Latest SASNET News


Successful results from SASNET supported research project in Sikkim

On Tuesday 22 May 2012, Assistant Professor Anamika Barua from the Department of Humanities and Social Sciences at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Guwahati, and her Swedish research partner Associate Professor Pernille Gooch, Division of Human Ecology, Lund University, made a courtesy visit to SASNET’s office in Lund (photo). They came to report on the successful results from their joint research project on ”Water, Climate Change and Rural Livelihood: Assessing Socio Economic Vulnerability and Potential Adaptive strategies in Sikkim, India”. This project was initiated by a planning grant from SASNET in 2009 (more information), but later received substantial funding from Sida/SAREC’s Developing Country Research Council for an extended project covering the whole eastern Himalayan region of India. The initial SASNET funding was however used for a preliminary pilot field study in collaboration with Sikkim University. More information about the research project.
The findings of the study will now be presented in the upcoming ISEE 2012 Conference – Ecological Economics and Rio+20: Challenges and Contributions for a Green Economy– to be held from 16th to 19th June 2012, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. More information abot the ISEE 2012 conference. 


Success for SASNET India Evening in Lund with seminar on Caste Identity, and Sarod/Tabla concert

On Wednesday 16 May 2012, an evening programme devoted to Indian society and culture was held in Lund. The successful event was jointly organised by SASNET/Lund University and Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund (ABF) Lund, and was free of charge. It drew a full house.  
The programme started at 6 P.M. with a lecture by Professor G K Karanth on ”Caste ‘Pride’ and Caste ‘Prejudice’: Personal Reflections”. During the academic year 2011/12 Prof. Karanth has been the ICCR India Chair Professor at Lund University hosted by SASNET and the Department of Sociology. In his presentation, he discussed issues related to Indian caste identities, based on his own personal experiences as having been born and brought up in a family with a caste identity of its own. 
The lecture was followed by an appreciated performance by the new India Choir of Lund (Indiska Kören i Lund), led by Bubu Munshi Eklund and Thomas Wiehe, and then came the cultural highlight of the evening – a classical North Indian music concert by young talented Sarod player Somabanti Basu from Kolkata, being accompanied by her husband Suman Sarkar on Tabla, offering a woderful concert programme, higly appreciated by the audience.
More information about the SASNET/ABF India Evening.  


Annika Härenstam speaker at Go:India-SASNET Brown Bag seminar in Gothenburg

0n 29 May 2012, 12.00 – 13.00 the second Go:India & SASNET Brown Bag seminar was held in Gothenburg. Venue: The Glass House (Glashuset), Chalmersgatan 4, Göteborg (the Inner Court Yard, between the School of Photography and the Valand School of Fine Arts).
The seminar featured Annika Härenstam, Professor in Work Science at the Department of Sociology and Work Science, University of Gothenburg. Prof. Härenstam spoke on ”Gender, leadership and health promotion in working life”. She presented the recent cooperation formed with researchers from India. The network – SIGN – Sweden-India Gender Network is a network which aims to link researchers and organizations in India and Sweden, in order to share knowledge on Gender, Work, OSH (Occupational Health and Safety) and Environment in both countries for long-term collaboration. The network has recently received a grant of three million SEK from SIDA and is led by Annika Härenstam and Birgitta Jordansson from the department of Sociology and Work Science. 
Read more about this seminar.
Read more about the previous Go:India & SASNET Brown Bag Seminar with Professor G K Karanth.


Lars Eklund report from Kristianstad University

On Monday 23 April 2012, SASNET’s deputy director Lars Eklund visited Kristianstad University in order to meet some of the researchers and staff working on South Asia related collaboration projects. A meeting was kindly organised by Associate Professor Kerstin Samarasinghe from the School of Health and Society, and Lise-Lotte Nilsson, Director of International Relations, Kristianstad University. Associate Professor Ann-Sofi Rehnstam Holm, and Associate Professor Torvald Olsson from the School of Education and Environment, both of them strongly involved in India related research, participated. Lars also met the university Vice Rector Lena Persson, and Dr. Christer Ohlin, in charge of Special Education at the School of Education and Environment.
The university has had a long-standing collaboration with Sri Lanka, not the least due to Dr. Kerstin Samarasinghe’s efforts over the years, with Linnaeus Palme exchange programmes  first with the Open University in Colombo, and now with Sri Jayawardenepura University. The collaboration with Sri Lanka got a boost when a high-level delegation from Kristianstad University, led by the Vice Chancellor Lars Carlsson, and Vice Rector Lena Persson, led a delegation to the country in February 2012. It was a fruitful visit, resulting in both a number of collaboration agreements, and plans for a new triangular collaborative Masters programme in Geriatric Nursing between Kristianstad University, Open University and Chiang Mai University in Thailand. 
Read Lars report from the visit to Kristianstad University.


Growth Analysis seminar on recruitment of Indian students to Sweden

Andreas Scheutz (top right) presents the descrease of Indian applicants to Higher Educational Institutions in Sweden after the introduction of fees. 

On 25 April 2012, the Swedish Agency for Growth Policy Analysis (Tillväxtanalys) organised a seminar on ”Student recruitment in India – regions, collaborations and advantages for Sweden”. The seminar took place in Gothenburg and SASNET was represented at the meeting through the participation of Julia Velkova. Present in the seminar were also representatives from Jönköping University, University of Gothenburg, University of Borås, Chalmers University of Technology, Skövde University, and Halmstad University. The seminar was based on a recent Growth Analysis report that looks into the possibilities for Swedish universities to develop further their processes of internationalisation and attract more Indian students to study in Sweden after the introduction of fees for studying at higher education insitutions. Read the report.
The seminar was mainly led by Andreas Muranyi Scheutz, representative of Growth Analysis in New Delhi, India who discussed various issues, strategies and Swedish organisations represented in India that could assist Swedish universities in attracting Indian students. Andreas Scheutz' presentation was complemented by input from Andreas Larsson, Growth Analysis Stockholm and Anna Liberg from Exportrådet. 
After the seminar in Gothenburg, an identical seminar was held in Stockholm on 25 April 2012. 
Growth Analysis is a cross-border organisation with head office in the city of Östersund in Sweden, but activities are also conducted in Stockholm, Brasilia, Brussels, New Delhi, Beijing, Tokyo, and Washington D.C.


SASNET Brown Bag seminar on Inland Fisheries in Bangladesh and India

Associate Professor Alia Ahmad from the Department of Economics, Lund University, held a SASNET Brown Bag lunch seminar lecture on Thursday 10 May 2012, 12.30–13.30, at Lunds konsthall, Mårtenstorget 3, Lund. Her presentation was entitled ”Community Management of Inland Fisheries in Bangladesh and India”, and was based on results of a joint research project in which she has been involved in recent years.  See the poster for the seminar.
By coincidence her book summarizing the research results was published by Mullick Brothers, Dhaka, the same week as Dr. Ahmad held her SASNET lecture.
The book has been co-written by Dr. Amalendu Jyotishi, Amrita School of Business in Bangalore; and Iftekharul Haque, lecturer at BRAC University in Dhaka, currently on leave for higher studies in University of Guelph, Canada. 

The study was initially supported by a planning grant from SASNET and later on sponsored by Sida and the Swedish Research Council. Organisations from three countries have been involved – Lund University, Sweden; Gujarat Institute of Development Research, India; and WorldFish Center, Bangladesh. The project addressed two major research issues: community management of inland fisheries for poverty alleviation, and the role of external agents in promoting user-based community organisations. The case studies are the community based Fisheries Management (CBFM) in Bangladesh, and the Cooperative Fisheries  Management of TAWA Reservoir in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India.
The interdisciplinary South Asia seminars were introduced by SASNET a year ago, and from 2012 they are organised in collaboration with Arbetarnas Bildningsförbund (ABF) Lund, and Lunds konsthall.
More information about previous Brown Bag seminars.


Success for first Go:India - SASNET Brown Bag seminar in Gothenburg

On Tuesday 17 April 2012, the first Brown Bag lunch seminar with focus on contemporary India was held in Gothenburg. It was a great success. Speaker at the seminar was Professor Gopal Karanth who is ICCR India Chair Professor at Lund University during the academic year 2011/12. Prof. Karanth talked about ”Looking back and looking forward. Class, Caste and Economic Change in Contemporary Rural India” to an engaged audience of researchers and students from various fields. 
Read more and see photos from the event.
The seminar was jointly organised by the University of Gothenburg project Go:India and SASNET, and follows the model of the successful SASNET Brown Bag seminar series that has been taking place in Lund for three semesters now. 


SASNET and Go:India launched lunch seminar series in Gothenburg

From the spring 2012 the University of Gothenburg project Go:India and SASNET has jointly launched a new lunch seminar series with focus on contemporary India that will take place in Gothenburg. Go:India is an interdisciplinary academic network and project promoting exchange and cooperation between University of Gothenburg and universities in India. Go:India was initiated in 2011 and its first phase will continue until 2013. In the spring of 2012 SASNET and Go:India decided on joining efforts in order to replicate the successful Lund-based SASNET Brown Bag seminar series, and offer a similar seminar series also in Gothenburg. 
The seminar series is held once a month and features researchers working on contemporary India.
Coordinators for the seminar series are Sigríður Beck and Katharina Plank from Gothenburg University, and Julia Velkova from SASNET.

The first public lunch seminar of the series took place on 17 April 2012 at the The Glass House (Glashuset), located at Chalmersgatan 4 (the inner court yard between the School of Photography and the Valand School of Fine Arts) in Gothenburg. The seminar featured Professor Gopal Karanth who is ICCR India Chair Professor at Lund University during the academic year 2011/12. Prof. Karanth talked about ”Looking back and looking forward. Class, Caste and Economic Change in Contemporary Rural India”.
Read a report about the seminar.

The next Go:India – SASNET Brown Bag seminar in Gothenburg will take place on 29 May 2012 and will feature Professor Annika Härenstam from the Department of Work Science. More information to follow.
 


SASNET co-organised successful Indian Mela at Lunds konsthalll

A large crowd of people joined the Indian cultural programme/Mela that was held at Lunds konsthall on Saturday 14th April 2012. The programme was jointly organized by Konsthallen, SASNET, Lunds kommun/Kulturskolan and ABF, and was held in connection with an Indian art exhibition at Lunds konsthall, an exhibition entitled Social Fabric. The exhibition, to a large extent focusing on textile production in India, includes works by prominent Indian artists such as Archana Hande, Sudhir Patwardan, and Raqs Media Collective.
Indian Ambassador H.E. Mr. Ashok Sajjanhar participated in the 14th April event that coincided with the Indian and Bengali New Year, Baisakh. The mela programme included joyful Bollywood dance performances, and the newly launched Indian Choir of Lund, led by Bubu Munshi Eklund and Thomas Wiehe, had its premiere performance.
On invitation from SASNET, Senior Lecturer Tania Alyhr from Konstfack University College of Arts, Crafts and Design in Stockholm, finally gave an appreciated lecture on ”Textile Life in Western India”, focusing on the mass of textile expressions and crafts, the multitude of uses of textiles, and the beauty and the variety of Indian clothing and the highly skilled, thorough and highly dedicated craftspeople who perform their work in a meticulous way.
More information about the 14th April Indian Mela in Lund.


Christ University delegation visited Lund University and SASNET

 
SASNET’s Lars Eklund with Bino Thomas and Johny Joseph from Christ University, Bangalore.

On 26 April 2012, Bino Thomas, Head of the Dept. of Social Work, Christ University, Bangalore, India; and Johny Joseph, Director of the Center for Social Action at the same university, made a courtesy call to SASNET’s office in Lund. They met with Anna Lindberg, Lars Eklund and Julia Velkova.
Thomas and Joseph had come to Lund University to participate in a conference on ”Social Work in an International Context”, organised by the School of Social Work, Lund University. During this conference, the School of Social Work’s partner universities and organizations in India, Argentina, Holland, Iceland and Denmark – among them Christ University – held presentations on social work in their countries.
Mr Thomas has a specialization is social work and family mental health, family and marital counseling and parenting skills development programmes. Johny Joseph has, through the Center for Social Action, initiated developmental projects for rural and urban communities involving the students of Christ University since 1999, and has designed activities for student sensitization on social issues.

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