PowerPoint-presentation - A South Asian Research Strategy

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A PowerPoint presentation, April 2007
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Aims of SASNET

• A national Swedish network for research,
  education, and information about South Asia,
  established in 2001. SASNET is funded by Sida and
  Lund University. SASNETs root node office is
  located in Lund.
• The aim is to encourage and promote an open and
  dynamic networking process, in which Swedish
  researchers co-operate with researchers in South
  Asia and globally
• A network open to all sciences. Priority
  co-operation between disciplines and across
  faculties, as well as with institutions in the
  Nordic countries and in South Asia
• The basic idea South Asian studies will be most
  fruitfully pursued in co-operation between
  researchers, working in different institutions
  with a solid base in their mother disciplines

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Main activities of the network

• Planning grants for networking to start new
  research and education projects
• Information Gateway
• Personal meetings and community building
• Support to focused activities like workshops and
  guest lectures

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More specifically

• initiate, stimulate, and support research
  co-operation via planning grants for networking
• grants for networking in developing undergraduate
  and graduate courses in Sweden if possible in
  partnership with universities in South Asia
• encourage PhD studies specialising on South Asia,
  including networking among single research
  students in institutions that do not specialise
  on South Asia

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More specifically, cont.

• promote student and researcher exchange between
  Sweden (the Nordic countries) and South Asia
• build an information system for South Asian
  studies in partnership with academic and public
  institutions, media, business communities, and
  NGOs
• contribute to co-ordination of consultations
  between researchers and different public
  institutions, business organisations, and NGOs

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Focused activities

• Workshop on Global Networking in South Asian
  Studies, 2001
• Symposium for PhD candidates, Marstrand 2002
• Contact journeys to South Asia in 2002, 2003,
  2005 and 2007
• Arranging the 18th European Conference on Modern
  South Asian Studies at Lund University, 2004,
  with an emphasis on interdisciplinary networking
  with medicine and technology
• Workshop on the Role of South Asia in the
  Internationalisation of Higher Education in
  Sweden, at Karolinska Institutet in Stockholm,
  November 2006

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The Gateway that is SASNET
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• On the Research page SASNET presents all South
  Asia related education and research at Swedish
  universities, as well as giving useful
  information for students and researchers.
• Important lectures and workshops
• South Asia related conferences worldwide
• Conference reports
• Funding agencies
• Doctoral theses
• Fellowships/vacant positions

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Strong research environments

• South Asia Studies at Karlstad University
• History of religions at Lund
• Peace and Development Research at Göteborg
  (Padrigu)
• Social anthropology at Stockholm
• Biotechnology at Lund and KTH
• Public Health at Karolinska institutet, Stockholm
• International Maternal and Child Health, Uppsala

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strong research environments cont.

• Land and Water Resources Engineering at Royal
  Inst of Technology, Stockholm
• Language studies in Uppsala and Stockholm
• South Asia Seminar, Uppsala
• South Asia Social Sciences (SASS) at Lund
  (sociology, economics, economic history,
  political science, human ecology)
• Totally 205 departments in Sweden (April 2007)

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Partners in research and education

• An Asia Century Research School is organised by
  the Nordic Institute for Asian Studies in
  Copenhagen (NIAS) in collaboration with Nordic
  partners.
• Nordic Centre in India with a flat in Delhi and
  courses at the University of Hyderabad and other
  universities in India
• European Association for South Asian Studies -
  the 20th European Conference of Modern South
  Asian Studies, Manchester, 2008
• ENCARI, European Network on Contemporary Academic
  Research on India

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Swedish/Nordic Competence

• Water, food technology, livelihood, and
  sustainable development, e.g. Research on arsenic
  contamination at KTH and Karolinska
• Public health, reproductive health
• Industrial pollution and environmental management
• Security, intra- and international relations and
  dynamics in South Asia
• Indic and South Asian religions, including Islam
  and Christianity

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Swedish/Nordic Competence, cont.

• Nationalism and political development in South
  Asia
• Decentralisation, popular participation and the
  role of the state in development
• Situation of Dalits and Tribal people in India
• Gender and economic and political development
• Basic education, especially for women

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Planning grants

• Out of 56 Grants given upto 2004
• Technology, Natural Sciences 15 (27 )
• Medicine 9 (16 )
• Social Sciences 20 (36 )
• Humanities 10 (18 )
• Nordic Centre 2 (4)

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Planning grants, cont.

• Some of the projects have involved some
  co-operation between the hard and the soft
  sciences, but rarely meant serious interaction in
  actual research projects. We believe that a more
  focused networking is necessary to achieve this.

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Lack of competence

• Contemporary History
• Economics, Political Economy as well as Business
  Economics
• Contemporary South Asian Culture, incl Film,
  Literature and Arts

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Strategy

• Besides the above activities
• Focused networking to bring the hard and soft
  sciences together in concrete projects
• Examples
• Hiv/AIDS studies
• Water issues
• Biotechnology
• Masters and PhD programmes with recruitment of
  South Asian students, or jointly with South Asian
  Universities, including sandwich programmes

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Other desired projects

• Combine South Asian and European competence in
  e.g. comparative religion, history projects,
  rural transformation, health, education, etc.
• Avoid area studies, integrate with research
  worldwide
• Finance Swedish doctoral students in fields like
  Economics, History and Cultural studies

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Expectations

• Increased co-operation between South Asian and
  Nordic researchers
• More European funding for research and academic
  exchange
• More involvement in Business ventures

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Examples of new collaboration

• Institute of International Education, Stockholm
  University Amir Mansory and Pia Karlsson are
  setting up a Masters programme for women in
  collaboration with Nangarhar University in
  Jalalabad
• KTH building a new technical university in
  Sialkot, Pakistan, funded by the government of
  Pakistan
• Arsenic research network set up by Prosun
  Bhattacharya, Dept. Of Land and Water Resources,
  KTH, involving partners in India, Bangladesh and
  Pakistan
• School of Business, Göteborg, collaboration with
  the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore
• Linnaeus Palme exchange programmes between a
  large number of Swedish and South Asian
  universities

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South Asian students in Sweden

• Sandwich programmes. Example R M D B Herath and
  Shanti Nandana Wijesinghe, PhD candidates from
  Sri Lanka at PADRIGU in Göteborg
• South Asian Masters students at Swedish
  universities. Example Technology students from
  Hyderabad, India, at Kalmar University

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IT University in Kista in 2005

• There were 515 International students at its
  masters programs in English. These programs
  attract students from all over the world from as
  many as 61 different countries.

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Evaluation of SASNET in 2005

• Self-evaluation revealed certain weakness like
  slow progress in promoting cooperation between
  hard and soft sciences Link
• External evaluation was very positive but pointed
  out the need for increased funding and a
  sustained programme Link

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Welcome to SASNET!

• Staffan Lindberg Lars Eklund Anna
  Lindberg

• SASNET web page http//www.sasnet.lu.se
• Scheelevägen 15 D, SE-223 70 Lund, Sweden
• Phone [phone], fax [phone]
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