The first of two Renkei skills workshops, each lasting a fortnight, took place in Bristol
The University of Liverpool has been named as a partner in a new Japan-UK scheme to expand university and industry ties in the fields of science and technology.
Renkei, which means collaboration in Japanese, is supported by the British Council and aims to encourage knowledge transfer and exchange between universities, industry and research.
Developing future research leaders
Liverpool has been joined by the universities of Bristol, Leeds, Newcastle, Southampton and University College London in the partnership with Japanese universities Kyoto, Kyushu, Nagoya, Ritsumeikan and Tohoku.
The aim of Renkei is to develop future research leaders with the skills to lead collaborations between different disciplines and cultures.
Professor Stephen Holloway, Provost at the University of Liverpool and Professor Samar Hasnain from the Institute of Integrative Biology led the University bid to become a partner in the programme.
The first of two Renkei skills workshops lasting a fortnight each took place recently in Bristol, with the second scheduled to take place in Kyoto in December. Achchuthan Shanmugasundram and Dr David Hogg from the University of Liverpool joined 20 other researchers at the first workshop.
Urban sustainability
The team examined urban sustainability and resilience including exploring the challenges arising from the growth of population urbanisation, globalisation, climate change, ageing, resource scarcity, technology shifts, cultural diversity and conflict.
Commenting on the partnership, Professor Stephen Holloway said: “The encouragement of knowledge transfer and research collaboration between two of the world’s major knowledge economies, as well as between higher education and industry is a great step forward, particularly at a time when universities are increasingly playing a central role in industry focused on maintaining an innovative edge.”
