Day 1

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← 13.05.2018

14.05.2018

The International Training Program of Climate and Environment Change on "The Belt and Road" began on Monday, the 14th of May at the Institute of Earth Environment, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IEECAS) with an Opening Ceremony, some speeches and a group photo.


We were apprised that the 19 participants had been selected from 9 different countries (India, Iran, Nepal, Pakistan, Serbia, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Thailand and Uzbekistan), out of about a hundred applicants. There were going to be some very interesting lectures by eminent, globally acclaimed scientists, and we were also going to be taken to a few quite exciting field trips.

All in all, I was thrilled!


After an introduction by all the attendees, we were taken for a visit to the labs at IEECAS, and this was the part which simply blew my mind. I will not go into lengthy but arcane descriptions of the high-end instrumentation available at IEECAS, but I will state that while I already knew that China invests about 2.1% of its GDP into Research & Development (R&D), the actual results still surprised me. For comparison, India spends only 0.85% of its GDP on R&D.


A few photos from the lab visits:

 
 
   

No one expects investments in R&D to solve all the problems for Indian research, but an increase in funding would definitely translate into better infrastructure, higher outputs and a better global standing. As with several developed nations, China also receives a large chunk of its funding from the industry, and regrettably, India is yet to bridge the gap between the industry and the academia.

Hoping better times are on their way. :)


The evening ended with a lavish Reception Banquet and a tour around the city.

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