Singapore: The Australian Academy of Science has launched an Australia-India Fellowship program to enable Australian scientists to work with leading Indian research institutions in different areas, including biotechnology.

The fellowships are open to Australian researchers from the public, not-for-profit and commercial sectors to support research in any field of natural science and to initiate or consolidate collaboration with cutting-edge Indian host organisations.

The Australia-India Early Career and Senior Visiting Fellowships are supported by the Department of Industry, Innovation, Science, Research and Tertiary Education through the Australia-India Strategic Research Fund, Australia's largest fund dedicated to bilateral research with any country.

This $1 million fellowship scheme will allow Australian scientists to access up to $52,500 for early career researchers and $8,500 for senior visiting fellows.

"Science and technology are particularly promising areas for collaboration between Australia and India. "Our scientific communities have complementary strengths and shared interests in a range of areas, including agriculture, biotechnology, renewable energy and information and communications technology," said Professor Andrew Holmes, foreign secretary of the Australian Academy of Science.

"These Fellowships are an opportunity for emerging and established scientists to expand research activities and establish sustainable collaborative networks to support both countries' research and innovation priorities."