̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge - Global Cambridge

Taking Cambridge global

skbf2 — Fri, 01 Dec 2023 11:54:25 +0000

In 2013, Cambridge opened its first-ever overseas research centre, the Cambridge Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES). Over the past decade, CARES has grown into a thriving community of 150 staff and researchers, working with partners to achieve scientific breakthroughs with a global impact.

Cambridge joins EU partners in ten-million-euro proteomics project

ta385 — Tue, 15 Jan 2019 22:41:40 +0000

̽��ֱ��European Union has awarded ten million euros to a consortium of 18 research groups in the field of mass spectrometry based proteomics research.

̽��ֱ��European Proteomics Initiative Consortium (EPIC-XS), funded as part of the Horizon 2020 Work programme, is coordinated by Albert Heck, professor of biomolecular mass spectrometry and proteomics at Utrecht ̽��ֱ��. ̽��ֱ��project began on 1 January 2019 and will run for four years.

Proteomics, the large-scale study of proteins and their role in living cells and organisms, is an important technology used to gain insight into the function of biological systems. Proteomics has been applied in many different types of studies. These include understanding how cells of the body respond to drug treatment and discovering new biomarkers in body fluids such as blood serum that can be used to detect disease but also monitor how patients respond to treatment.

Proteomics research requires state of the art technology, in-house technical know-how, sustainable and robust workflow practices, successful and correct data interpretation, and data management. ̽��ֱ��EPIC-XS initiative will support researchers by providing them with access to state of the art proteomics equipment, and allowing them to submit research proposals that make use of the proteomics technology offered by the project.

This initiative is a follow-up of the previous European proteomics infrastructure project PRIME-XS, which was completed in 2015. EPIC-XS will again provide access to proteomics facilities throughout Europe, supporting and expanding the European proteomics community with its expertise. ̽��ֱ��provision of courses and training programs will enable new research communities to be schooled in advanced proteomics technologies.

̽��ֱ��EPIC-XS consortium consists of partners from fifteen nations: Great Britain, France, Spain, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, Sweden, Belgium, Denmark, Greece, Czechia, Austria and Norway. All partners share a common goal: to facilitate the development and sustainability of proteomics exploration to all life science researchers within the European Union.

̽��ֱ��British partner of EPIC-XS is the Cambridge Centre for Proteomics (CCP). CCP was established in 2000 in the Department of Biochemistry. Since then, CCP has become a world-leading facility applying its technology to a wide variety of biological questions. ̽��ֱ��Centre is comprised of a core facility that offers full quantitative analysis on virtually any sample of any complexity and a research group that creates and applies novel proteomics technology. Its Director, Professor Kathryn Lilley, said:

“I am delighted that CCP is involved in EPIC-XS, having been a partner in its highly successful forerunner, PRIME-XS. As part of consortium, we develop technology, combining our expertise in determining where proteins are located within living cells, with that of our European colleagues who are using proteomics to investigate protein structure.

“This kind of international partnership is essential. There is a vast array of proteomics methods and each research laboratory can only become expert in a sub-set of these. By working together, we can unite and finesse our methodologies to uncover important cellular processes inaccessible with current approaches. This will make us greater than the sum of our parts.”

̽��ֱ�� ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge has joined European partners in a major study of proteins which will shed light on the role played by biological systems in health and disease.

This kind of international partnership is essential

Kathryn Lilley

̽��ֱ��Lilley research group, Cambridge Centre for Proteomics

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Yes

Cambridge and Nanjing launch strategic collaboration

ag236 — Tue, 27 Mar 2018 08:00:00 +0000

Professor Stephen Toope, the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Vice-Chancellor, today signed an agreement to formalise a strategic partnership with the Nanjing Municipal Government.

̽��ֱ��creation of the Cambridge ̽��ֱ��-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation will entail the establishment of a joint research centre and the sharing of revenue derived from the commercialisation of intellectual property. It is the ̽��ֱ��’s first overseas enterprise at this scale.

Funded by Nanjing Municipality for five years in the first instance, the project will have its own dedicated building in Nanjing’s Jiangbei New Area – a pilot urban development based on high levels of technological innovation.

At the heart of the new Centre’s activities will be research into technologies that support a modern 21^st century city with integrated IT, health care and building management. Innovations emerging from the Centre will enable the development of 'smart' cities in which sensors – applied at the individual level and all the way through to the level of large infrastructure – will enable sustainable lifestyles.

As well as supporting health and wellbeing in new cities, the new Centre will help deliver efficient energy use through its academic and entrepreneurial activities.

̽��ֱ��agreement will fund positions in Nanjing, both academic and management, and will allow Cambridge-based academics to engage with specific, long-term projects in Nanjing. It will also support the establishment of a professorship, based in Cambridge, with responsibility as the Centre’s Academic Director.

̽��ֱ��project has been driven by Cambridge’s Department of Engineering, although it is hoped that there will be opportunities to widen participation to other departments and Schools. IP generated by research funded through the Centre will be licensed for commercialisation by the ̽��ֱ��’s innovation branch, Cambridge Enterprise.

Speaking just before the official signing of the agreement, held at the British embassy in Beijing, Professor Toope said: “This is only the most recent example of our collaboration with Chinese partners – but it is by far the most ambitious to date. And it is very exciting indeed.”

“We see it as an essential part of Cambridge’s contribution to society to tackle some of the great world problems. But we cannot do this on our own. There is a proverb: ‘You cannot clap with just one hand’. To me this means that we can only accomplish great things by working together – which is what we will be doing with Nanjing.”

Mr. Luo Qun, a member of the Standing Committee of Nanjing's Municipal Party Committee, and Deputy Party Secretary of the Party Committee of Jiangbei New Area, added: "We sincerely hope that both sides will rely on this new Centre to push the world's technological frontiers and to promote the integration of science, technology, industry and financial innovation."

̽��ֱ��Vice-Chancellor was joined by Professor Sir Mark Welland, Head of the ̽��ֱ��'s Electrical Engineering Division and Master of St Catharine's College. ̽��ֱ��signing of the agreement was witnessed by H.E. Dame Barbara Woodward, the United Kingdom's ambassador to China.

Knowledge and development

̽��ֱ��launch of the Cambridge ̽��ֱ��-Nanjing Centre of Technology and Innovation came only a few days after the Vice-Chancellor addressed the annual China Development Forum, in Beijing.

Speaking on the subject of 'Knowledge Capital and development for all', Professor Toope said: "Of all the intangible assets that underpin our knowledge capital, the most precious is people. It is people who generate the new ideas; it is people who ask the searching questions, and collect the relevant data to answer them; it is people who make the discoveries; it is people who bring those discoveries to the market, and create the intellectual property. ̽��ֱ��conclusion I draw from this is that, for countries and institutions wishing to expand their knowledge capital, the single most important investment is in their human capital."

He singled out equality and diversity as essential to the sustainability of knowledge-based capital, before concluding: “'Knowledge itself is power' is a famous line attributed to one of Cambridge’s most famous graduates – 17th century philosopher Francis Bacon. ̽��ֱ��question before us – particularly those of us in universities – is how we build and deploy and share all that knowledge for the greater good."

̽��ֱ��new joint centre will support innovative research into smart cities and fully integrated urban environments.

We see it as an essential part of Cambridge’s contribution to society to tackle some of the great world problems. But we cannot do this on our own. We can only accomplish great things by working together – which is what we will be doing with Nanjing.

Prof Stephen Toope

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Yes

Max Planck Cambridge Centre launched

ag236 — Tue, 13 Mar 2018 09:00:00 +0000

Researchers from Germany’s Max Planck Society (MPS) met with ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge counterparts on Tuesday 6 March for the formal launch of the Max Planck Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change.

̽��ֱ��launch event, held at Cambridge’s Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology, was attended by Professor Martin Stratmann, President of the MPS, and by Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

̽��ֱ��new Centre began its operations in July 2017. One of its aims was to deepen researchers’ knowledge of social change by complementing the Cambridge Anthropology Department’s expertise in the anthropology of ethics with research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Religion and Ethnic Diversity, Göttingen, and economic anthropology research conducted at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology, Halle.

̽��ֱ��Centre is the latest of the MPS’s international partnerships. It is funded jointly by the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge (including the Isaac Newton Trust) and the MPS, and has an initial budget of £2 million. ̽��ֱ��funding will allow six postdoctoral fellows will undertake field research at sites around the world. Over the coming four years, public lectures, workshops and larger conferences will be hosted both in Cambridge and the two German locations. It is expected that the Centre will, in the future, expand its activities to offer positions for visiting scholars, and to make the Centre a hub for further initiatives beyond the life-span of the initial projects.

Speaking at the launch event, Professor James Laidlaw, Head of the Department of Social Anthropology and co-director of the new Centre, said:

“This new Max-Cam Centre is the most ambitious and important of a number of initiatives the newly restored Department is embarking upon. It is an attempt… to show that ethical values and practice are just as pervasive in economic life as they are in religion, or the family… Morality is as crucial to explaining when people behave badly as it is to explaining when they behave well; as crucial to understanding how they cope with adversity as it is to understanding the ambitions they pursue. This is especially important when those hopes and ambitions are radically different from our own: when people’s values seem to us to be perverse, shallow, distorted, or plain incomprehensible.”

Fellow co-director Professor Chris Hann, of the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology at Halle, described the new Centre as an opportunity to renew the moral sciences, and expressed his hope that, in the wake of Brexit, the new Centre will demonstrate the value of continued European collaboration in science and society:

“When we prepared the proposal over two years ago, few observers anywhere imagined that citizens of the UK would vote in a referendum to leave the European Union... In this uncertain climate, we would be very happy if the launch of our modest Centre can be a catalyst for further collaboration between the Max Planck Society and this great ̽��ֱ��.“

Addressing this point, Professor Martin Stratmann said: “I am delighted that, in this period of uncertainty caused by Brexit, we have established another highly visible collaboration with top British scientists”.

He added: “Without any doubt, in today’s globalized world, the dynamics between ethics, religion and economy have reached an unprecedented complexity. This makes the research of the new Max Planck Cambridge Centre very relevant for our times. This cooperation brings together the complementary skills of outstanding scientists of the Max Planck Society and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.”

Bringing the launch event to a close, Professor Stephen Toope remarked: “ ̽��ֱ��more incomprehensible the world about us seems, the more we need to employ our anthropological imagination to appreciate its depth and diversity. This new joint venture with the Max Planck Society helps us do just that.”

Go to the Max Planck – Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change's website

̽��ֱ��collaborative venture will offer insights into the links between ethics and social change

̽��ֱ��more incomprehensible the world about us seems, the more we need to employ our anthropological imagination to appreciate its depth and diversity. This new joint venture with the Max Planck Society helps us do just that.

Prof Stephen Toope

Martin Stratmann, President of the Max Planck Society, and Professor Stephen J Toope, Vice-Chancellor

Six research projects currently underway at the Max Planck Cambridge Centre for Ethics, Economy and Social Change

Patrice Ladwig is studying the influence of economic modernisation on Buddhist rites of passage in urban Laos By focusing on funerals and ordinations into monastic life, he explores how the ritual and moral economy that connects monasteries and laypeople has been affected by economic growth, and how increasing wealth, but also social inequalities are expressed and negotiated in rituals.
Johannes Lenhard is working towards an anthropology of the international venture capital industry with field research in London, Berlin, New York, San Francisco and Hong Kong. ̽��ֱ��focus of his project will be on the values and ethics behind the investors’ decisions: Why do VCs support certain startups - for instance Uber, AirBnB and Transferwise - and not others? What kind of a (better) future do investors want to create?
Anna-Riikka Kauppinen is studying the emergence of new banks led by Ghanaian capital owners in Accra. With a focus on networks of institutional and personal exchange between banks and Charismatic Pentecostal churches, which have become major focal points of urban life in West Africa, the project will generate novel approaches to the study of African capitalism.
Patrick McKearney is developing a comparative anthropology of cognitive disability through fieldwork on Christian NGOs that support these individuals in situations of economic change and development. He will focus on the strategies these organisations develop as they seek to change the role these individuals play in social life, and the practical consequences their ethical projects have on the lives of some of the most dependent in different social settings.
Samuel Williams will study the social and economic significance of gold in Turkey over recent decades of market-driven development. Working closely with Turkish goldsmiths in Istanbul and London who help intermediate the scrap gold trade through Turkey between Europe and the Middle East, he will investigate the range of families, businesses, and other organisations that draw on this gold and why it is of value to them.
Rachel E. Smith will conduct research in Vanuatu on moral and ritual economies in contexts of social change, particularly in the context of the production of kava (a narcotic beverage) for the domestic and a burgeoning export market. She will focus on how ethical, ritual and spiritual practices and values mediate social and economic change.

̽��ֱ��text in this work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. For image use please see separate credits above.

Yes

Cambridge and Indian partners launch collaboration to transform India’s "Green Revolution”

ag236 — Thu, 22 Feb 2018 09:58:15 +0000

̽��ֱ��adoption of modern methods and new technologies in agriculture that propelled India to self-sufficiency in grain production in the second half of the 20th century is known as the country’s “Green Revolution”. It allowed India to overcome poor agricultural productivity, especially in regions like the Punjab and Uttar Pradesh, although it relied on overuse of water, fertilisers and pesticides.

Today, climate change, continuing population growth and the rapid process of urbanisation have put added pressure on India’s ability to feed its population. TIGR2ESS – an acronym for “Transforming India’s Green Revolution by Research and Empowerment for Sustainable food Supplies” – is a £7.8 million programme funded by the UK Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) to develop more resilient, equal and diverse food systems in India. It aims to define the requirements for a second more sustainable Green Revolution, and to deliver this through a suite of research programmes, training workshops and educational activities

̽��ֱ��TIGR2ESS launch event took place in the context of a three-day workshop that brought together all the UK and India partners to discuss and finalise a plan for the programme’s effective implementation.

TIGR²ESS will support 14 postdoctoral researchers employed at partner research institutions and universities across India, as well as eight post-doctoral research associates from collaborating institutions in the UK

̽��ֱ��programme will create 3-year research opportunities for a total of 22 early-career researchers in the UK and India, and also promote academic exchanges at all levels in laboratories across India and the UK.

One of TIGR²ESS’ objectives is to foster mutually beneficial knowledge exchange and collaborative research through workshops in Cambridge and India. In addition, it will deliver a programme of outreach, education and entrepreneurship. In doing so, TIGR²ESS will help strengthen Indian research capacity in key areas of the food system, and will contribute to the development of smart agriculture in India.

At the heart of the TIGR2ESS proposal are a series of Flagship Projects tackling fundamental research questions, and addressing the associated social issues facing farmers in the context of increasing urbanisation and climate change.

Professor Stephen Toope, Vice-Chancellor of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, said: “TIGR²ESS will inform best practice in crop development and growth. It will allow greater genetic understanding of crop resilience to drought and disease. It will contribute to more effective use of scarce water supplies. It will build capacity and foster education.”

“It will empower women and entrepreneurs, and encourage innovation along the food supply chain. It will create opportunities for early-career researchers, and in doing so will contribute to India’s efforts to ensure it is able to meet the needs of its growing population. I am delighted that Cambridge is a part of this extraordinary initiative.”

Professor Ashutosh Sharma, Secretary of India’s Department of Science and Technology and Department of Biotechnology, added: “"India is a diverse country, and negotiating this diversity is the key to developing any interventions. ̽��ֱ��TIGR²ESS programme takes into account this diversity, and that will define its success. We need to take a holistic view at the nexus between agriculture, environment, water, climate, energy and health. Assessing the impact of technology applications or interventions in a larger setting is very important."

Presenting TIGR²ESS, the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge’s Professor Howard Griffiths, the programme’s principal investigator, said: “This unprecedented programme of joint activities will enable capacity building both in the UK and India, and shape the policy needed to define a second Green Revolution for India.”

“TIGR²ESS will address the challenges identified by our colleagues in India, and translate research outcomes to build agriculture systems that support sustainable livelihoods, enhancing the well-being and health of rural communities with a particular focus on improving the opportunities for equality, female empowerment and youth employment, and market-led entrepreneurial opportunities.”

Daniel Shah, Director, Research Councils UK (RCUK) India, said “TIGR²ESS is a great example of the UK and the Indian research teams partnering to address issues around food security and agriculture systems. This initiative also aligns with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision to double farmers’ income by 2020."

Researchers met in New Delhi today to formalise the launch of a programme that aims to jointly address some of India’s most pressing food security challenges.

This unprecedented programme of joint activities will enable capacity building both in the UK and India, and shape the policy needed to define a second Green Revolution for India.

Prof Howard Griffiths

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Yes

Cambridge joins international partners in Singapore as country's flagship research programme celebrates 10th anniversary

ag236 — Tue, 23 Jan 2018 09:50:51 +0000

̽��ֱ��Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) was established in 2007, with funding from Singapore’s National Research Foundation (NRF), to allow research-intensive institutions from all over the world to set up research centres in Singapore and establish research partnerships with local universities.

Today, CREATE supports collaborations between four Singaporean universities – the National ̽��ֱ�� of Singapore (NUS), the Nanyang Technological ̽��ֱ�� (NTU), the Singapore ̽��ֱ�� of Technology and Design (SUTD) and the Singapore Management ̽��ֱ�� (SMU) – and seven international partners – ETH Zurich, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Technical ̽��ֱ�� of Munich, Hebrew ̽��ֱ�� of Jerusalem, ̽��ֱ�� of California, Berkeley, Shanghai Jiao Tong ̽��ֱ�� and the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge.

To mark its 10th anniversary, CREATE held an international symposium attended by university leaders as well as Singapore's former president, Dr Tony Tan.

Speaking at the event on 1 December, Mr Heng Swee Keat, Singapore’s Minister for Finance and Deputy Chairman of the NRF said:

“We designed CREATE to encourage interaction not just across a range of disciplines and cultures, but also of perspectives – from dreamers to researchers, designers and users – thereby fuelling exchanges between the spheres of research and innovation.”

“By bringing together researchers, policy makers and end users, CREATE enables serendipitous interactions and discovery. It creates a research environment that is richer than the sum of its parts, allowing researchers to innovate and provide solutions to real world problems.”

“Today,” he added, “CREATE is an international research hub, built on strong institutional partnerships, involving almost 1,100 people from over 40 countries. CREATE’s projects are relevant to Singapore and impactful on the global level.”

CARES: a hub for research collaboration

̽��ֱ��Centre for Advanced Research and Education in Singapore (CARES), a wholly-owned subsidiary of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, was set up as one of CREATE’s collaborative initiatives in April 2013. It hosts a number of research collaborations between the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, NTU, NUS and industrial partners in Singapore and elsewhere.

Representing CARES at the event, its Director, Prof. Markus Kraft, explained: “CARES creates and fosters cutting-edge science in the area of energy efficiency in chemical technologies. We want to do first class research, world-leading research. We want to understand the world better. And we want to contribute to some of the pressing problems facing mankind – in particular, global warming."

Prof. Gehan Amaratunga, Professor of Engineering at the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, was involved in CARES from its inception: “CARES is driven by the Cambridge attitude to research: to think about things deeply, and to deliver results that are significant and worthwhile. But that is coupled with the Singapore culture of hard work, and results-driven research. ̽��ֱ��mixture of those two research cultures under the CARES umbrella generates a unique symbiosis.”

He adds: “It is worth noting that CARES was the first time that the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge had established anything under its name outside of Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��Singaporean government has put resources into research, and is keen for international researchers to come and work in Singapore. From the Cambridge perspective, it gives us an opportunity to globalise our research by engaging in a location that is an Asian hub, directly in between Asia’s two largest population centres – India and China. Singapore is a melting pot where researchers from the entire region are present. ̽��ֱ��impact of what we do in Singapore will be felt all over Asia.”

Reducing carbon footprint and energy demand

CARES’ first research programme is the Cambridge Centre for Carbon Reduction in Chemical Technology (C4T), a partnership between Cambridge and Singapore set up in 2013 to tackle the problem of assessing and reducing the carbon footprint of the petrochemical plants and electrical network on Singapore’s Jurong Island. Since its inception, it has brought together researchers in fields including Chemical Engineering, Biotechnology, Chemistry, Biochemistry, Information Engineering, Electrical Engineering and Materials Science and Metallurgy.

Lowering the cost of CO₂ capture and developing technologies for waste heat utilisation have been among the main drivers for C4T’s research. It addresses the problem of carbon abatement in chemical technologies though Interdisciplinary Research Programmes that combine state-of-the-art experimental analysis with advanced modelling research.

Speaking at CREATE’s 10th anniversary event in Singapore, Dr Lim Mei Qi, Project Officer for CARES, explained: “C4T proposes ways of reducing the carbon footprint of Singapore while supporting economic growth. To build upon CARES’ early success we will continue to engage with Singapore's stakeholders, including government agencies, policymakers, and academic and industrial research organisations. We hope, by doing so, to positively contribute to Singapore’s ratification of the Paris Agreement on climate change.”

A laboratory built from scratch – via Skype

Dr Jethro Akroyd, Senior Research Associate in the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology’s Computational Modelling Group, worked on the design of the CARES laboratory in Singapore.

Today he spends most of his time supervising CARES students based in Cambridge, but he remembers the early challenges of designing lab space remotely: “We communicated with the architects and our external consultant in Singapore via Skype. We often had Skype meetings at 5:30 in the morning – the only time people were available both in Singapore and in Cambridge. Those were long days.”

“One of the biggest difficulties was explaining to people in Singapore what was required in the laboratories in order to deliver flexible research space. And even once we figured out what we wanted, we had to work out how to fit this into the physical constraints of the space that was available at CREATE. Imagine sitting in a small, cold room on a dark Cambridge morning trying to explain complicated ideas to a team on the other side of the world who can only see you via a video link.”

“We built up a very successful working relationship with the consultant and the architects. This culminated in my first visit to Singapore, during the design process, when we had our first face-to-face meeting as a team. That was very special.”

“It’s been great to see designs you worked out on paper in reality, and you can see how the research space was going to be used in order to understand the fundamental combustion and pollutant formation processes that are really at the heart of our role in the research project.”

In June 2017, the CARES C4T Laboratory was awarded the BCA Green Mark for Laboratories Platinum Award, in recognition of its sustainable efforts and commitment to reduce the environmental impact of lab operations.

An industrial park simulator

CARES C4T’s flagship project is the J-Park Simulator (JPS) – a tool for the design, analysis and operation optimisation of eco-industrial parks developed by C4T researchers. It aims to allow sector agencies, industry and infrastructure providers to model the impact of different “what-if” scenarios in real time. ̽��ֱ��simulator is able to analyse different scenarios affecting chemical processes, electricity grid and building management to provide the visual information needed to support optimisation, decision-making and scenario analysis.

“In order to reach an optimum symbiotic relationship among industries and networks, all resources need to be taken into consideration simultaneously – this is the idea behind J-Park Simulator," explained Dr Lim.

Split-site PhD

Another successful initiative has been the Cambridge-CARES studentship programme, which allows Cambridge PhD students to spend two years based in Singapore with the C4T team.

Jacob Martin is a third-year PhD student at CARES currently doing research into how to stop soot from forming in engines.

“Something that I like about CARES is being able to work with a lot of different people from different universities. Because we are physically located within the CREATE tower, it is easier to interact with other universities and do a lot of research with other interest groups. And because we have access to NUS’ equipment, we can expand what we are doing in Cambridge. ̽��ֱ��availability of resources has been a real selling point for the programme.”

He cites the Visiting Scientists scheme as helping to establish international research connections. This invitation-only programme attracts eminent professors from around the globe, such as Emeritus Professor Karl Johan Åström from the Department of Automatic Control, LTH, Lund ̽��ֱ��, to stay and work with C4T researchers in Singapore for a few weeks.

Jacob hopes that his research will lead to new technologies to reduce pollution from diesel engines, which has an impact on climate as well as on human health.

“It always helps to have more connections in research. Being at CARES will definitely be helpful to establish collaborations not only in Asia but also with universities in America. There are many benefits to collaboration. You can achieve a lot more. ̽��ֱ��more minds you put to a problem, the faster you can solve it.”

He adds: “Having people with different cultural backgrounds allows for new and interesting solutions to problems. Cambridge has a particular way of dealing with problems – focus, focus, focus, and really nail the fundamentals. Sometimes that means you lose a bit of perspective. Something that’s been really good about collaborating with people in Singapore is that it’s less about the minutiae and more about the big picture. Singapore is facing a lot of big problems to do with climate change, energy, water. It’s small enough that you can make big changes, and use it as a model for other cities all over the world.”

Teaming up

CREATE makes this collaboration possible by supporting projects through the Intra-CREATE programme. A recent example is the three-year project involving researchers from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, the ̽��ֱ�� of California, Berkeley, the National ̽��ֱ�� of Singapore (NUS) and Nanyang Technological ̽��ֱ�� (NTU), which was recently awarded SGD$5m (£2.8m) by Singapore’s National Research Foundation.

̽��ֱ��project, which will start in January 2018, seeks to develop ways of transforming carbon dioxide (CO₂) emitted as part of the industrial process into compounds that are useful in the chemical industry supply chain. It will be co-led by Prof. Alexei Lapkin ( ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge/CARES) and Prof. Joel Ager (UC-Berkeley and Berkeley Education Alliance for Research in Singapore (BEARS Ltd)).

Looking ahead

After a successful start, CARES is now taking stock of the knowledge created over the past four years and planning for its next phase.

Prof Markus Kraft (CARES' Director) commented: “We have identified opportunities to save over eight million tonnes of CO₂ per year for Singapore – this is about 20% of their annual emissions. ̽��ֱ��idea of C4T Phase 2 is to take this forward. At the core of the proposal for C4T Phase Two is to look at ideas generated in Phase One, take them much closer to the market and let them be adopted by industry.”

“One of the ideas we developed in Phase One was to blend biodiesel with diesel fuel for road transport. We’ve shown this can save about one million tonnes per year of CO₂ for Singapore. What we’re now looking at in Phase Two is whether we can do anything similar for marine shipping traffic. This has the potential to save something like another one million tonnes of CO₂ in Singapore, but it also has the potential to be adopted worldwide. This could have a much broader global impact, far beyond just the shipping in Singapore Strait.”

For further information on CARES and the C4T research programme please contact Ms Louise Renwick, CARES Communications and External Affairs Executive, caresco@hermes.cam.ac.uk,; Tel: +6566015447

An international symposium at Singapore’s CREATE campus highlights the global challenges of sustainable energy and suggests innovative ways of reducing industry’s carbon footprint

We want to do first-class research. We want to understand the world better. And we want to contribute to some of the pressing problems facing mankind – in particular, global warming.

Markus Kraft, Director of CARES

CREATE tower, Singapore

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Yes

Cambridge to launch new Africa Strategy Working Group

ag236 — Thu, 30 Nov 2017 10:09:53 +0000

A high level panel has been set up, chaired by Dame Barbara Stocking, President of Murray Edwards college, to look at the ̽��ֱ��’s approach to engaging with Africa and advise on its future strategy. ̽��ֱ��group will facilitate a consultation exercise later next year to ensure views from across the ̽��ֱ�� are properly represented in this work.

For further information, contact Public International Partnerships section, in the Strategic Partnerships Office.

New panel will advise on ̽��ֱ��'s engagement with Africa

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Yes

Cambridge and Sciences Po to enhance collaboration

ag236 — Mon, 27 Nov 2017 12:09:54 +0000

At a ceremony held in Paris on Friday November 24th, representatives from the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge and from Sciences Po signed a Memorandum of Agreement to formalise and strengthen the partnership between both institutions.

̽��ֱ��stated aim of the document is to develop research links in disciplines including Politics, History and Public Policy, with a strong expectation that the collaboration will develop to encompass other areas of mutual interest.

Covering an initial three-year period, the agreement includes the provision of matched funds by Cambridge and Sciences Po to enable academic workshops and symposia, and to pay for travel grants, short-term research visits, and visiting professorships at both Sciences Po and Cambridge.

Other bilateral activities within its scope include the encouragement of student mobility, and access for Cambridge PhD students to the Sciences Po Teaching Fellowships programme at Sciences Po campuses in Reims, Menton or Le Havre, where lectures are done in English.

One specific outcome of the agreement between Cambridge and Sciences Po will be the organisation of a public conference on “ ̽��ֱ��Future of Europe”, to be held in Paris in 2018, and led by specialists in European studies from both institutions.

Signing on behalf of the ̽��ֱ�� of Cambridge, Professor Eilís Ferran, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Institutional and International Relations, said: “This Memorandum of Agreement builds on strong existing relationships between our two world-leading universities. It offers us a formal mechanism to strengthen our partnership at a time when collaboration between academic institutions is more crucial than ever before.”

Mr Frédéric Mion, President of Sciences Po, said: “There is a need to maintain and deepen cooperation among excellent academic institutions in Europe. It is the right time to continue strengthening our ties with a world-class ̽��ֱ�� such as Cambridge by developing jointly this innovative and ambitious research partnership in the social sciences. ̽��ֱ��Memorandum of Agreement is built on that firm conviction. ”

Sciences Po was founded in 1872 as the École Libre des Sciences Politiques to educate the French governing class in the aftermath of the Franco-Prussian War. Today it is one of France’s leading research universities in the social sciences and humanities. It has seven campuses across France, and a record of excellent research in law, economics, history, political science and sociology.

Agreement will enable closer research ties and funding of joint projects

Sciences Po-Cambridge agreement

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