Building bridges with China

Promoting the benefits of genetic testing in health and disease applications were the subjects discussed by Professor Yannis Pitsiladis, the university’s Professor of Sport and Exercise Science, during one visit.

He and Dr Guan Wang, Research Fellow in the School of Sport and Service Management, also discussed the advantages of biomedicine, artificial intelligence, and engineering.

They visited the Shandong University’s Basic Medical College (Jinan, Shandong, China) and the college’s research institutes – the Department of Pathology, Department of Cell Biology, and Department of Immunology, as well as the city’s Industrial/Innovation Zone.

Professor Pitsiladis spoke on the current work progress on anti-doping measures, cardiac sudden death and personalised exercise prescription.

He and host academics including Chen Zijiang, Vice President of Shandong University and Dean of Qilu Medical College, agreed to increase communication and cooperation between Brighton and Shandong universities.

Professor Dean and Professor Morengo (second from right) with Forum delegates

Professor Pitsiladis said: “This was a very constructive visit and one I’m sure will lead to greater collaboration between our two institutions.”

The university’s academics left China for similar exchanges in Japan, Russia and Australia.

In addition, a new cooperation scheme was established when University of Brighton academics joined the International Research and Education Forum at the Jiangsu University of Science and Technology (JUST) in Changzhou.

The Forum gathered together representatives from nine universities from across the world including York University, Canada, University La Sapienza in Rome, Italy, University of Teheran, Iran, University of Pavia, Italy and University of Brighton. The Forum aimed to incubate potential cooperation programmes between JUST and these Institutions, and was organised by Professor Alidad Amirfazli (York University, Toronto) and Professor Wen Lin (JUST).

Professor Tara Dean, the University of Brighton’s Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research and Enterprise), Professor Marco Marengo from the university’s Advanced Engineering Centre, and Professor Marie Harder from the university’s Values and Sustainability Research and Enterprise Group, discussed with Chinese colleagues the possibility of PhD studentships, visiting fellowships to the university’s Centres of Research and Enterprise Excellence (COREs), and research and technological development in the fields of engineering, computing, sustainability and energy.

Professor Dean said: “The Forum was very successful with a large participation from staff, students, local companies, and institutional representatives from the city council and the Jiangsu Province.

“We are developing a Memorandum of Understanding with JUST in order to define the basis of the cooperation scheme. The City of Changzhou and the Jiangsu Province are very interested in supporting international collaborations.”