By signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), the Leibniz Institute of Ecological Urban and Regional Development (IOER) and the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras have agreed on their future collaboration in research on the sustainable development of cities and regions. This also marks an important milestone in Indo-German research collaboration.
Synergy partnership in the field of sustainable spatial development: IOER collaborates with IIT Madras in India
The MoU between the IOER and the IIT Madras forms the basis for a strategic partnership for research on issues of spatial transformation towards sustainability. Mutual visits by scientists and work on joint research projects are planned. These will address various current challenges facing cities and regions in India and Germany or Europe and develop possible solutions. This includes joint projects on land use, loss of biodiversity, environmental risks such as flooding, and social issues of transformation such as justice and inequality. The promotion of young scientists will also play an important role within the partnership. Research visits by doctoral students and postdocs from both institutes have been agreed upon.
More intensive cooperation is being sought with the newly founded “School of Sustainability” on the Indian side, an interdisciplinary research centre at the IIT Madras. The partnership brings together two institutions with complementary expertise in sustainability research. “The renowned IIT Madras focuses on technical innovations; at the IOER, we investigate spatial aspects of transformation processes. The cooperation therefore has great potential to create fruitful synergies,” explains Professor Marc Wolfram, Director of the IOER.
The institutional partnership between the IOER and the IIT Madras builds on the long-standing German-Indian cooperation within the framework of the Indo-German Centre for Sustainability (IGCS). For more than 15 years, the research centre promoted interdisciplinary research, teaching, training and exchange on issues of sustainable development. It was coordinated on the Indian side by the IIT Madras. Christoph Woiwode, Senior Researcher at the IOER, spent several years as a visiting scholar at IGCS in Chennai, India, and was able to establish contact with the Indian cooperation partner. The IGCS project ended in 2024. With the MoU between IOER and IIT Madras, a new phase of Indo-German cooperation and research on key sustainability challenges is now beginning at the institutional level.
After signing the Memorandum of Understanding, the partners exchanged ideas on further steps in the strategic partnership during a workshop lasting several days. Researchers from the IOER discussed initial joint research topics and approaches as well as potential funding opportunities with participants from the IIT Madras and scientists from other universities in India. Based on this, the partners intend to develop concrete project ideas. The exchange was supported by the German Centre for Research and Innovation (DWIH) in New Delhi.
The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras is one of India's oldest technical universities. The institute was founded in 1959 with the support of the Federal Republic of Germany. It is considered one of the best universities for engineering sciences in India. The “School of Sustainability” at the IIT Madras was founded in 2023 as an interdisciplinary research centre to promote sustainable practices through teaching, research, implementation and policies. The school’s vision is to be the go-to place for policymakers and researchers for an understanding of sustainability related technologies and policy implications.
Scientific contact at the IOER
Dr. Christoph Woiwode, e-mail: c.woiwode@ioer.de
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