The CHEDDAR Hub, alongside the TITAN and JOINER Hubs, was invited to the High Commission of India in London on 3rd December 2025 for a roundtable on the Future of Telecom, a core pillar of the India-UK Technology Security Initiative. Dr Poonam Yadav represented CHEDDAR and Prof Julie McCann, contributing to strategic discussions on emerging collaboration pathways between the UK and India in advanced telecommunications and digital infrastructure.
Hosted by High Commissioner Vikram Doraiswami and moderated by Prof Gerard Parr, the session convened leading experts in next-generation networks, including Prof Dimitra Simeonidou, Prof Harald Haas, Manjari Govada, Kaushik Subramanyan, and Lincoln Heilner. Discussions focused on AI-native telecom, LiFi, Open RAN, resilient network architectures, and the evolution of 5G/6G-enabled digital ecosystems.
For CHEDDAR, the event underscored significant opportunities to deepen UK-India partnerships in trustworthy, secure, and sustainable communication technologies, key pillars of the Hub’s research mission.
For Dr Yadav, the invitation was also personally meaningful: her PhD was funded through one of the earliest India-UK initiatives (UKIERI). Returning in a leadership role to help shape the next wave of collaborative research highlights the lasting impact of sustained bilateral engagement.
The event reinforced the growing momentum behind India-UK cooperation in telecom innovation and reaffirmed the relevance of CHEDDAR’s work in informing future policy, research, and technical standards.