Brisbane and Chinese scientists will work closer together after one of China’s leading scientists was presented with an Honorary Professorship from UQ.
Professor Chunli Bai, China’s leading nanoscientist and the Executive Senior Vice-President of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), accepted the professorship during a tour of UQ yesterday.
The three-year appointment means UQ and the CAS will explore joint research and educational projects in nanoscience and bioengineering.
Professor Bai, who invented China’s first high-powered microscope capable of manipulating atoms, oversees more than 30,000 scientists at the CAS, China’s biggest scientific research organisation.
“I want to contribute as much as I can to promote collaboration between The University of Queensland and Chinese Academy of Sciences,” Professor Bai said.
One of his first jobs is to set up a student and researcher exchange program between UQ’s Queensland Brain Institute and the Shanghai Institute of Neuroscience.
UQ’s Deputy Vice Chancellor Research Professor David Siddle presented Professor Bai with his Professorship on behalf of UQ’s Vice Chancellor Professor John Hay AC.
“This will be a massive leap forward for Chinese and Australian science and research,” Professor Siddle said.
During his visit, Professor Bai met some of UQ’s leading scientists and toured UQ’s leading research institutes and centres.
He has also been in Brisbane this week to speak at the International Conference on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, co-chaired by UQ Federation Fellow and CAS Adjunct Professor Max Lu.
“I realize that the State and Federal Governments and the University pay great attention here to biology studies,” Professor Bai said.
“I think UQ has done very exciting work in centralising all the facilities all together to provide a service to other professors and visitors.
“In China, the facilities and scientific instruments usually are purchased by individual research groups that cannot provide them for public use.
“I think the policy of maintenance and management of these facilities and infrastructure here is very good. We can learn from that.”
He praised the team of Professor Lu, the Director of the Australian Research Council’s Centre for Functional Nanomaterials.
“Professor Lu’s lab is a very important lab. He has already contributed a lot to promoting collaboration between UQ and the institutions of the Academy.”
Professor Lu said Professor Bai’s professorship would raise UQ’s profile and relations in China and also provide more joint funding opportunities.
Professor Bai has been on the advisory board of UQ’s Australian Institute for Bioengineering and Nanotechnology, since its formation.
“The University of Queensland is one of the best universities in Australia and many of the great scientific and educational achievements here also makes me honoured and pleased,” he said.
MEDIA: Professor Lu (0402 892 799, maxlu@cheque.uq.edu.au) or Miguel Holland (+61 7 3365 2619, m.holland@uq.edu.au)
