultant, Fort Lee, New Jersey, USA

Title: Complex Interdependence of Multiple Factors Influencing Road Crashes; How Gandhian Thought Facilitates Innovative Thinking to Avoid Fatal Outcomes and Diminishing Returns

In summary:

  • Professor Raghuramaraju’s deeper discussion about the ‘normal’, and Professor Kumar’s discussion of Good Samaritan laws illustrates the need to tap into our better selves to consciously determine our own behaviours and how we treat others.
  • Justice Sapre highlighted challenges and opportunities to address alcoholism and road crashes within justice systems, while Mr Shrivastava underscored the importance of evidence-based solutions to inform decision-making. Inspector Mitchell emphasised the need for strategic and tactical planning that engages communities to create and apply solutions.
  • Associate Professor Goel grounded discussion in the challenging realities of redefining self-identity when negotiating rehabilitation and ongoing impacts experienced by crash survivors, while Dr Laslett identified the impacts on individuals, families and community health from her research in Australia and India.
  • Mr Kalakala and Professor Racherla identified a variety of potential research, policy, programmatic and technological initiatives to decrease road crashes, especially those associated with alcohol, while emphasising the need to understand socio-cultural contexts.

This symposium demonstrated the importance of university-government-industry partnerships in addressing this issue, as well as the necessity of including multiple fields of knowledge to provide much needed insights about issues of governance, regulation, design, education, attitudes and behaviours.

Download the Abstracts [PDF 2,507KB]

This symposium was co-organised/hosted by Murali Prasad Panta (IIT Kanpur) and Julie Rudner (La Trobe) and would not have been possible without the support of the Indian Government through the SPARC grant program (# 1442 Team).


Gandhi as Absence: Indian Middle-Class Nationalism and the Politics of Elsewhere

On Thursday 27 August 2020, the Indian Institute of Technology - Kanpur and La Trobe University jointly presented this talk as part of the commemoration of M.K. Gandhi’s 150th birth anniversary. This was the first talk for ASCRIN.

Dr Sayan Chattopadhyay's fascinating presentation demonstrated his knowledge, expertise and insights about Gandhi through a literary studies lens.

The event is available to view again here.