The Ministry of Ayush has announced the setting up of an Ayurveda Academic Chair based at Western Sydney University’s NICM Health Research Institute, with a tenure of three years. Dr. Rajagopala S., Associate Professor & Head (Department of Kaumarabhritya) All India Institute of Ayurveda (AIIA), New Delhi, has been selected for the post of Academic Chair in Ayurvedic Science at Western Sydney University, Australia.

“This is a great step and I am sure that this chair will strengthen our collaborations in promoting academic and collaborative research activities in Australia. This will also help in translating the research outcomes to integrate it with a public health care delivery system to have credible evidence of our scientific practices,” Vaidya Rajesh Kotecha, Secretary, Ministry of Ayush, said.

Prof. Barney Glover, Vice Chancellor & President of Western Sydney University, acknowledged that this collaboration will help in bringing together Western medicine and Ayurvedic Science.

The Academic Chair will undertake academic and collaborative research activities in Ayurveda, including herbal medicine and yoga, as well as design academic standards and short-term/medium-term courses and educational guidelines. It will provide academic leadership in demonstrating and fostering excellence in teaching, research, and policy development related to Ayurveda within the robust Australian regulatory framework, and develop strategies to promote the translation and integration of evidence-based Ayurveda medicines into conventional healthcare.

The Ministry of Ayush has taken concerted efforts to promote and position Ayurveda and Yoga as the soft power of India. To facilitate the same, a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) has been signed with 16 foreign countries for setting up Ayush Chair. MoA has also developed a Central Sector Scheme for the promotion of International Cooperation (IC Scheme) with the mandate to promote and strengthen awareness about Ayush Systems of Medicine, to facilitate the international promotion, development, and recognition of Ayush Systems in foreign countries and to support international exchange of experts.