Provost leads delegation visit to Japan to strengthen historic ties

The visit, from 30 September to 10 October, is part of UCL’s long-term commitment to build on historical links through partnerships with leading Japanese institutions and governmental bodies, research collaborations and student exchanges with top universities. The delegation will visit partners at the universities of Tohoku and Osaka and the Provost will chair a plenary session at the high-profile STS Forum. At the same conference two years ago, he met with Japan's Prime Minister Shinzo Abe, who thanked UCL for its role in helping to educate students from his country dating back 150 years to the Choshu Five in the 19th century. UCL is to this day the UK’s largest recruiter of Japanese students, with 182 students currently enrolled. Professor Arthur will chair a session entitled Science and Technology in Society (STS) Forum in Kyoto. The STS forum facilitates global leaders in academia, industry, and government to build networks with the aim of solving some of the most pressing global problems we face today.

Working with Tohoku University on Equality, Diversity and Inclusion

In March 2019, UCL and TU launched a joint project to explore how universities can improve gender equality in higher education. The work builds on their shared history and legacy of gender equality in education; having been the first universities in their respective countries to accept female students. UCL and TU will co-develop a programme of activities to extend EDI at both institutions. The first of which will be an extension of the UCL Male Allies Network, set up in 2018, which aims to encourage and enable men to support gender equality initiatives and change attitudes and remove barriers to women’s careers. In addition to this project, academics from five UCL Faculties are currently collaborating with counterparts at TU and have co-published 102 papers since 2013.

Working with Osaka University on AI

Academics from UCL and University of Osaka (OU) are developing AI technologies to interpret complex human interactions and support learners to develop their collaborative problem-solving skills. CPS is a fundamental skill for success in modern societies but implementing and evaluating it in learning environments is challenging for educators. In addition to this project, academics in seven UCL Faculties are currently collaborating with counterparts at OU, in areas from neuroscience to artificial intelligence and have co-published 70 papers since 2013 as well as jointly running workshops on topics including global health and wellbeing, sustainable urban design and society and education.

Partnerships at the heart of UCL’s global engagement

UCL’s Global Engagement Strategy (GES) focusses on building ‘partnerships of equivalence’ – reciprocal relationships of mutual trust and respect. Partnerships grow from the ‘bottom up’, building on the creative energy that exists between individual academics and on the interdisciplinary approach for which UCL is known. The GES helps bring together different perspectives and diverse experience to accelerate the process of discovery. It facilitates and strengthens new and existing collaborations, to help UCL achieve its ambition of tackling the great global challenges of our time.