India-Netherlands Hydrogen Valley Fellowship Programme announced

To coincide with World Environment Day, 5 June 2025, the Indian Department of Science and Technology and the University of Groningen yesterday announced a Hydrogen Valley Fellowship Programme Partnership, allowing talented Indian scholars working on hydrogen to do part of their research at the UG and in the northern Netherlands hydrogen valley. 

At an event in the headquarters of the Indian Department of Science and Technology in Delhi yesterday, the Department of Science and Technology Dr. Jitendra Singh announced the launch of the fellowship scheme in partnership with the University of Groningen. The event was attended by the Dutch Ambassador to India, H.E. Ms Marisa Gerards, and delegates from the Department of Science and Technology and prospective partner institutions in India were also present.

The UG was represented at the event by Prof. Aravind Purushothaman Vellayani, Professor of Energy Conversion at the Faculty of Science and Engineering, and Director of Hydrogen Economy in the Wubbo Ockels School of Energy and Climate. 

_{Continued after photo}

Hydrogen fellowship scheme 

The scheme will allow doctoral candidates and post-docs at prestigious Indian universities to come to the UG for between one and two years, to have their doctoral or postdoctoral research co-supervised by one of the UG’s experts in the field. Funding for the duration of their research will be provided by the Department of Science and Technology, with co-funding for their stay in the Netherlands from the UG. The scheme also allows for a smaller number of fully fledged academics to spend up to one year at the UG. 

Significant for the UG 

The launch of the fellowship programme is a significant step forward in the developing collaboration between the UG, the northern Netherlands hydrogen valley, and India. 

Jouke de Vries, President of the UG, was delighted to see the collaboration with India reach such an important milestone: 'Green hydrogen is a strategic focus of the Netherlands, and for our northern region, but also for the Indian government, and so is a logical focus for our collaboration. We are only able to fully accomplish the huge task that is the energy transition through working together, and so I wholeheartedly support initiatives such as the one launched today in Delhi by the Department of Science and Technology, and look forward to welcoming the first cohort of fellows to Groningen.'

Prof. Lorenzo Squintani is Professor of Energy Law and the Director of the Wubbo Ockels School of Energy and Climate: 'With this step, Hydrogen Valley Campus Europe (HVCE) broadens the international network of the Northern Netherlands in the field of green molecules transition. This opens new concrete opportunities for HVCE partners to establish new contacts in a strategically important country for the production of green hydrogen.'

Fellowship model for further partnership development

The model being used by the Department of Science and Technology doesn’t just involve India’s top hydrogen scholars coming to Groningen, but also that UG experts in the field will be able to learn from the Indian context too. Fellows that join us will be participating in a joint programme, either a joint PhD or a joint post-Doc. UG experts will be able to use this as an opportunity to develop closer ties to colleagues working in this field in India, either through their partnership as co-supervisors of an individual PhD project, or through their growing PhD alumni network in this field in India. This model could be a great basis for further collaborations with India. 

What is a hydrogen valley? 

A hydrogen valley is a concept which mimics that of silicon valley, but for green hydrogen. In bringing together local government, knowledge institutions, business, and society, it seeks to create an ecosystem that can accelerate the development of green hydrogen production technology, distribution, and the surrounding infrastructure. In the northern Netherlands, clustered around Groningen, we have the first official hydrogen valley in Europe, seeking to make meaningful steps in this important component of the energy transition. The UG is a central partner, and through the Wubbo Ockels School of Energy and Climate approaches the technology in an interdisciplinary way. Not only is the development of production technology important, but also economic, legal, societal, psychological issues which will affect the uptake of the new technology. 

The Indian government is funding four such hydrogen valleys (in Pune, Jodhpur, Kerala, and Odisha), and there are more privately funded valleys that are collaborating with Indian knowledge institutions.

Information about how to apply for the fellowship programme will be released in due course. In the meantime, if you have any questions about this please feel free to reach out to:

Mr. John Falvey International Policy Advisor for south Asia in the department for International Strategy and Relations

Prof. Aravind Purushothaman Vellayani Faculty of Science and Engineering