Joint research tackles challenges to improve rural life

Government-backed initiatives that are bridging the urban and rural divide (BURD) projects will address the research challenges of making life in the countryside a sustainable option, a topic agreed to be of importance to both nations.

The BURD panel held in London was chaired by Dr Rajagopala Chidambaram, principal science adviser to the government of India.

Successful projects will be funded by more than seven million pounds from the Research Councils UK (RCUK), with resources from the Department of Science & Technology of India (DST). More than seven million pounds from the RCUK, with resources from the DST, will fund successful projects.

Those recommended for funding are:

Rural Hybrid Energy Enterprise Systems - led by the University of Nottingham and the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore - examines research into small-scale energy generation systems in rural areas that can be adapted in the UK and India to enable communities to tackle energy poverty, increase revenue generation and create opportunities.

The BioCPV project - led by Heriot-Watt University and Visva-Bharati University - seeks to develop an integrated system of solar energy, biomass and waste power generation, and hydrogen generation and storage to provide low-cost integrated renewable energy to the countryside.

Scaling the Rural Enterprise - led by the University of Nottingham and the Society for Economic & Social studies. This aims to establish the next generation of enterprise where mobile devices are used to empower rural communities and scale up the activities of their businesses.

Trump (Trusted Mobile Platform for the Self-Management of Chronic Illness in Rural Areas) - led by the University of Aberdeen and the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. This will explore the potential of mobile technologies in the development of a platform to support chronic disease management in rural areas of the UK and India.

Distributing Industrial Optimisation Tasks to Rural Workers - led by the University of Strathclyde and IIT Allahbad - aims to develop a business model that demonstrates that many industrial tasks can be outsourced to rural workers and provide a sustainable source of skilled employment.

In addition, fuel cells have been identified by India and the UK as an area of significance in providing solutions to the problem of meeting future energy needs.

At least three million pounds from the Research Councils UK Energy Programme with resources from India through the Department of Science & Technology (DST) has been committed to collaborative research projects addressing this area.

The four projects recommended for funding under the India-UK Collaborative Research Initiative in Fuel Cells are:

Jetcell - led by Cambridge University and the Non-Ferrous Materials Technology Development Centre in Hyderabad - will focus on developing solid oxide fuel cells, using ink-jet printing technology, that operate at much lower temperatures, to address issues such as cost reduction, durability and reliability of the fuel cell.

Mind The Gap - jumping the hurdles limiting polymer fuel-cell performance and commercialisation - led by Imperial College London and the Centre for Fuel Cell Technology in Chennai.

The team is researching into reducing the necessary quality of fuel needed for the fuel cell, cutting the cost and robustness of the catalysts in the system and improving overall efficiency.

Advancing Biogas Use Through Fuel-Flexible SOFCs - led by the University of St Andrews and the Central Glass & Ceramic Research Institute in Kolkata. This will look to improve the performance of solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) electrodes for converting biogas into electricity, thus generating energy from waste.

Using fuel cells in this way could potentially increase the efficiency of this process significantly compared with the process of thermal conversion employed today.

Modelling Accelerated Ageing & Degradation of SOFCs - led by Keele University and the Indian Institute of Technology in Madras - will be modelling accelerated ageing and degradation of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) to serve as a useful tool to understand the degradation mechanism.

The understanding gained from these experiments and the developed model can be used to develop materials that give improved performance or can perform at lower temperatures, reduced degradation and better tolerance to contaminants in the fuel.

The UK government’s focus on India underlines the importance it places on the bilateral relationship across a range of policy areas.

From security, defence, business and trade, to development, education, science and research these projects are an excellent example of working together to improve areas of mutual interest.

The Research Councils UK has committed at least 10 million pounds to the initiatives over a three-year period, with matched resources from the Department of Science & Technology of India.