Srinagar, Feb 18: In a historic moment, SKUAST-K and Murdoch University Australia signed a Memorandum of Understanding for fostering academic and research collaboration between the two institutions on 18-02-2025 at National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, New Delhi. The event presided by Dr Himanshu Pathak was attended by Dr Peter Davies, Pro Vice Chancellor (MU), Dr Rajeev Varshney Director State Agri Biotechnology Institute, MU, Prof Nazir Ahmad Ganai, Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K and Prof Azmat Alam Khan Registrar (Designate) SKUAST-K besides other members of Delegation from both institutions. Prof. Rajeev Varshney welcomed the delegates of both institutions and outlined the long-term impact of research collaborations between institutions in improving human capacity and research output. Dr Himanshu Pathak Hon’ble DG ICAR highlighted the importance of international collaborations and hoped that the MOU will kickstart fruitful academic and research collaborations between the two institutions.
Prof Nazir A. Ganai gave a brief presentation about the academic and research profile of the university and new frontiers in which SKUAST-K has demonstrated potential impact including molecular breeding, genome editing, speed breeding, regenerative medicine, computational biology and bio-input production. In his presentation, Prof Peter Carberry presented the academic and research profile of Murdoch University and potential areas of cooperation in education and research. The MOU was signed by Vice Chancellor SKUAST-K and Pyo Vice Chancellor Murdoch University. The event was also attended by members of Australian High Commission, ICRISAT country office as well as Prof K C Bansal former Director NBPGR and Dr C Bhardwaj from IARI. The representatives of the Australian High Commission reaffirmed their support for carrying forward the cooperation under CGIAR and AICR flagship programmes.
Both the parties agreed to kickstart the collaborative research programmes and student and faculty exchange under the umbrella MOU. Prof Nazir A. Ganai emphasised the need to translate the MOU into impactful cooperation in the form of joint and dual degree programmes as well as exploring the possibility of having a satellite campus of MU at SKUAST-Kashmir. Prof Varshney in his concluding remarks assured all possible support to strengthen research programmes in the area of genomics, high throughput phenomics and computational biology.
