Research Education Linkage


     DAE has supported synergistic interaction amongst the national laboratories and the university systems through a number of mechanisms such as utilisation of DAE’s research facilities through Inter-University Consortium, funding of extra-mural research, grant-in-aid to institutes of national eminence and others.

UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research
DAE and the University Grants Commission (UGC) had signed a MoU in 1989 for setting up Inter-University Consortium of DAE Facilities (IUC-DAEF) at Indore. The Consortium functions under the control of UGC.
The scope of cooperation was broadened to include all programmes pursued by DAE in the area of physical, chemical, life and engineering sciences.
The name was also changed to UGC-DAE Consortium for Scientific Research.

Academic Programmes
The research centres of DAE are recognized by the universities of their region, as the centres for reserach leading to postgraduate degrees. A number of scientists and engineers are recognized as post-graduate teachers by the respective unversities. The employees are encouraged to register and obtain research degrees based on the work done in these research centres.

Full scale prototype of Steadystate Superconducting
Tokamak (SST-1) cryostat and vacuum vessel


Funding of Extra-Mural Research
DAE encourages and promotes scientific research in universities, institutes and laboratories in the areas of relevance to the Department. This is done through the Board of Research in Nuclear Sciences (BRNS) and the National Board for Higher Mathematics (NBHM) both at Mumbai.
During the report period, the Board of Research in Nuclear Science (BRNS) continued to support high quality R&D projects and laid emphasis on collaborative programmes amongst DAE organisations and the organisations outside the Department. It also provided financial assistance to organize symposia/ conferences/ workshops on topics
of relevance to DAE programmes.
During the year 2003-04, the Board approved 134 new research projects at a total financial assistance of Rs. 12 crore. Financial sanctions involving an expenditure of Rs. 9.79 crore were also committed for various ongoing research projects.

Various fellowships/associateships were awarded as follows:
  Homi Bhabha Chair Scheme : 2 nos.
  Senior Scientist Scheme : 6 nos.
  K.S. Krishnan Fellowship : 8 nos.
  DAE Graduate Fellowship Scheme : 32 nos.

BRNS introduced “DAE Science Research Council (DAE-SRC) Award” that aims to setup frontier area research units around individuals.
DAE, through NBHM is enganged in promoting excellence in higher mathematics, education and research in the country. The Board implements programmes which include development of mathematical centres, scholarships to research fellows at doctoral and post-doctoral levels, travel assistance to young mathematicians for attending conferences/seminars etc., support to mathematics libraries, assistance to conferences, monitoring mathematics olympiads, and others.
In collaboration with the International Mathematical Union, NBHM has also initiated schemes for making mathematical literature accessible through electronic-communication.
During the report period, NBHM continued to carry out schemes such as helping the development of mathematical centres, giving scholarships to research fellows at
doctoral and postdoctoral levels, travel assistance to young mathematicians for attending conferences/ seminars etc., visiting professorship, assistance for research project/schemes, support to libraries, assistance to conferences, monitoring mathematics olympiads, and others. During the year 2003-04, an annual budget of Rs.7.47 crore was allocated to the Board.
A major portion of the budget of the Board was released towards library support to the mathematics departments of 87 universities/institutions. A recurring grant of Rs. 1.05 crore was given to Chennai Mathematical Institute, Chennai. In collaboration with the International Mathematical Union, NBHM initiated schemes for making mathematical literature accessible through electronic-communication.
NBHM provided 10 new fellowships at doctoral level and 6 at post-doctoral level. In addition, 4 national and 9 international conferences relating to mathematics, were partially supported.
The Board provided an annual grant of Rs. 30 lakh for Olympiad activities.
To meet the expenditure of the Indian team in International Astronomy Olympaid, held
at Sweden during 2003, DAE released grant of Rs.9 lakh. In the IMO 2003 held at Tokyo, the Indian team of 6 students won 4 silver and 1 bronze medals.
The Test Specimen (beam-column joint of turbine building
of 500 MW TAPP 3&4) being tested on the 500 Ton Test Frame built
under the BRNS Project, “Experimental and Analytical Evaluation
of Nonlinear Behavior of RCC Frame Structures and Joints” at SERC, Chennai.

Grant-in-Aid to institutions
DAE has been extending grant-in-aid to seven institutes of national eminence engaged in basic and applied research ranging from natural sciences, mathematics and astronomy to fusion research. The Department also supports a society which manages education for the children of DAE employees.
There has been a growing synergy between these research institutions and the Research and Development Units of the Department. Several joint projects were undertaken between the DAE units and the aided institutions.
During the financial year 2003-2004, the grant-in-aid of over Rs. 318.46 crore was provided by DAE to these institutions.
DAE has approved a collaborative project “Nuclear & Biotechnological Tools” in Coastal System Research” undertaken by M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation covering Kudankulam and Kalpakkam areas in Tamil Nadu.

Grant-in-aid to Cancer Hospitals
The Department also funds cancer hospitals in the country to support small projects and purchase of radiation related equipment for cancer treatment. The financial support provided in this regard was to the tune of Rs. 5.86 crore.
DAE, under the Tripartite Agreement with the North-Eastern Council and the Government of Assam, for revitalization of the Dr. B. Barooah Cancer Institute (BBCI), Guwahati, Assam, has a share of Rs. 18 crore of which Rs. 15.58 crore was released so far. This hospital is a regional cancer centre for cancer treatment and control in the North-Eastern Region.
DAE also took up initiatives relating to out-reach in cancer care programme that included, creation of better network between cancer institutions in the country focussing on research and development, training and preparation of protocols for treatment as well as incentive for indigenisation of radiation related equipment for cancer treatment.

International Research Collaboration
DAE had signed an agreement in 1996 with the European Organisation for Nuclear Research (CERN) to contribute initially in kind USD 25 million to the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). The items to be supplied by DAE to LHC include super-conducting corrector magnets, quench protection system, software including control software for LHC, and expert manpower to work at CERN for magnet characterization.
Under the collaboration, the first shipment of 190 precision magnet positioning system jacks and the 1000th superconducting correction magnet made by CAT for the LHC was also sent to CERN in 2003.
As a part of DAE-CERN collaborative programmes, BARC continued to supply the specialised components/sub-systems such as silicon strip detectors for pre-shower radiation detection in CMS experiment at Large Hadron Collider (LHC) accelerator, Quench Heater Power Supplier for protection of super conducting magnets and the supervisory control and data acquisition systems for String-2 magnet test facility at LHC.
Contributions of DAE and other organisations in India to the activities of CERN have earned the “Observer” status for India at CERN.
BARC’s participation in the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) in the Brookhaven National Laboratory of United States, the Large Hadron Collider and its experiments CMS and ALICE under construction at CERN, participation of Indian scientists in several synchrotron and other facilities in several laboratories abroad has earned considerable respect for Indian capabilities.

Dr. Anil Kakodkar, Chairman, Atomic Energy Commission of India handing over the 1000th magnet for CERN project, to Dr. Lyndon Evans, Director, European Organisation Nuclear Research (CERN), Geneva. Seen in the picture are Dr. D.D. Bhavalkar, former-Director, CAT, Indore (extreme left) and Dr. Philippe Lebrun, CERN, Geneva (second from extreme right) and Dr. Philip John Bryant, CERN, Geneva (extreme right).


BARC participated in an IAEA sponsored international effort for searching of Sr-90 “orphan sources” at Georgia. Aerial Gamma Spectrometry System, developed by BARC, was deployed in the search operations. The technical superiority of this system in detecting the orphan sources and the expertise of BARC staff in locating the same and training of the staff of Nuclear Radiation and Safety Services (NRSS), Ministry of Environment, Georgia in the operation of the AGSS system were highly appreciated by both the Government of Georgia and IAEA.
At VECC, work related to the fabrication, assembly, testing and installation of the Photon Multiplicity Detector (PMD) for the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC) at the Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) of USA, continued. The R&D for this detector had been carried out as part of the R&D programme of ALICE PMD. The STAR PMD is made of 24 super-modules. A total of 10 super-modules were installed at the experimental site at BNL.
TIFR participated in the international collaborations at CERN and Fermilab.
SINP contributed to the international experiment ALICE programme of the Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, by successfully developing analog-digital MANAS chip for the readout electronics for all the tracking chambers.
HRI studied the ramifications of the recent experimental results from the Japanese experiment KamLAND.

 
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