Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Haché has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between York University and Nanjing Normal University in China. The MOU will enhance each institution’s teaching, learning and internationalization objectives.
The initiative was part of a delegation to support the Ontario-Jiangsu University consortium led by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU), which culminated in early November with a signing ceremony attended by Premier Kathleen Wynne. Ontario universities were invited by the Jiangsu Department of Education after several vice-presidents of research were hosted last year. This year’s COU-led mission included representatives from 14 Ontario universities.
The MOU between York University and Nanjing Normal University facilitates support for student and faculty exchanges, exchange of visiting international scholars, the development of academic programs and courses, the development of short-term study abroad opportunities, joint teaching and/or supervision of graduate students, and the exchange of information, resources and materials that are of mutual interest.
“York is enthusiastic about the opportunity to continue building collaborations to advance research, as well as, facilitate student and faculty exchange opportunities with Nanjing Normal University,” said Haché. “We hope to build on and establish a long-term and meaningful institutional relationship to support research and education.”
Since 2005, a number of York researchers have been developing collaborations with Nanjing Normal University in the fields of disease modelling and applications. Members of York’s Laboratory of Mathematical Parallel Systems, otherwise known as LAMPS, directed by York professor Huaiping Zhu, have been working since 2007 with researchers at Nanjing Normal University on modelling and analysis of climate change and its environmental impact on a freshwater lake (Tai Lake).
Researchers from both York University and Nanjing Normal University have been hosting and participating in workshops on modelling and analysis of environmental impact on Tai Lake for the past number of years. York has welcomed postdoctoral and PhD candidates to engage in study and research collaborations at the LAMPS.
York researcher Walter Tholen, professor of mathematics and statistics in the Faculty of Science, presented a plenary talk on the topic of Monoidal Topology, at Nanjing Normal University last week. His lecture was based on the 2014 Cambridge University Press book of the same title co-edited by Tholen.