Seeking partners for top level research collaborations
Southampton chemists have been meeting their counterparts at two of the world’s leading research centres to establish new international collaborations.
The group*, led by Head of Chemistry Professor Phil Gale and Dr Robert Raja, held discussions with scientists at A*STAR, Singapore and Xiamen University, China to discuss mutual interests and potential future collaborative projects.
“Many of our colleagues who visited Singapore and China had joined Southampton Chemistry over the last few years and we wanted to help them build new research links with our strategically important partner institutions,” explains Phil. “The visits combined symposia with one-to-one meetings between the researchers - you could describe the process as scientific ‘speed dating’.”
“It was a very enjoyable trip and a very interesting experience,” adds Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez. “We met top researchers in both countries and I think that there is a very good chance that we will work together in joint projects in future.”
Chemistry at Southampton was ranked 8th in the UK for research power in the 2014 Research Excellence Framework. In all, 94 per cent of its overall submission was judged as world-leading or internationally excellent, placing academics in 6th position for research intensity. The department was ranked 4th in the UK by the Academic Ranking of World Universities in 2014.
*Dr Darren Bradshaw, Professor Graeme Day, Dr Jonathan Watts, Dr Nuria Garcia-Araez, Dr Geoff Hyett, Dr Ramon Rios, Professor Marcel Utz.