The Central University of Haryana (CUH), Mahendragarh, has achieved another milestone in international research collaboration after securing a prestigious SPARC (Scheme for Promotion of Academic and Research Collaboration) project sanctioned by the Ministry of Education, Government of India.
The project, titled “AI-Enabled Phenomic and Genomic Prediction for Climate-Resilient Crop Improvement”, has been approved under the SPARC theme of Agri & Food Technologies for the period from June 1, 2026, to May 31, 2028. It carries a total sanctioned budget of ?90.53 lakh.
The project will be led by Principal Investigator Prof Rupesh Deshmukh of the Department of Biotechnology at the Central University of Haryana, alongside Co-Principal Investigators Prof Humira Sonah and Dr Keshav Singh Rawat.
The international collaborating team comprises Prof Sigfredo Fuentes and Dr Sajitha Biju from the University of Melbourne. As part of the initiative, PhD scholars Badal Mahakalkar and Pawan Kumar will undertake research at the University of Melbourne for six months.
The exchange programme will enable the scholars to share knowledge, access advanced expertise at both institutions and help strengthen the future roadmap of the collaborative research project.
The initiative aims to integrate artificial intelligence with phenomic and genomic prediction approaches to develop climate-resilient crop varieties capable of withstanding environmental stresses while supporting sustainable agricultural productivity.
The sanctioned project also provides for international faculty visits, student exchange programmes, workshops, consumables, publications and research dissemination activities. These efforts are intended to strengthen global academic partnerships and advance cutting-edge agricultural research.
CUH VC Prof Tankeshwar Kumar and Registrar Prof Suneel Kumar congratulated the project team on securing and implementing the international collaborative research initiative. The Vice-Chancellor said the achievement had brought global recognition to the university through high-impact scientific collaboration.
