RESEARCH AND COLLABORATION - queen's links with asia 
02 July 2020
With the rate of internationalisation growing rapidly, universities – including Queen’s – are fostering an increasing number of important research relationships and forming global partnerships across a broad range of subject areas, as can be seen in the worldwide response to the current pandemic.
Queen’s is a driver of innovation and talent based on excellence. We are globally connected and networked with strategic partnerships across the world, helping us to expand our impact on wider society locally, nationally and internationally. We are ranked 16th in the world for international outlook (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2019) and are in the top 25 of the most international universities (Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018).
Education and research are global by nature. As a member of the prestigious Russell Group, Queen’s already has ties with many top universities in the UK and Ireland. Exchanging ideas and offering intellectual mobility are essential if we are to address the many challenges facing the world. The University is therefore collaborating across disciplines and with outside agencies and global institutions on projects of world significance pushing forward the boundaries of science, training the next generation of innovators, and, ultimately, benefitting all, from the staff and students to the world as a whole.
Long standing partnerships in China and India
Our educational partnerships help the next generation of students become world-class global scholars and our research partnerships strive to help build a better global society. Collaborations include a joint College established by Queen’s in partnership with China Medical University (CMU) in Shenyang in 2014. Find out more.
Queen’s and Southeast University lead the UK-China University Consortium on Engineering Education and Research – the first of its kind to bring together 15 top class universities, six in the UK and nine in China. Find out more.
Between 2013 - April 2019, Queen’s academics also secured nearly £900k in funding for research engagement with India in addition to funding for 15 projects from the Global Challenge Research Fund for projects that include India-based collaborators.
Since 2013, Queen’s staff co-authored 361 publications with researchers from over 108 institutions in India, including the Indian Institute of Technology in Bombay; Indian Institute of Science Bangalore and the Indian Institute of Technology, Madras. Leading subject areas include Chemical Engineering, Physics and Astronomy and Medicine.
In 2017-18 one such collaboration was Targeted parasite control in livestock for small tropical farmers which involved the Tamil Nadu University of Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, India, along with University of Pretoria, South Africa; Ministry of Agriculture, Botswana; Universiti Putra Malaysia, Malaysia; Dept of Veterinary Sciences, Malaysia.
New opportunities
Memoranda of Understanding (MoUs) provide a general framework for future collaboration with an international institution. The primary objective is the development of cooperative efforts between Queen’s and the international partner, which will enhance the research interchange between the two institutions for international research collaborations.
Currently, the University has over 20 MOUs around the world, including an increasing number in Asia:
- China, Guangzhou Medical University
- India, Hyderabad Eye Research Foundation, LV Prasad Eye Institute
- Indonesia, Airlangga University
- Palestine, The Policy and Conflict Resolution Studies Centre, Arab American University, Palestine
- Vietnam, Hanoi University of Public Health
Research funding
Funding is available from a variety of UK and international sources. Queen’s has been successful in securing funding from the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) and has a current portfolio of more than 25 ongoing projects across 30 countries. In addition, the University has seeded research workshops and pump-priming pilot projects across over 50 countries.
A priority of the Queen’s GCRF strategy is to provide capacity and capability training and development for academics to engage in international research activities. To fulfil this commitment, the University has developed a Global Research Training Programme (GRTP) to provide support for a selected group of early-career academic staff to lay the groundwork for conducting international research to address global challenges.
Queen’s has also secured awards from the Newton Fund, with a current portfolio of more than 70 projects across 14 of the 17 Newton partner countries.
Dr Trung Duong from The Institute of Electronics, Communications and Information Technology was the winner of the 2017 Newton Prize for his work with Vietnamese partners on a Catastrophe-Tolerant Telecommunications Network.
Successful international partnerships also support student recruitment. Domestic students are afforded the opportunity to travel internationally via exchange initiatives arising out of many partnerships, while students in the partnered institution often get the chance to come to Queen’s. And International partnerships enable staff, students and universities to better understand the culture of other nations, which will also make it easier to introduce Queen’s to new markets and to encourage new cohorts of international students to come to Belfast.
A win, win for all parties involved.
Further information on Queen’s international research is available online.
For general enquiries about this story, or to submit a graduate news item, please contact Gerry Power, Communications Officer, Development and Alumni Relations Office, Queen’s University Belfast.
Back to Main News
Top of Page