One current collaborative project between IITB and BCSSW is addressing the 244 million people living in India who lack regular access to electricity. (Photo courtesy Solar Urja through Localization for Sustainability and IIT Bombay).
Boston College and the聽聽(IITB) have co-signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to explore partnerships in research, project development, coursework, and the sharing of knowledge and ideas. Boston College School of Social Work聽Dean Gautam Yadama聽played an instrumental role in bringing the two institutions together; a BCSSW team is already working with IITB on a project designed to provide clean renewable energy to low resource areas of rural India.
鈥淚ITB is a premiere institution offering a wealth of opportunities for its students, often providing the training needed to create technology-driven interventions to address some of the pressing social issues of our day,鈥� said Yadama. 鈥淎s leaders in the field of social work practice and research, our own expertise provides a perfect complement to theirs, and I look forward to moving forward, together, in a shared quest to build a better world.鈥�
One current collaborative project between IITB and BCSSW is addressing the 244 million people living in India who lack regular access to electricity. IITB is now distributing seven million solar lamps to rural households in seven different states throughout the country in hopes of offering an affordable, reliable, and clean solution to this problem. BCSSW鈥檚 team is assessing the efficacy of the initiative through a systems analysis designed to understand what it takes, as Yadama聽told BC News聽to 鈥渓ocalize the production, distribution, and maintenance of solar technologies for the poor.鈥� The BCSSW team includes聽Assistant Professor Praveen Kumar, International Development Project Manager Kelsey Werner, and Dean Yadama, as well as seven Boston College undergraduates in biology, nursing, and business who are working on supply chain and entrepreneurship challenges associated with the project, while helping to design an evaluation for its analysis.
The MOU offers an example of Boston College鈥檚 intentions with regards to its future Institute for Integrated Science and Society, which will be designed to: strengthen teaching and research in the sciences, increase collaboration across the university鈥檚 schools and with other partner organizations, and enhance BC鈥檚 ability to address complex societal problems, in areas such as energy, health, and the environment.
Yadama will further explore knowledge-sharing opportunities with IITB when he travels to India this December to deliver the plenary address at the Institute鈥檚 6th聽International Conference on Advances in Energy Research. He will discuss transdisciplinary approaches to addressing the most pressing energy and environmental issues in the world today. He is hopeful that more opportunities for knowledge-sharing will quickly follow, particularly with regards to IITB鈥檚 interdisciplinary programs that are well aligned with the School of Social Work鈥檚 own existing and planned offerings.
鈥淲ho better to take on the 鈥榮ociety鈥� components of the planned Institute for Integrated Science and Society, than a school of social work,鈥� said Yadama. 鈥淥ur ongoing project with IITB demonstrates how we can partner with like-minded institutions, and work together, across disciplines, to find new ways to address global problems.鈥�