The Global Change Programme at the Jadavpur University (JU) that specialises in inter-disciplinary research on climate change is drawing students from all across the world, including US.

Three undergraduate students from US universities, who are of Indian origin and have roots in Bengal, are learning about climate change and the strategies to mitigate it at a JU centre.

Abhirup Das, a student of Brandies University, Walthon Massachusetts, Tuhin Roy of University of California, Berkeley and Aniket Basu of Ohio State University were referred to do their internship at JU by their respective universities.

“Earlier, it was a one-way traffic. Our students mostly went to work in the universities in the West. But now we have made some progress in the area of work on climate change and the students from the West are keen to learn from us,” said Prof Joyashree Roy, a professor of economics and the head of Global Change Programme at JU.

According to Roy, this is the first time that the centre has so many students from the universities in the West.

Roy, who is also credited as one of the lead authors of International Panel for climate Change that won the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize, said for a person to work on climate change issues he/she has to be aware of the socio-economic realities of the region.

“So it is necessary for the students to live in the area they are doing their research on,” Roy added.

She said that a number of students from various other universities in the West are working on the arsenic problem in Murshidabad district.

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