Professor Gireesh Tripathi of IMT Ghazizbad Visits University Of Salford UK As Part Of The UKIERI Team Researching Affordable Housing

Online, August 9, 2012 (Newswire.com) - Professor Gireesh Chandra Tripathi‚ Associate Professor‚Finance‚ at IMT Ghaziabad has just returned from an extremely fruitful trip to the United Kingdom. Apart from his academic duties at IMT Ghaziabad‚ Professor Tripathi is part of a high profile project funded by the UK-India Educational and Research Initiative (UKIERI). This research project‚ accepted by UKIERI in January 201'‚ has been put in place to explore affordable and sustainable housing in India and the UK.

"Despite our dissimilarities‚ the challenges in the segment of affordable housing in UK and India are similar. For example‚ India experiences an extremely hot climate‚while in UK it's quite cold. Either way‚ the problem is of insulation; be it of heat escaping or heat seeping in. UK has the problems of a developed economy while we are facing issues of an emerging economy. For India‚ the advantage is visible straightaway. We can learn from the problems they faced regarding urban housing while they were at the development stage and how they addressed them‚" says Prof. Tripathi.

The project was jointly proposed to UKIERI by the University of Salford‚ Manchester and IIT Delhi. Once UKIERI agreed to fund this 40‚000 Pound-Sterling venture‚Professor Tripathi‚ a Ph.D. in Housing Finance - and an expert in the field - was roped in from IMT Ghaziabad. His role was to delve into the financial aspects of affordable housing.

"In all‚ there are 8 Indian members in this team - four from academia and four from industry. There are two Professors each from IIT‚ Delhi and University of Salford‚Manchester‚ and one each from School of Planning and Architecture‚ New Delhi‚ andIMT Ghaziabad‚ in India. From the UK‚ two professors are from University of Salford and a professor each from the University of Huddersfield and University of Central Lancashire. Between the 12th and 22ndof June 201'‚ all of us got together at the University of Salford to take our mission forward‚" explains Prof. Tripathi as he speaks of the team composition.

High calibre organisations like TATA STEEL‚ L&T‚ Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (UK & India) and Sector Skills Council for Construction have already shown interest in adopting the project results.

"I did make it a point to visit the Tata-Corus facility in Sheffield. On the personal front‚our trip to Trafalgar Square really was the most eventful. We had earmarked a Saturday for our trip to London‚ and as luck would have it‚ turned out that it was the 16th of July - the official date celebrated as the Queen's birthday. It was really fortunate to witness how England celebrates its Queen's birthday; it was quite remarkable."

Professor Gireesh Tripathi‚ who is back at IMT Ghaziabad‚ says that the team working on the UKIERI project on affordable housing will shortly be publishing a book of 8-10 chapters on their findings. In the book‚ he will be penning a chapter on the financial ambit of affordable and sustainable housing. Professor Tripathi has also initiated talks on collaboration between IMT Ghaziabad and University of Salford‚ Manchester‚ which includes a student exchange programme. He is quite pleased that the IMT Ghaziabad-University of Salford collaboration seems very close to fructification.