IPB University Partakes in MIT-Indonesia Research Alliance (MIRA) Research Collaboration Program

Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Republic of Indonesia altogether with 10 (ten) other top-tier, autonomous Indonesian public universities (including IPB University) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which is based in Boston, U.S.A., launched a new 5-year-long research collaboration. Named “MIT-Indonesia Research Alliance (MIRA)”, myriad fields as research focus ranged from energy (technology policy), health and food technology (food safety, health treats and pharmaceutical), sustainable transport, ICT (supply chain technology), advanced material/nanotechnology, disaster mitigation (environmental sensing-and-response and climate change) until social sciences and humanities.

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IPB University alongside with the 10 (ten) other autonomous Indonesian public universities are collaborating with Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) within research collaboration platform namely MIT-Indonesia Research Alliance (MIRA). MIT is world-renowned institute of higher learning that is known for its rigorous curriculum, excellent research, and outstanding faculty, that is located in Boston, United States of America. This collaboration is initiated by former linkages between MIT, Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Republic of Indonesia and Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB). MIRA as consortium between MIT and Indonesian top tier institutions aimed to conduct state of the art research for breakthrough technology/innovation that are market/industry driven.  Through MIRA, Indonesian researchers are partnering with MIT professors in developing strategic research in myriad array of fields, namely energy (technology policy), health and food technology (food safety, health treats and pharmaceutical), sustainable transport, ICT (supply chain technology), advanced material/nanotechnology, disaster mitigation (environmental sensing-and-response and climate change) and social sciences and humanities.

It is supported through the MIT-Indonesia Seed Fund that is going to be plotted per research group consisting of one MIT researcher pairing with researchers from one (or more) Indonesian universities. The planned annual budget sums up to not less than USD 15 million to be allocated to the matched research group of MIT and Indonesian researchers. Each university assigned their own Person in Contact (PIC), where IPB University will be led by Prof. Dr. Dodik Ridho Nurrochmat. With 4 field of concentrations (Advanced Material, Health and Food Technology, Disaster Mitigation and Energy), IPB University is represented by total 10 research groups with Principal Investigator (PI) as leader of each group.

In order to actualize the collaborative conducts even further and mark the research initiations, IPB University extended official visit to number of American universities on December 4th-11th, 2019. IPB delegations paid a visit to Prof. Rema Hanna of Harvard Kennedy School (HKS). She serves as HKS Chair of the International Development Area, Faculty Director of Evidence for Policy Design at Harvard University’s Center for International Development and co-Scientific Director of the Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (J-PAL) South East Asia Office in Indonesia. She is a Jeffrey Cheah Professor of South-East Asia Studies, Research Associate with the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) and affiliate of Bureau for Research and Economic Analysis of Development (BREAD). Besides, IPB researchers also met some other esteemed researchers at Dartmouth College Hanover, one of prestigious members of Ivy League, such as Prof. Melody Brown-Burkins (Associate Director of the John Sloan Dickey Center for International Understanding), Prof. Richard B. Howarth (Professor and Chair of Environmental Studies at Dartmouth College and Editor-in-Chief of the reputable Ecological Economics journal). This as well acted as follow-up on “Workshop to Enhance Collaboration Between US & Indonesia in Biodiversity & Conservation Research” previously held on July 2019, co-organized by National Science Foundation (NSF) of U.S.A., IPB University and Ministry of Research, Technology and Higher Education of Republic of Indonesia.