KISS Deemed to be University and Bloomberg School of Public Health, Johns Hopkins University are exploring possibilities of partnership in the field of ‘Climate Change Communication, Community Empowerment, and Advocacy: Local Action for Global Impact’. Professor Rajiv Rimal from Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health had an interactive meet with Professor Deepak Kumar Behera, Vice-Chancellor, KISS-DU; Dr. P. K. Routray, Registrar & CEO and other senior functionaries for this on 16th April 2022.
Professor Rimal is working on a climate change project funded by the National Science Foundation of the US. In this connection, he outlined a project of collecting real-time air-pollution data through the help of Geo-Stationary Monitors from India and developing a system of data transfer and data analysis. The data would pertain not just to air pollution, but also to toxicological effects on the health of local people in specific micro areas.
Professor Behera and Dr. Routray apprised Professor Rimal of the enormous potential of KISS for collaborative research in the tribal areas of Odisha. Professor Behera talked about the availability of satellite centres to undertake the data collection and data logistics. Little or no work has been done so far as regards the negative impact of air pollution due to deforestation and mining on the health of the tribal populace, mentioned Dr. Rashmi Mohapatra, bio-scientist.
The meeting agreed that the project holds great possibilities regarding knowledge production and community management of the environment in the remote tribal areas to which KISS-DU enjoys academic access.
Professor Gopal Krishna Panda, Emeritus Professor of KISS-DU; Professor Jugal Kishore Mishra, Director IQAC; Professor Ashok K. Mohapatra, Chairperson, HRDC; Dr. Iswar Chandra Naik, Chairperson Council of Deans; Dr. Snigdharani Panda, Dean School of Tribal Resource Management; Dr. Jasobanta Das, Dean School of Indigenous Knowledge Science and Technology; Dr. Rashmi Mohapatra, Dean School of Comparative Indic Studies and Tribal Science; Dr. Anirban Bandyopadhyay, Associate Professor; Dr. Priyoneel Basu, Associate Professor; Dr. Disha Bhatt, Deputy Coordinator IQAC; Dr. Sushree S. Mohanty, Assistant Professor; and Mr. Atul Nag participated in the Interactive Session, which was facilitated by Dr. Santosh Rath, Professor of Orthopaedics, KIMS. Professor Ashok K Mohapatra and Dr. Priyoneel Basu Roychowdhury were nominated as the contact persons for the necessary communication work needed for carrying forward the preliminaries of the project.
