The University of Nottingham signed an agreement with the Chinese Academy of Surveying and Mapping in June 2011 in Nottingham. The Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre builds on eight years of collaborative work in this field and involves several distinguished Chinese partners.
A Chinese-British Board will agree joint strategy for the Sino-UK Geospatial Engineering Centre. Its Director is Professor Jixian Zhang, President of CASM, and Dr Xiaolin Meng, Nottingham’s Group Leader in Positioning and Navigation Technologies, is UK Director and one of four Vice-Directors.
At the launch, Professor Chris Rudd, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Business Engagement and Knowledge Transfer at The University of Nottingham, said: “The University’s relationship with the Chinese Academy of Survey and Mapping (CASM) and the recently re-named National Administration for Survey, Mapping and Geoinformation (NASG) dates back eight years.
“We have a shared ambition — to create a Sino-UK centre of excellence that will accelerate the delivery of our vision. It represents the collaboration between China and UK in areas of leading research and development. We aim to benefit both parties and strengthen the ties between UK and China’s high technology industries.”
This new joint venture will focus on joint fundamental and applied research in geospatial sciences, especially frontier studies, addressing key issues faced by both countries. It will enable much greater collaboration between partners.
During the past eight years, high-profile projects have been delivered by researchers from Nottingham and CASM with support from EU, UK government, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, and The University of Nottingham.
The establishment of this Centre represents not only collaboration between Nottingham and CASM; it includes contributions from organisations such as the China University of Mining and Technology (CUMT), Wuhan and Tongji Universities, and industry — also further developing national collaboration through NASG.
Building on existing MOUs, initial research scope will include Earth observation; applications of 3S (GNSS, RS and GIS) for engineering, environmental and disaster monitoring; emergency management; geospatial data acquisition and processing; intelligent transportation systems and services; location-based services; precision agriculture; and geomatics.
There is continued growing demand for The University of Nottingham, through its renowned Nottingham Geospatial Institute (formerly the Institute of Engineering Surveying and Space Geodesy), to run training annual courses for Chinese geospatial practitioners and managers.
The University of Nottingham has been NASG’s sole overseas executive training base since 2009. Dr Xiaolin Meng led two one-week courses this year, and there are already requests for three courses next year from NASG, Zhejiang and Anhui provincial governments.
This launch marks one of several successful outcomes of last week’s mission to China, the first to be coordinated by The University of Nottingham’s new Asia Business Centre. The Asia Business Centre supports innovation partnerships and knowledge-transfer programmes between its campuses in Asia.
It identifies and develops industrial R&D projects in Asia, contracting research for Research and Graduate Services and the International Office. It will also develop training and internships in the UK and for The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) and The University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus (UNMC).
A high-level Asia Advisory Board is being created to influence and leverage engagement with Asia. Meeting on a twice yearly basis, the board will develop corporate, philanthropic, student employment and mobility links throughout the region.
In parallel, a new Nottingham Asia Network for academic staff will link the University’s campuses in the UK, China and Malaysia, building business, education and research collaboration.
The University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) was the first Western university to open in China, in 2004, and now has more than 5,000 students. All degree programmes are taught in English and students receive a British-style education and UK degrees from The University of Nottingham.
Follow the Asia Business Centre on Twitter at www.twitter.com/AsiaBusinessCtr
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Notes to editors: The University of Nottingham, described by The Sunday Times University Guide 2011 as “the embodiment of the modern international university”, has award-winning campuses in the United Kingdom, China and Malaysia. It is ranked in the UK’s top 10 and the world’s Top 75 universities by the Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and the QS World University Rankings. It was named ‘the world’s greenest university’ in the UI GreenMetric World University Ranking 2011, a league table of the most environmentally-friendly higher education institutions.
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More than 90 per cent of research at The University of Nottingham is of international quality, according to the most recent Research Assessment Exercise, with almost 60 per cent of all research defined as ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’. Research Fortnight analysis of RAE 2008 ranked the University 7th in the UK by research power.
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