Amrita University’s World Centre of Excellence on Landslides was awarded the prestigious International Program on Landslides, Kyoto Landslide Consortium (IPL-KLC) Award for Success. The honour was presented in the ongoing 6th World Landslide Forum at the historic Palazzo dei Congressi, Florence, Italy, on 14th November. Amrita won this award in recognition of its outstanding achievements in the area of landslide research.
This recognition comes in the light of the University being reconferred the title of “World Centre of Excellence on Landslide Risk Reduction (WCoEs)” for the 3rd time in a row by the International Programme on Landslides (IPL). The University will hold the title till 2026.
Dr. Maneesha V Ramesh, Provost, Amrita University, and Director, Amrita Centre for Wireless Networks and Applications received the award and a cash prize of $3,000. The prestigious award recognises successful projects within IPL, assessed based on activities over the past three years. Scientists from Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham topped among all the scientists in the world within the IPL.
This distinguished IPL award acknowledges commendable projects within the International Program on Landslides (IPL), evaluated through an assessment of activities conducted over the past three years at each World Landslide Forum. The committee conducts an extensive review of all the papers in the landslide journals and those submitted across all volumes of the book series on landslides.
Following this comprehensive evaluation, the selection committee chose the publication, Landslide Early Warning Systems: Requirements and Solutions for Disaster Risk Reduction, India designating it as a significant outcome of Amrita’s IPL project. The award-winning publication was authored by Dr. Maneesha Vinodini Ramesh, Hemalatha Thirugnanam, Balmukund Singh, M. Nitin Kumar, and Divya Pullarkatt.
Amrita has successfully deployed the world’s first wireless sensor network system, which was later upgraded to the AI-integrated Internet of Things (IoT) system, for detection and early warning of landslides in the Western Ghats and the North-Eastern Himalayas, two major global landslide hotspots. The system has successfully provided warnings to the community through the Government since deployment in 2019.
The first deployment was in Munnar, Kerala in 2019. Following the success of the deployment, at the request of the Government of India, the University has also deployed a similar system in Sikkim. This applied research, with significant global value for all landslide-prone areas, was directly initiated by Amma as University Chancellor to develop low-cost technologies for wide-area monitoring of landslides, to save lives.
