The 2025 UQ–IITD Research Academy Annual Symposium was hosted by The University of Queensland (UQ) on 1-2 July 2025 at St Lucia in Brisbane.
The symposium brought together around 180 participants including government, industry partners, PhD students, and academics from both UQ and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi (IITD) to explore collaborative research initiatives aimed at addressing sustainability challenges and fostering innovation between Australia and India.
UQ President and Vice-Chancellor Professor Deborah Terry AC said the symposium was a celebration of a partnership between UQ and IITD that continues to grow in scale, significance, and impact.
“In a world that’s been rapidly reshaped by technological change, climate volatility, geopolitical tensions, and growing inequality, our response must be as interconnected and collaborative as the issues we face. And that’s exactly what makes the Academy so special,” Professor Terry said.
The symposium showcased the impact of research and innovation partnerships through keynote speakers, panel discussions, and paper presentations under the theme: ‘Innovating Together: Australia-India Research Partnerships for a Sustainable Future.’
Several government and industry partners were also invited to participate in discussions, including the Australia India Business Council (AIBC), Shajanand Medical Technologies India, HCLTech Australia and New Zealand, Vaxxas Biomedical Facility, and Stanwell Energy Future Australia.
Keynote presenter, Queensland Chief Scientist Professor Kerrie Wilson, affirmed India’s importance to Australian research priorities and highlighted the UQ-IITD partnership’s alignment with national sustainability strategies.
“Together, this Academy is working on some of the world’s most pressing challenges. And it’s also acknowledging the transitions that are currently underway globally – climate action, digital transformation, and the pursuit of inclusive and sustainable growth,” Professor Wilson said.
IITD Deputy Director of Strategy and Planning, Professor Ambuj Sagar, expressed his excitement about the Academy’s growing community and emphasised the importance of sustaining this growth in the years ahead.
“While the partnership is 7 years old, in an academic life, 7 years is very young. Given the breadth of research at both UQ and IITD, I think we need to bring in more colleagues and deepen the partnership,” Professor Sagar said
“The measure of any good partnership is, are we able to do more together than we could do individually? I think this partnership is showing that it is indeed possible”.
The 2-day symposium showcased a range of collaborative research under the Academy’s 6 themes, including the ‘Disaster Resilience Framework for Utility Tunnels in Water Systems’ project. Led by structural engineering PhD student Abhinav Dewangan, UQ School of Civil Engineering Senior Lecturer Dr Jurij Karlovsek and IITD Dean (Infrastructure) Professor Dipti Ranjan Sahoo, the project seeks to advance the role of digitalisation and artificial intelligence in disaster readiness. The proposed framework offers a scalable approach to improving resilience across water utility tunnels and contributes to the broader goal of sustainable and disaster-resilient infrastructure systems.
As part of this year’s symposium, the Academy introduced the UQ–IITD Three Minutes Thesis (3MT) Showcase, bringing together its talented PhD cohort. 10 PhD students presented their ideas and innovations in concise 3-minute pitches to symposium attendees.
Isteeda Ikbal, a PhD student in civil engineering, won the 3MT 1st prize and the People’s Choice award for her talk titled, ‘Cementing a Greener Future: Reinventing Concrete with LC3.’ Isteeda presented her research on Limestone Calcined Clay Cement (LC3), a sustainable alternative to traditional cement that can reduce CO2 emissions by up to 40%. LC3 concrete holds significant potential to lower global emissions in the cement and construction industries. Her project is co-supervised by UQ Associate Professor Vinh Dao and IITD Professor Shashank Bishnoi.
Congratulations to all the winners and a special thanks to all 3MT participants who shared their research with us.
Winner and People’s choice
Isteeda Ikbal
‘Cementing a Greener Future: Reinventing Concrete with LC3’
Runner-up
Anjana Ajith
‘Bleeding at work: What’s wrong with the ‘default’ workplaces?’
UQ–IITD Research Academy welcomes collaborations and partnerships in training, research innovation, translation and commercialisation.
For enquiries or more information on partnering with the Academy, please contact:
Ms Aashita Apoorva
Program Director, Partnerships and Business Development
uqiitd_par@admin.iitd.ac.in
Join the UQ–IITD Research Academy community by signing up for the quarterly newsletter.