Curtin Malaysia makes a mark in India through academic and researcher’s talks and lectures at leading institutions

Miri – 19 August 2021 – Dr. Sukanta Roy, Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering and researcher at the Faculty of Engineering and Science, Curtin University Malaysia (Curtin Malaysia), has been helping his university make a mark in India, delivering a series online research talks and guest lectures on renewable energy to leading institutions of higher learning there.

Earlier this month, he was a keynote speaker for an Online Faculty Development Programme (FDP) at K.R. Mangalam University in Gurugram, delivering a talk titled ‘Recent Trends in Renewable Energy’. The university is one of the fastest-growing higher education institutions in the northern state of Haryana, offering a wide range of courses from engineering and technology and management and commerce, to medicine and legal studies.

Its FDP is aimed at the skills development, knowledge upgrading and training of young academics, industry professionals and researchers in various thrust areas of renewable energy technologies such as wind and solar energy, control and power electronics of renewable energy, energy storage, electric vehicles, grid integration and smart grid artificial intelligence. The week-long programme was delivered by eminent speakers from Malaysia, Denmark and India and was attended by more than 100 participants from different institutes of higher learning.

Dr. Sukanta said that the rapid depletion of conventional energy sources and greenhouse gas emissions from conventional energy sources are the major concerns of global society. Rapid techno-industrial growth and increasingly energy-intensive human lifestyles have also necessitated continuous research into alternative renewable, sustainable and environment-friendly energy systems.

“There has been an increasing shift of focus to renewable energy technologies, to produce clean energy from different alternative sources. Although it may not be possible to completely replace oil, gas and coal-based conventional energy anytime soon, the continued advancement of renewable energies will certainly reduce the world’s dependency on depleting fossil fuel sources,” said Dr. Sukanta.

“The rational development and utilisation of renewable energy technologies are now crucial to global economic development. Governmental policies and investment in renewable energy technologies will be instrumental in spurring more industry-academic research and development activities,” he added.

Prior this FDP, Dr. Sukanta delivered a talk on ‘Recent Research Trends in Computational and Conventional Engineering’ for another FDP at Amity University in Kolkata last month. Dr. Sukanta was among 15 international speakers from industry, government and academia who shared their knowledge and experience in computational and conventional engineering addressing various practical and computational issues and policies.

Amity University is in one of India’s top five private universities and positioned in the top three per cent of universities worldwide. It has 23 campuses in India and international campuses in the United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates, the United States, Uzbekistan, Singapore, Mauritius, South Africa, Romania, China and the Netherlands.

Dr. Sukanta, who is an external advisory member of the Department of Mechanical and Automation Engineering Board of Studies at Amity University, emphasised the importance of core subjects and incorporating units based on the latest industrial technologies in the third and final years of study to prepare students to graduate industry-ready.

Last May, Dr. Sukanta was invited to deliver a talk on ‘Wind Energy Sustainability and Small-Scale Applications’ for a seminar organised by G.H. Raisoni College of Engineering (GHRCE) in Nagpur. Established in 1996, GHRCE is a premier autonomous institution in Maharashtra state, providing holistic technical education to domestic and international students. GHRCE recently signed a memorandum of understanding with Curtin Malaysia for collaboration in research, student and staff exchange, and learning and teaching activities.

In his talk, Dr. Sukanta said wind energy has proven to be a reliable energy source with a steady increase in installed capacity over the past five years. It is one of the most promising sources of renewable energy for countries with favourable wind conditions. Large-scale power production from wind energy uses horizontal axis wind turbines at locations with strong natural winds, mainly in open and remote areas or near the sea or in hill locations.

Dr. Sukanta said alternative ways are needed to harness wind energy as large-scale wind turbines are not suitable for urban locations due to limited space and turbulent wind conditions. Small-scale wind turbines, for example, are suitable for micro-electricity generation in urban areas as they have the advantages of simpler designs, low starting speed, omnidirectional properties and low maintenance cost, as well as the need for less space.

Apart from these research talks, Dr. Sukanta also delivered online guest lectures for various universities in India. They included a lecture on ‘Recent Developments in Renewable Energy’ for a Short Term Training Programme (STTP) organised by Government Engineering College Bharuch, a lecture on ‘Basic Concepts in Turbomachinery and their Applications’ for a FDP at National Institute of Engineering Mysore, and another on ‘Renewable Energy and Utilisation’ for a STTP at Sandip Institute of Engineering and Management Nashik.

He was a panelist for a webinar series on ‘Research Initiatives and Current Developments in Renewable Energy Sources’ hosted by Girijananda Chowdhury Institute of Management and Technology Guwahati, and a webinar on ‘Sustainable Energy and Environmental Practices’ organised by the National Institute of Technology Silchar.

Dr. Sukanta was also a keynote speaker at the International Conference on Thermofluids 2020 held in Bhubaneswar. During the conference, Dr. Sukanta discussed computational analysis of vertical axis wind turbines for cooling tower energy recovery applications.

He mentioned that tropical countries such as Malaysia have difficulties harnessing natural wind power efficiently due to unpredictable and below average wind speeds. Vertical axis wind turbines can be a viable solution for such countries. Furthermore, harnessing wind energy from artificial sources like the consistent exhaust air from a cooling tower outlet can also be a good solution for recovering waste energy from the exhaust systems.

Prior to joining Curtin Malaysia in 2017, Dr. Sukanta worked at Aix Marseille University, France, from 2015 to 2017 and Ecole Centrale de Nantes, also in France, from 2014 to 2015 as a Post-Doctoral Fellow under an Erasmus Mundus Asia to Europe Post-Doctoral Fellowship.

He has been Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Curtin Malaysia since March 2019. The department is committed to researching various aspects of renewable energy technologies such as computational fluid dynamics, heat transfer applications, and smart materials and machining.

Curtin Malaysia offers Curtin University’s four-year Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering, which is highly directed towards developing fundamental knowledge and generic skills base necessary for a wide range of career opportunities in the engineering industry, management and research and development.

The course maintains a balance between theoretical skills and practical experience with up-to-date facilities for demonstrating concepts and their applications. Instruction is by highly qualified teaching staff with both international academic experience and industry exposure and the Faculty of Engineering and Science’s strong connections with industry presents considerable opportunities for exposure to industry practice.

For details of the Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) in Mechanical Engineering, go to courses.curtin.edu.my.

Curtin Malaysia academic and researcher Dr. Sukanta Roy.