AdaptNET
Strengthening education, research and innovation for climate smart crops in India
The final Conference of the AdaptNET project on “Strengthening research and education for the development of climate smart crop in India” funded by the European Union involving four European universities and four higher education institutions in India was organized by the AdaptNET partners in the Fern Kadamba Hotel, Goa from 13-15 June 2022. The conference was hosted by Dr I S Katageri of the University of Agricultural Sciences Dharwad and coordinated by Dr. Bidyut Kumar Sarmah, Indian Coordinator, AdaptNET and Director, DBT-North East Centre for Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat. Over sixty participants from European and Indian partner institutions including 14 (scientists and students) from AAU, Jorhat participated in the conference. At the inaugural session Dr. Bidyut Kumar Sarmah, Indian Coordinator, AdaptNET Project welcomed all the dignitaries and the participants and briefed the genesis of the AdaptNet project. He also emphasized on developing fresh projects by the young scientists trained under the AdaptNET programme on climate resilient agriculture to sustain the programme.
Dr. Andreas Voloudakis briefed the house on the project and the future goals. The Chief Guest, Dr. M. B. Chetti, Vice Chancellor, University of Agricultural Science, Dharwad highlighted the significance of capacity-building projects such as AdaptNET and emphasized their role in enhancing modern education and scientific research in building climate resilience. Dr Shalander Kumar of ICRISAT and the guest of honour of the inaugural session praised the role played by the AdaptNET in India and enlightened the gathering on the immediate challenges. The attendees also included scientists, faculty members and students trained under the AdaptNET programme.
Eminent scientists both National and International deliberated at the technical sessions including renowned meteorologist Dr. A V M Subbarao, Principal Scientist, CRIDA, Hyderabad, Dr. Rusty Rodriguez, Adaptive Symbiotic Technologies, USA, Dr. Dimitrios Voloudakis, Academy of Athens, Greece, Dr. M. K. Modi, Professor and Head, Dept. of Agricultural Biotechnology, Assam Agricultural University, Jorhat, Dr. Sunita Choudhary, ICRISAT and Dr S Acharjee, AAU, Jorhat. All principal investigators of the project presented annual reports of respective institutions.
Research Scholars from the partner institutes at Europe also presented their work including Ms. Giovanna Lanzavecchia and Ms. Gaia Cortinovis from UNIVPM, Italy, Ms. Arianna Carrara, UMIL, Italy, To ensure the sustainability of the effort to strengthen climate resilience in India, concept notes were selected and screened to be presented before a panel of experts for improvements. The project proposals were intended to be submitted to various funding agencies for implementation. Scientists and students from AAU (4 proposals), ICRISAT, Tezpur University (5 proposals), and UASD (4 proposals) presented the project ideas on occasion while the experts offered comments and suggestions to improve the proposed ideas to gain funding.
