Vivek Madhavaram, Ph.D. scholar at IIIT Hyderabad’s ML Lab, has been selected for the LOTUS Programme, an India–Japan research collaboration supported by the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Government of Japan.

As part of the 18-month collaboration, Vivek will work with Kyushu University and Prof. Charu Sharma at IIIT Hyderabad on a digital preservation and 4D reconstruction workflow for traditional wooden Buddhist monasteries in Myanmar, many of which are at risk from severe earthquake damage.

The research will bring together deep-learning methods for semantic point-cloud understanding developed at IIIT Hyderabad with diffusion-model-based context adjustment and 3D spatial integration methodologies at Kyushu University. The aim is to develop an evidence-guided digital twin workflow that can reconstruct and simulate both the pre-disaster and post-disaster states of these culturally significant structures.

Vivek will spend approximately nine months at Kyushu University, working closely with the Japanese research team.

The LOTUS Programme strengthens India–Japan research collaboration by enabling Indian graduate researchers and postdoctoral researchers to undertake joint research with Japanese institutions, supported by JST. The programme spans areas including AI, information and intelligent robotics, biotechnology, energy, materials, quantum, semiconductors, and networks and telecommunications.

September 2026