May 3, 2018, by Liz Cass

From MRI to elephants – celebrating Nottingham’s breadth of research

At the University of Nottingham we are proud to be recognised as a global university – not just because we attract students and staff from around the world. We have pioneering campuses in Malaysia and China and the impact of our research transcends national boundaries. Perhaps most importantly, our mission of transforming lives throughout the world can only be achieved by a global outlook and passionate belief in the power of international partnerships and collaboration.

As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange I am privileged to learn first-hand about the impact our transformative research has around the world.

From the legacy of Sir Peter Mansfield’s pioneering work in Medical Resonance Imaging to the expertise in finding new ways of solving food poverty, the breadth of our discoveries and the dedication of our researchers is impressive.

This month we are focusing on our international campuses. Our campus in Malaysia, which opened in 2000, was the first to be established overseas by a British university and we were the first foreign university to establish a campus in China when our Ningbo home opened in 2004.

Both universities celebrate the best of a British education, with classes taught in English, and our Ningbo and Malaysia graduates are the proud holders of a University of Nottingham degree.

Already known as education pioneers, our China and Malaysia campuses are carrying out world-class research and share our belief in its power to transform lives in the communities we serve.

Different countries different challenges

Each country faces different challenges and priorities.

In Ningbo our research strengths lie in healthcare, transport and the environment.

We are pioneering new energy storage devices to combine the properties or batteries and super capacitors – technology that could be implemented into transport systems and help address pollution, a major priority for China.

By forming partnerships with the Chinese Government and industry we are not only tackling these issues but looking at how the solutions we develop in partnership can translate to the rest of the world.

Our unique University network is enabling an exchange of China and Nottingham healthcare professionals who are researching how different models of healthcare can improve the service for patients in both countries. Again, this has implications for the systems and challenges facing other countries.

In Malaysia our research addresses the challenges facing Southeast Asia: securing the discovery and cultivation of new and underutilised crops, advancing new ways to save lives in detecting breast cancer, and working to preserve the ecology and conservation of elephants in their natural habitat.

Such research is only made possible by our international partnerships and the expertise of our Malaysia academics. Their world-leading approaches to conservation and the environment will inform our work in the UK and further afield.

You will be hearing more about this exciting research over the coming weeks as we celebrate both our international campuses and share stories of inspiring academics and their research.

Our University is a global one, our research works locally and also has impact across the world, and we are truly changing lives.

Professor Dame Jessica Corner DBE FMed Sci, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange, University of Nottingham

• Share on Facebook
• Share on Twitter
• Share on Google+
• Share on LinkedIn