School of Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences
Within LES, the School of Geography, Earth & Environmental Sciences has developed links with the School of Environmental Sciences & Engineering at Sun Yat-Sen University, Guangzhou. This builds upon the excellent fit between the expertise at UoB (in Air Pollution and Water Sciences / Hydrology) and that of the group at SYS (Atmospheric Sciences and Hydrological Modelling); areas of strength within LES / GEES. Following several exchange visits, this has led to the development of two research projects, currently under consideration within the second phase of the University’s Guangzhou initiative.
The first project, Integrated Air Pollution Monitoring and Control Technology, let by Dr W Bloss at Birmingham and Prof J Chan at Sun Yat-Sen, will apply air pollution measurement and source apportionment expertise developed in Birmingham to address the highly visible air quality problems of Guangzhou.
The second project, River Water Environment Monitoring and Early Warning Network Technology, led by Prof D Hannah at Birmingham and Prof S Li at Sun Yat-Sen, aims to couple Birmingham’s practical expertise in deployment of river sensor networks, with a hydrodynamic model of the Pearl River Delta system, to improve the characterisation of dispersion of pollutants following releases.
Within the College of Social Sciences, the Birmingham Business School has developed links with the Department of Geography, Guangzhou University and the Guangzhou Land Use Planning Centre.
In December 2011, Professor Bryson visited Guangzhou to explore potential collaborations. During this visit he gave a public lecture entitled 'Producer Services and Urban Transformation’.
A collaboration is developing that builds on the expertise at UoB in understanding the competitiveness and geographies of service firms and on-going research at Guangzhou University on China's developing service economy. The visit led to the development of two research projects with Professor Zhangping Lin, Guangzhou University.
The first project is exploring the on-going transformation of Guangzhou into a global city. The second project focuses on understanding the evolving geography of Guangzhou's service economy. This involves research on the history and characteristics of land use change in Guangzhou's urban service industries. The project involves the development of a set of time-series maps using Geographical Information Systems (GIS) that will chart the development of the city's service industries. The second project includes Dr Phil Jones, GEES, UoB
School of Biosciences
The School of Biosciences is the largest biology school in the region, delivering internationally excellent teaching and research across the broad span of modern biological subjects to over 1,000 students. The School has thriving partnerships with two different institutions in China.
The partnership between the University of Birmingham and Fudan University allows undergraduate students who begin their studies at Fudan to finish their studies at Birmingham and achieve either a bachelor degree (BSc Hons) or a Masters degree (MSci) in Biological Sciences or Biochemistry. Students will have studied the first two years of their course at Fudan University, and then study the remaining 2 years (BSc Hons) or 3 years (MSci) at Birmingham.
Students arriving from Fudan have the opportunity to join one of the internationally renowned research teams in the School to carry out their final year project, and the Professional Placement programmes (part of the BSc Hons) offer students the opportunity to spend an additional year working in the UK to gain further work experience.
The School has recently formed a similar agreement with Huazhong Agricultural University (HZAU), Wuhan, with the first intake starting in 2012.