Nupur Bose and (right) Ashok K Ghosh. Telegraph picture

Patna, Aug. 8: Two professors and department heads from AN College would convene and chair a session during the annual conference of Royal Geographical Society (RGS) to be held at London between August 31 and September 2, taking research work and higher education in the state to an international level.

Nupur Bose, associate professor and head of geography department, and Ashok K. Ghosh, professor in-charge, department of environment and water management, both of AN College, were earlier invited by the organising committee of RGS to convene the session of Developing Areas Research Group at the annual conference in London on September 2.

Both of them are probably the first from the state to convene a session at the annual conference of RGS. Moreover, Bose also enjoys the rare feat of being the first person from Bihar to chair such a session.

“It is a privilege to represent my university and country at the RGS Conference, London. The findings of my research group regarding water quality and quantity in Bihar are the result of seven years of intensive work. Higher education and research have much to contribute to my state’s development. This is also an opportunity to share our knowledge with our peers on a global platform and initiate further collaborative research in the water sector,” said Bose.

The topic of the session to be convened by them and chaired by Bose is “Water scarcity in developing economies: issues and solutions”, wherein six research papers would be presented in the proposed session. The participants of the session include members of Delft University of Technology, Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences, Germany and Imperial College, London. The objective of the proposed session would be to discuss the broad spectrum of drinking water quality and quantity issues and their possible solutions in the given socio-economic environs of developing societies. After presentation of the papers, a panel discussion would be held and Bose would submit the conclusions of the session to the organising committee of RGS.

“After bifurcation of the state, the only natural resource to sustain its economy is water. But this resource is gradually declining in quality and quantity. Thus, there is a need for more scientific investigation to preserve the quality and quantity of the resource. The proposed session would highlight water quality and quantity issues of the state for the international community to attract more collaborative research in Bihar. Moreover, such events would set a platform for the young researchers of the state to present their findings on an international platform,” said Ghosh.

The three-day annual international conference of the RGS-Institute of British Geographers (IBG) attracts over 1,000 geographers from around the world. The RGS-IBG is known to be UK’s learned society and professional body for geography, founded in 1830 and supported by more than 15,000 fellows and members in over 100 countries. Around 100 sessions would be held in the upcoming annual conference for 2011.

Bose said both Ghosh and she are associated with RGS-IBG since 2007, when both of them presented two papers and held guest lectures on scientific and social aspects of arsenic contamination of ground water in Bihar. Together, they also presented a paper on climate change and water availability in Bihar. “We were invited by RGS-IBG to propose a session for this year’s annual conference. Accordingly, we made a proposal, which got accepted by the organising committee and thus we would be convening and chairing the proposed session,” added Bose.