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Lead Green Development and Create a Better Future Together—2019 Sino-UK Symposium on Advanced Materials and Structures & Sustainable and Green Manufacturing Forum was Successfully Held in NPU

From November 4thto 7th, “2019 Sino-UK Symposium on Advanced Materials and Structures & Sustainable and Green Manufacturing Forum” was held in South Mountain Lyceum International Academic Exchange Center, NPU Chang’an Campus by NPU and QMUL. More than 50 domestic and oversea scholars and more than 100 student representatives attended the conference.

As the chairman of this forum and Dean of QMES, Kong Jie presided over the opening ceremony on November 5th. On behalf of Vice President Zhang Weihong, he extended the warmest welcome to the experts and scholars attending the meeting. Taking full advantages of cooperative education, the two universities successively established Joint Research Institute for Advanced Materials and Structures (JRI) and International Centre for Teaching and Learning (ICTL), deepening their cooperation and making great progress in teaching, scientific research, student exchanges, teacher training and other fields. The success of the past two symposiums has played a leading and driving role in the cooperation between the two universities, with cooperation projects, papers and patent achievements constantly emerging. NPU and QMUL shared the same goal of establishing world-class universities and reached consensus on cooperation in developing sustainable and green manufacturing technologies.

Then, Professor Mike Reece from QMUL delivered an opening speech. He said that the two universities had a strong foundation of friendship. He came to NPU 16 years ago and established a long-term partnership here. The operation of JRI and the founding of JRI facilitated the establishment of a more systematic, lasting and complete cooperation mechanism between the two universities. He also hoped that experts and scholars could fully exchange ideas and give suggestions for the green and sustainable development of China and the UK.

19 international well-known experts and scholars from NPU and QMUL in the field of advanced materials and structures gave academic reports in the theme of "Sustainable and Green Manufacturing". Their reports covered a variety of fields such as advanced biomedical materials, nano-materials, polymer composite materials, green manufacturing and clean energy utilization. They also mentioned international frontier discipline concepts and scientific research achievements, providing a high level of international academic feast. More than 100 undergraduates, postgraduates and doctoral students from School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, School of Mechanical Engineering, and QMES attended the conference and had close contacts with internationally renowned experts in the field of advanced materials and structures.Many students benefited from the sharing reports of this conference, and took the initiative to ask for advice from the report guests and exchange their puzzles and problems encountered in academic and scientific research.

On November 6th, all the guests attending the conference visited the History Museum of NPU and QMES. Then they held an interview for the selection of postdoctoral and doctoral students in the "International Cooperation and Training Program for Innovative Talents of Advanced Materials and Structures" sponsored by China Scholarship Council. Subsequently, experts and scholars from QMUL and NPU held a conference of NPU-QMUL Joint Research Institute on Advanced Materials and Structures, on which all participants discussed the latest trends of international scientific research cooperation and other JRI issues, and determined that the fourth Sino-UK symposium on advanced materials and structures would be held in London.

On November 7th, the conference was held in the form of group discussions. Teachers from School of Materials Science and Engineering, School of Natural and Applied Sciences, School of Mechanical Engineering, School of Life Sciences and QMES of NPU had in-depth exchanges with professors and scholars from QMUL. According to the research directions of different groups, they conducted special discussions on research topics and cooperative projects, and provided solutions and innovative ideas for a number of projects, all of which greatly promoted the interaction and cooperation between Chinese and British scholars in related fields.

The success of this conference represents a new stage of academic exchange and scientific research cooperation between the two universities. During the conference, a series of cutting-edge issues and development trends put forward by experts and scholars from the two universities in biomedical materials, nano-materials, clean energy and green manufacturing, etc., enhanced the driving force for innovation and transformation cooperation of related industries in the western region of China. These have also made new contributions to scientific and technological innovation, as well as green and sustainable development of China and the UK.

(Reporter/Tian Renjie, Li Yuanting;Reviewer/Kong Jie)