Chinese exchange professors meet Faculty of Science
Two professors from China joining the research and education in Leiden, two Leiden professors going to China to share their knowledge and experiences in return. This is the exchange professorship between the Faculty of Science and Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU). This week, all four professors got together to kick start their collaboration.
Two-day visit of Chairman of XJTU
The ceremony took place during a visit from a XJTU delegation led by their Chairman, Mr. Maizeng Zhang in Leiden on 4 and 5 October. After meeting with Leiden University rector magnificus Carel Stolker on the morning of 4 October, the delegation spent the afternoon and the next morning at the Faculty of Science. Goal of the visit was to share the visions and strengthen the friendship which rapidly developed since 2016.
In the past year three executive level mutual visits has been carried out in both Xi’ an and Leiden, Faculty of Science has signed 6 agreements with various faculties in XJTU to facilitating collaborations such as the mutual visiting professorship, mobility of students (bachelor, master and PhD students exchange) and a joint degree programme for masters and PhD’s. XJTU and the Faculty of Science also explored additional future possibilities, such as a joint research center and extending student and staff mobility.
Shared space
At the Faculty of Science, the delegation visited the new Gorlaeus Building and LACDR’s lab facilities. The delegation expressed being very impressed with this newly created shared working space for different disciplines, which has shown to greatly encourage the communication and collaborations among the institutes.
Eight presentations
During the two day visit, eight presentations were given. Maizeng Zhang, chairman of the XJTU University Board, and Faculty of Science dean Geert de Snoo exchanged talks about the developments in the collaboration. Science professors Marcello Bonsangue and Adriaan IJzerman, and Esther Keymolen from the Leiden eLaw programme gave introductions on their institutes and projects. From XJTU side, professors Xiaohong Guan, Yi LYU and Wenhua Shan introduced their faculties and projects.
Science meets art
The talks not only involved science; during the talks a shared connection and mutual dependence of science and art was discovered and vividly discussed. Scientists from both sides showed great involvement in art and culture. They agreed that besides their scientific collaborations, they will go hands in hands in cultural exchange to facilitate better understanding of the world and it’s people.
A treasured friendship
‘We treasure our friendship with China, XJTU is one of our most important partners and their visit made a great opportunity to learn from each other. It is fantastic to see visiting professors from both side reunion in Leiden,’ concluded dean Geert de Snoo after the two-day visit.
Small ceremony
A small ceremony was held at the Faculty of Science this week to entitle computer scientist Marcello Bonsangue as visiting Professors and drug discovery scientist Gerard van Westen as visiting scientist to Xi'an Jiaotong University (XJTU) in Xi’an, China. Earlier this week, Bonsangue and Van Westen held a reunion and several workshops with their XJTU colleagues, Xiaohong Guan and Kai Ye, who are appointed as Leiden visiting Professors earlier this year.
Who met with whom?
XJTU delegation list:
Mr. Maizeng ZHANG, Chairman of University Board, XJTU
Prof. Yi LYU, Assistant President, XJTU;
Prof. Wenhua SHAN, Assistant President, XJTU
Mr. Changzhong HE, Director of Department of International Cooperation and
Exchanges, XJTU;
Mr. Lili LEI, Director of Department of Human Resources, XJTU;
Prof. Xiaohong Guan, Dean of School Electronic and Information Engineering, XJTU; Visiting Professor in Leiden
Prof. Kai Ye, Professor Bioinformatic, XJTU, Visiting Professor in Leiden
Mr. Jinlong LIU, Secretary of Chairman;
Mr. Jiadong Lin, PhD candidate; XJTU-Leiden Joint PhD Programme
Faculty of Science
Prof. Douwe Breimer (former Rector Magnificus Leiden University, LACDR)
Prof. Geert de Snoo (Dean Faculty of Science)
Prof. Aske Plaat (Scientific Director LIACS, visiting Professor at XJTU)
Prof. Adriaan IJzerman (Professor of medicinal chemistry at LACDR)
Dr. Marcello Bonsangue (Education Director LIACS)
Dr. Gerard van Westen (Assistant Professor of Computational Chemical Biology at LACDR and visiting scientist at XJTU)
Dr. Gert Jan van Helden
Dr. Daan van der Es (Assistant Professor of Medicinal Chemistry at LACDR)
Esther Keymolen (guest from Faculty of Law, Educational Director eLaw)
Yun Tian (China Coordinator)