Castro visits UCL

A delegation of Cuban dignitaries, including Dr Fidel Castro, Chief Scientific Officer to the State Council of the Republic of Cuba and son of the Cuban leader, and Cuban Ambassador Jose Fernandez de Cossio, visited UCL in May 2005 to talk about potential scientific collaborations between the university and the island republic.

Their trip built on contacts forged during a recent trip to Cuba by UCL biomedical scientists, who spent a week visiting key scientific institutes in the country.

The Cuban group started off their time at UCL with a meeting with UCL's President and Provost, Professor Malcolm Grant, Professor Peter Mobbs, Dean of the Faculty of Life Sciences, and Dr Mary Phillips, Director of Research & Planning for Biomedicine.

Professor Grant gave an introduction to UCL's history and founding principles, and talked about the university's wide-ranging research in basic and applied science, particularly in the burgeoning areas of nanotechnology and bioinformatics, where UCL has a number of exciting collaborations with other universities, including the London Centre for Nanotechnology and the Bloomsbury Centre for Bioinformatics.

The UK and Cuban contingents also discussed the interplay between government and science in both countries, talking about the various influences that shape the direction of biomedical research, including funding issues and the portrayal of science by the media.   

The Cuban delegates then set off to meet key UCL departments and scientists, in order to gain a picture of how science works at ground level at the university. When Professor Grant expressed his regret that the delegation had come six months too early to see the completed London Centre for Nanotechnology building, Dr Castro quipped: "I have a background in theoretical physics, so I should be able to visualise it."

Image: (Left to right) Professor Peter Mobbs, Mr Ariel Felipe, Dr Mary Phillips, Dr Fidel Castro, Professor Malcolm Grant, Ms Tania Dominguez Rosas, Mr José Fernández de Cassio.

To find out more about UCL's visit to Cuba or the London Centre for Nanotechnology use the links below.

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Link:
UCL biomedical staff visit Cuba
London Centre for Nanotechnology
The Bloomsbury Centre for Bioinformatics