The Indian Institute of Technology, Madras has set up a laboratory for research in risk analytics and behavioural sciences.

The institute has received support from the American Express Data Analytics, Risk and Technology Laboratory to set up its unit. The institute’s laboratory will engineer technologies and reduce risks caused by human behaviour and decisions.

The American Express has also instituted annual scholarships for meritorious students. The company’s Chief Executive Officer, Manoj Adlakha, said ‘Ambition Awards’ had been instituted for deserving women students at the Institute with the aim of fostering diverse talent. He cited a global survey commissioned by the company along with the New York Women’s Foundation that found that Indian women’s commitment to achieving professional and personal ambitions ranked the highest – with 89% of university-educated women in India believing it is important to have ambitions, and 70% proud to call themselves “ambitious.”

Bharathram Thothadri, Chief Credit Officer, said the company had a rich history of using data and analytics to build customer relationships and bring value to customers and partners. “We are invested in finding and developing the right talent to drive greater innovation in this field. The technologies and applied sciences R&D in the lab will be beneficial for creating an overall societal impact through advancement in financial services, healthcare and safety standards.”

The lab will focus on bringing data analytics to bear on problems arising from “the interplay of human factors and inherent risk or uncertainty in the work environment due to unknown or partial information”, said Institute director Bhaskar Ramamurthi adding that the scholarships and awards would encourage the institute’s women students to excel in STEM and pursue enriching careers at the post-graduate level.

The research will develop technologies to measure the cognition and attention of decision-makers and prevent potential accidents in high-risk industries. The technologies could be applied across dimensions such as employee engagement and attention, evaluating and enhancing quality of education and learning in school -- especially in online classes where teachers are unable to read the body-language of students.

Research from the lab including findings, research, algorithms and tools will be publicly available, to be used for government collaborations and education advancements.