Xi'an Jiaotong University Visit
From the 22nd to the 25th September this year the University of Southampton's Faculty of Social, Human and Mathematical Sciences welcomed delegates from China's prestigious Xi'an Jiaotong University to discuss shared research aims and potential future collaboration.
Professor Jane Falkingham, the Dean of the Faculty of Social, Human, and Mathematical Sciences opened the visit by formally welcoming the delegates from Xi'an Jiaotong University. For this trip, the focus was on discussing research aims that might be shared between Southampton's Centre for Population Change and Centre for Research on Aging and Xi'an Jiaotong's Institute for Population and Development Studies and Centre for Aging and Health Research.
The delegates from Xi'an Jiaotong University included Professor Yihua Jia - Director of the Department of Social Sciences Research, Professor Shuzhuo Li - Changjiang Distinguished Professor of Population and Social Policy Studies, Director for the Institute of Population and Development Studies, and Director of the Centre for Aging and Health Research, and Professor Huijun Liu - Professor for the Centre for Aging and Health Research. On Friday they met with their counterparts from the University of Southampton: Professor Maria Evandrou - Director for the Centre for Research on Aging and Co-Director for the Centre for Population Change, Professor Jane Falkingham - Dean of the Faculty and Director for the Centre for Population Change, Zhixin Feng - Research Fellow for the Centre for Research on Aging and Mark Cranshaw - Director of International Affairs.
After the research discussion, delegates met for lunch and then went on to Winchester to sample the cultural delights of the local area - accompanied by IPO's own Song Utz.
The following Monday Mark Cranshaw and Professor Derek McGhee, Head of Social Sciences, met with the visitors to discuss possible future collaborations within the broader Social Sciences Academic Unit.
The visit was a great chance for leading academics from both universities to meet and discuss ideas, and will be followed up in December when Jane and Mark will be travelling to China to return the visit and deepen the connection between the two universities.