Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with The British Geological Survey (BGS) of the United Kingdom Research and Innovation. This is a very proud moment for Amrita as it is the first Indian university to sign an MoU with UK’s prestigious national research centre, the BGS.

Dr. Maneesha V. Ramesh, Dean, International Programs and Prof. Christopher Luton, Head of Legal, BGS, signed the MoU on February 14, 2019. The MoU is intended to develop technical cooperation between Amrita and BGS in the field of landslide monitoring & research.

Dr. Helen Reeves, Science Director for Engineering Geology & Infrastructure, British Geological Survey, said, “Amrita is a core member of the LANDSLIP consortium. Amrita enhances the Indian, UK, and Italian scientists and engineers contributing to the LANDSLIP challenge to contribute to new knowledge and information on landslide risk reduction in India”. This collaboration paved the way to sign an MoU with the BGS that will further strengthen the existing alliance between the two institutes and will enhance the strong research bank that already exists.

Amrita Center for Wireless Networks and Applications (AmritaWNA) has been actively pursuing research on landslide monitoring and prediction for more than a decade now. The researchers from AmritaWNA and the BGS have been involved in collaborative research work for the past few years. After a successful and mutually benefiting collaboration, the two institutions stepped forward to sign this MoU in order to develop and reinforce their cooperation in the fields of Earth sciences, mineral prospecting, and disaster management. It is also an effort to improve cooperation between the United Kingdom and the Republic of India through participation in this MOU, with the intent of reinforcing and strengthening both scientific links between the two countries.