To consolidate the existing relationship in biomedical engineering and public health research through a joint partnership, on April 2014, SJTU and USYD signed an agreement to invest AUD$2 million together in the project, which will involve joint research, information exchange and academic mobility. This is a large-scale multi-disciplinary international research engagement to provide an open research platform for outstanding researchers from the two institutions to jointly address the major global medical and healthcare challenges and to transform healthcare systems to meet the needs of the future generations through the use of science and technology. It will also foster the development of novel medical/healthcare related high-tech industry and boost the economy through its innovations. The partnership will produce future leaders at the highest international standing through various research and training schemes, including the USYD-SJTU Cotutelle PhD program.
In the next 5 years of alliance, we will aim to establish a first-class international open research, research training, innovation and industry transformation platform:
- to conduct fundamental research in translational medicine and its related innovative technologies;
- to produce future leaders at the highest international standard to shape future healthcare delivery and related industry, (our research training includes cotutelle PhD program under the joint supervision from experts and multiple-discipline teams of the two universities, and the graduates will possibly get two degrees from two universities in two different areas, e.g., PhD in Biomedical Engineering from SJTU and PhD in Information Technology from USYD);
- to translate research outcomes into clinical solutions, to address worldwide common healthcare challenges, e.g., aging population and improving quality of life, etc.;
- to translate research outcomes into new industry and business, to shape the next generation of high-tech based economy and services.
Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) enjoys a long history and a world-renowned reputation in China. SJTU is a key national university and has been selected as one of the top nine universities (The C9 league) in the 985 Project. Through the 120 years’ unremitting efforts, SJTU has become a comprehensive, research-oriented, and internationalized university in China. SJTU enjoys an increasingly high level of scientific research and technology innovation. In 2015, SJTU received 887 National Natural Science Foundation (NNSF) grants, ranked as number one in the country, seconded by Zhejiang University with 713 NNSF grants, and has been taking the lead in China in terms of both project numbers and the amount of funding issued by the NNSF of China in the past 6 years. Moreover, in the discipline ranking provided by the Ministry of Education of China in 2015, Clinical Medicine of SJTU ranked 1st across China, and SJTU was also placed among the top universities in the medical school ranking. The School of Medicine of SJTU has access to the richest resource for clinical research and practise among all medical schools in China, including the close liaison with 7 affiliated general hospitals, 5 affiliated special hospitals, and 16 clinical teaching centres.