BU Research Blog

An academic delegation from Yanshan University in China visited Professor Hongnian Yu from the Department of Computing in the Faculty of Science & Technology at Bournemouth University last week. The Chinese delegation met a range of international research exchange partners and participants from Pakistan, Thailand, Bangladesh and their own country, China, as well as a guest partner Professor Qyyum, from Pakistan who as Erasmus Mundus project coordinator has just been on an exchange mobility to BU himself.

The Faculty of Science & Technology is involved in an academic exchange project framework of the EU’s Erasmus Mundus (EM) Initiative (Fusion, c-LINK and RABOT). This collaborative network coordinates reciprocal academic mobility at all levels of higher education and research exchange for a defined range of academic subjects via a network of hosting and sending Universities in South East Asia and the EU.

Over the course of three years, around 250 exchanges have been facilitated through a number of projects.  A number of people are currently studying and researching at continental and UK universities as a result.  Here at BU we are currently hosting 9 Erasmus Mundus grantees completing their postgraduate and PhD studies, while quite a few more have already completed their stay.  Meanwhile, the RABOT project has seen more than 20 people over the last couple of years coming study at BU, mainly from Yanshan University in China.

1. 1st Row (from left): Prof Yin Yao, (Yanshan University, China), Prof YU (EM Project Coordinator, BU), Prof Xiangdong Kong (Vice President of Yanshan University, China), Prof Amir Qayyum (Fusion and c-LINK partner, Pakistan), Dr Cang (Rabot and Fusion local host at BU)
2. 2nd row: Assistant Professors and students from the Chinese delegation, BU Erasmus Mundus PhD researchers

The visit from the Yanshan delegation has been a productive reflection of this collaborative work between different universities and has been beneficial for the involved academics. Visitors and partners have been exploring further collaboration, exchanging an overview of their research environments and current research topics.

The Bournemouth University team was led by Professor Hongnian Yu, and Dr Shuang Cang. Other participants from the Bournemouth University included the PhD researchers Yan Wang (Fusion, from Yanshan University), Pengcheng Liu (RABOT), Pree Thiengburanathum (PhD BU, Thailand), Sajjad Akbar (c-LINK, Pakistan), Ikram Asghar (c-LINK, Pakistan), Arif Reza Anwary (Fusion, Bangladesh) and XI WU (Fusion, China).

The two teams had a workshop at FB103 (Fusion Building) Bournemouth University on 9th September 2016 from 14:00 to 17:30. The participants from both teams presented their latest research works for exchanging ideas and knowledge, and discussed further collaboration.

The workshop environment in the excellent new Fusion Building was received as very friendly and informative. The participants from different countries and cultures shared their ideas, work ethics and expectations. This involved a discussion of the variances and differences of workload expectation, supervisory expectations and the levels of academic roles and functions during the graduation and research process for the respective degrees in each country present at the workshop.

There were also informal discussions amongst the participants regards their personal mobility experiences during the coffee break. The Vice President of Yanshan University invited PhD researchers to pay a visit to their University in China and offered his full support for subsequent visits and research activities.

For more information, contact Karin Ermert.