Press Release
14th October 2014, New Delhi, India
EqUIP Launch:EU-India collaboration on social sciences and humanities
Today (14th October 2014) the EU-India Social Sciences and Humanities Platform (EqUIP)is launched, which isa new programme aimed at giving impetus to the EU-India research relationship. EqUIP is a €1.5 million project funded by the European Commission and will bring together 12 European research funding organisations with key funding agencies in India to develop a stronger strategic partnership in social sciences and humanities.
The event is led by the UK’s Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR), Research Councils UK (RCUK) India, in partnership with EURAXESS Links India.
EqUIP will unite the international research communities and key funders in Europe and India to engage, cooperate and network inanincreasingly important sphere of social sciences and humanities.
Highlevel representatives from Indian and Europeanfunding agencies and government officials opened the event, with the aim of engaging and stimulating cooperation in identifying mutual priorities and challenges requiring further cooperation.
Speaking at the launch event, Dr João Cravinho, Ambassador of the European Unionto India said: ‘The European Union is proud to support 10 European countries joining forces with Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR) to enhance networking and coordination in social sciences and humanities. This cross-cutting discipline is crucial for enhancing the socio-economic impact of research and for evidence-based policymaking.’
Prof Sukhadeo Thorat, Chairman, Indian Council of Social Science Research said: ‘Thesetting up of the EU-India Platform on social science and humanities is an historic event. Researchers from European countries and India will now be enabled to conduct collaborative research. We intend to extend this platform to other European partners, as well as connecting with academics and researchers as widely as possible. We hope that this will open up new opportunities and infuse new energy into social science and humanities research in India and Europe.’
Michael Bright, Head of International, The Economic and Social Research Council said: ‘We are delighted to be here in Delhi to celebrate the launch of EqUIP and to highlight our ambitious aims for the platform. Working with our European and Indian colleagues we hope to develop a stronger, more strategic partnership between the project participants as well as helping to deliver a step change in the levels of communication and collaboration between researchers in the EU and India working in the social sciences and humanities.’
Notes to editors:
EqUIP
EqUIP is a new €1.5 million project funded by the European Commission under its 7th Framework Programme for Research (FP7) and will bring together research funding and research support organisations in Europe and India in order to develop a stronger strategic partnership in the fields of social sciences and humanities.
The partner countriesparticipating to the project are:
UK
Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC)
Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC)
India
Indian Council of Social Science Research (ICSSR)
Finland
Academy of Finland (AKA)
France
The French National Research Agency (ANR)
Italy
Agency for the Promotion of European Research (APRE)
Germany
German Research Foundation (DFG)
German Aerospace Centre (DLR)
Portugal
TheFoundation for Science and Technology (FCT)
Slovenia
Ministry of Education, Science and Sports (MIZS)
Netherlands
Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO)
Norway
Research Council of Norway (RCN)
Austria
Centre for Social Innovation (ZSI)
Economic and Social Research Council
Research Councils UK (RCUK) India
EURAXESS Links India
Contact
Geeny George Shaju
Communications Manager, RCUK India
Email:
Tele: 011-21492637