Dr. Sheela Suryanarayanan, faculty at the Centre for Women’s Studies, has received a grant to set up a Geographic Information Systems (GIS) laboratory at the University of Hyderabad (UoH), from the German government under its ‘returning experts’ scheme. It’s a one-time grant of 8500 Euros from the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) to cover the cost of setting up a Geographic Information System (GIS) laboratory at UoH. The grant enables the purchase and installation of all the equipment necessary for such a laboratory.
Prof. B.J. Rao, Vice-Chancellor, congratulating Dr. Suryanarayanan on the grant, said: “I am delighted at this very important development. Such a laboratory will enable Dr. Suryanarayanan to launch multidisciplinary research projects in gender and mapping, gender and development studies, and related fields, as also short-term teaching programs. The university will naturally support her in this to the fullest since it is a one-of-a-kind facility that the German government has enabled.”
Dr. Sheela Suryanarayanan
Dr. Suryanarayanan said: “I am excited about this grant because it helps me and the University of Hyderabad think in terms of collaboration for teaching and research in vocational programs and fields like gender and development through digital projects. With my multidisciplinary skills in Geography, Development Studies, and Women’s Studies, I am very much looking forward to working towards the progress and growth of such a laboratory. It will be set up in the Centre for Digital Learning, Training and Resources, which has agreed to provide space.”
Dr. Suryanarayanan applied for ‘subsidies for workplace equipment’ in the section ‘Knowledge-sharing by Returning Experts’ and successfully obtained funding for the same. ‘Returning experts’ are people with a migration history who have studied in Germany or worked for several years in a specific field in Germany and who use their expertise by returning to their country of origin for good with a local employer.