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.
