Two India born academics have won a prestigious research grant in New Zealand to help design public policy on the use of new and emerging technologies.

Priya Kurian and Debashish Munshi of the University of Waikato here were awarded the $560,000 Marsden research grant by the Royal Society of New Zealand for their project on 'sustainable citizenship'.

Kurian, an associate professor of Political Science, said: 'Our project moves away from treating views on new technologies in oppositional terms. Instead, we are working on a concept of sustainable citizenship which works towards a deliberated set of shared values among people.'

According to Munshi, who currently heads the department of Management Communication in the same university, New Zealand has a strong academic environment that facilitates teaching and research.

Munshi is a recipient of the vice-chancellor's medal for excellence in teaching. The two Indian scholars came to New Zealand in 1996.