Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti from the Indian Institute of Science visited Chalmers and the Department of Industrial and Materials Science for his Jubilee Professorship this spring. The time was spent strengthening academic ties and exploring future collaboration.
The Jubilee Professorship at Chalmers was established in 1979, when the university celebrated its 150th anniversary, as a gift from the Swedish government. Its purpose is to bring internationally renowned scholars to Chalmers, enriching the university with new knowledge and strengthening global academic connections.
Professor Amaresh Chakrabarti was appointed as one of two Jubilee Professors for 2025. As part of this, he spent three months during the spring visiting the Department of Industrial and Materials Science at Chalmers.
Longstanding Academic Ties
Amaresh Chakrabarti has a longstanding professional relationship with Professor Ola Isaksson at IMS, who he first met decades ago at Luleå University of Technology, when serving as a PhD opponent, advisory board member, and reviewer for VINNOVA. They have been working together over the years to develop and disseminate the science of product development.
“Amaresh is a highly respected and internationally recognized scholar, having received multiple prestigious awards this year alone. We have long sought opportunities for closer collaboration, knowing that the sustained presence of such a distinguished researcher would likely enrich the exchange of ideas and perspectives" says Ola Isaksson.
Exploring Shared Interests
During his stay, Professor Chakrabarti focused on mutual knowledge exchange, engaging with research groups in product and process development at Chalmers. The engagement included workshops, either as a participant or speaker/moderator, as well as discussions and seminars.
“My main focus was exploratory,” he says, “I wanted to understand the work being done at Chalmers in depth and also share insights from our research at the Indian Institute of Science and from India more broadly.”
"Professor Chakrabarti has both contributed to our current research and brought in wider aspects of research with an outside perspective, which has been quite valuable", says Ola Isaksson.
The Value of International Collaboration
Professor Chakrabarti emphasizes that international collaboration is essential in the field of product development.
“Product and process development are universal activities, and the science behind them transcends national boundaries,” he says, “Chalmers and the Indian Institute of Science have many shared interests and complementary strengths. Even when we work on similar problems, we often approach them differently and can benefit in learning from each other to evolve our solutions”.
Looking Ahead
The visit has already sparked discussions about future joint initiatives. With many manufacturing companies operating in both Sweden and India, Professor Chakrabarti sees great potential for impactful collaboration.
“I would like to thank my host, Ola Isaksson, along with professors Sophie Hallstedt, Johan Malmqvist and Rikard Söderberg for making this stay highly enriching and rewarding. Not only because of the academic interactions but also for the many social and cultural interactions that I got to explore. We are in the process of looking for further opportunities to take our interactions to larger and deeper levels of collaboration” he says.
- Vice styrkeområdesledare, Production