Collaborations with Shandong and Zhejiang
By Poul Erik Hansen, NSM & Wei Zhang, International Office
Roskilde University has for a number of years had close collaboration with academic institutions in Shandong Province, China. Two of the former rectors, Henrik Toft Jensen and Poul Holm, visited Shandong. Collaboration agreements were reached with Shandong Academy of Science, Shandong University and Ocean University of China.
Many westerners may not know Shandong, but almost everyone knows Confucius, the great educator, thinker and philosopher from the East. Confucius was from a small town, called Qufu, in southern Shandong. Shandong is also famous for its beautiful Pacific coastlines. Ocean University is situated in Qingdao, a beautiful coastal city, which hosted the sailing competitions of the 2008 Summer Olympic Game. Due to its ideal geographical location, Qingdao is the marine city of China, with more than two thirds of the marine related research in China being carried out in Qingdao. There are several very famous marine research institutions, e. g. the Institute of Oceanography and the Institute of New Energy of the Chinese Academy of Science.
RUC received many master and Ph.D. students from Ocean University, who studied at NSM and ENSPAC. Two RUC students studied for one semester in the ‘Chinese Business Program’ at Ocean University. NSM’s research collaboration with Ocean University has resulted in common publications on international peer-reviewed journals. This is at the moment resulting in a review on bromophenols isolated from marine organisms. A collaboration with the Chinese Academy of Science, Institute of Oceanography, has also been established a couple of years ago. The review paper is likewise a continuation of this collaboration.
Besides Shandong, RUC has also established collaboration with Zhejiang Province, through Region Zealand (Sjælland). NSM presented a joint project with Zhejiang University and Shandong Academy of Sciences, in the natural products, health food or TCM in order to add value to the products. With the Shandong Academy of Sciences in Jinan we also have a common project on bioethanol production from biomass coming from invasive plants. This project is at the moment dormant due to lack of funding.
At NSM, we have for a couple of years had a plan to organize s summer school with participation of Chinese students. The theme should be analytical chemistry, hands on use of modern instrumentation and project work. However, we need to find supportive funding which we are looking for..