Khagol- 134 (Oct 2024) - ENG

The French Consul General and Consular team, Mr. Jean-Marc Séré-Charletthe, French Consul General in Mumbai, and Dr. PhilippeMaurinthe, the French Science and Higher Education Attaché, visited IUCAA on 22 July 2024. The visit aimed to explore the potential Indo-French collaborations in scientific research and innovation. The critical focus areas discussed included collaborative initiatives such as CEFIPRA, Space-astronomy-related projects, student exchange programs, and France's Year of Innovation for 2026. Professor R. Srianand, Director, IUCAA, outlined IUCAA's priorities, ongoing research projects, and capabilities in his presentation during the meeting. He also highlighted the Indo-French collaborations involving IUCAA faculty members over several decades. This was followed by a presentation from the Consul General, Mr. Séré-Charlet, who highlighted The discussions focused on CEFIPRA Collaborations wherein the emphasis was placed on enhancing joint research efforts under the CEFIPRA framework - which supports bilateral projects between France and India in fundamental and applied research and future Astronomy and Space Projects. With France declaring 2026 as the Year of I nnovat i on , there was discussion about using the opportunity to catalyse innovative projects between IUCAA and French research institutions. Potential ties with IUCAA to help with the planned increase in student exchange and mobility programmes were discussed due to IUCAA'swide reach in Indian universities. Later, the delegation toured various facilities within the IUCAA campus, France's strategic interests in fostering scientific partnerships with Indian universities. including the Instrumentation Laboratory - which provided first-hand insight into IUCAA's technological capabilities and resea rch i n f ras t r uc t u re . The v i s i t concluded on a positive note with a mutual commitment to exploring concrete avenues for collaboration. Both parties expressed enthusiasm about leveraging each other's strengths to bring more interest and collaboration in astronomy and astrophysics. The visit underscored IUCAA's pivotal role as a hub for cutting- edge research and as a segue to Indian universities. Its potential to contribute significantly to Indo-French scientific cooperation was noted. Plans were discussed to follow up on specific project proposals and to facilitate exchange between researchers from IUCAA (and associated universities) and French institutions. The visit laid a foundation for ongoing dialogue and future partnership. | 02 | KHAG L | No. 134 - OCTOBER 2024 Events at IUCAA Tutorial on IGWN-DHTC-OSG A three day long tutorial on Introduction to the International Gravitational Wave Network, Distributed High-Throughput Computing and Open Science Grid was held at IUCAA from September 09 - 11, 2024. The tutorial focused on addressing the data analysis and computing requirements of the LIGO-India Scientific (LISC) community members. Miron Livny, the Principal Investigator of the HTCondor / OSG / PATh project and his HTCondor Software Suite team members, Greg Thain