Economic power, robots, and pollution on the agenda at India lectures
Posted on 15 February 2018
Lectures at some of the top institutes, colleges and schools in Delhi and Bangalore addressed some of the most pressing global challenges. Here is what University of York researchers discussed with students and partners in India:
"India has reduced substanstially the use of cash payments since late 2016; a bold monetary reform that is being widely discussed among economists worldwide. Europe embarked on an even more audacious reform some 20 years ago by launching the Euro, yet the Euro ran into serious problems in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis of 2008 and almost unravelled in the face of government debt and banking crises." -- Dr Matthias Morys, Department of Economics and Related Studies
"The balance of economic power is shifting from the western world to the eastern world. The tensions underpinning western decline are weak economic growth, declining confidence, and a diminishing share of world trade. The traditional Bretton Woods institutions and the European Union, the most sophisticated and advance example of regional integration on earth, now face new challenges from developing economies." -- Dr Simon Sweeney, York Management School
"Robotics is an enormously important industry, predicted to be worth £13 billion or 12,00,00 crore, in 2025. Robots are often used in safety-critical and mission-critical situations; it is therefore worth our time and effort to ensure that we engineer robots correctly, and can demonstrate that we can do so. Can a new tool called RoboSim help us create meaningful simulations?" -- Dr Jeremy Jacob, Department of Computer Science
"Following use, pharmaceuticals and their metabolites are excreted into the sewage system and can then pass through sewage treatment plants into surface waters. As pharmaceuticals are biologically active molecules, in recent years there has been increasing concern from scientists and the general public over the potential impacts that pharmaceuticals, released to natural environment, have on ecosystems and human health." -- Professor Alistair Boxhall, Environment Department
"The application of evolutionary computation to problems in medicine has increased rapidly over the past five years, but there are specific issues and challenges that distinguish it from other real-world applications. Obtaining reliable and coherent patient data, establishing the clinical need and demonstrating value in the results obtained are all aspects that require careful consideration." -- Professor Stephen Smith, Department of Electronic Engineering.
For more information about research partnerships in India contact the University's Global Partnerships team.