HU Ming, Vice Dean of Academy of Humanities and Social Sciences of Zhejiang University, led a delegation to visit three top universities in the United Kingdom in order to promote insightful exchanges and overall cooperation in early November.

The delegation visited six research institutions in University of Cambridge, University of Oxford and Imperial College London, including Center for Research in Arts, Social Sciences and Humanities (CRASSH), Institute for Manufacturing (IfM), Cambridge Centre for Alternative Finance (CCAF), Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) in University of Cambridge, China Center in University of Oxford, and Data Science Institute (DSI) in Imperial College London.

CRASSH is one of the largest interdisciplinary research platforms in Cambridge. The delegation attained better comprehension about the operational mechanism and major research projects in CRASSH. The delegation also visited IfM which has kept time-honored cooperative relationship with School of Management of Zhejiang University. In recent years, both sides have achieved multiple success in joint research, organization of international conferences and exchange of students and professors. CCAF in Cambridge is committed to contributing innovative academic and policy research results for emerging financial research, and close cooperation has already been established between CCAF and Academy of Internet Finance in Zhejiang University. The delegation then visited Leverhulme Centre for the Future of Intelligence (CFI) in Cambridge. Researcher Dr. Liu Yang introduced their active partnership with Center for the Study of Language and Cognition in Zhejiang University. Therefore this series of visits target  to facilitate the academic excellence in the combination of artificial intelligence research and the study of humanities and social sciences.

On the next day, the delegation paid a visit to Oxford China Center. Assistant Director and Researcher Dr. Nie Hongping introduced that the center is currently the largest Chinese research center in the UK and Europe. Zhejiang University and the center have reached a preliminary cooperative partnership in areas such as China’s urbanization, smart city construction, new rural construction, and economy of private sectors. At last, the delegation visited DSI in Imperial College London. Professor Guo Yike, the founding director of the institute, shared with the delegation about the application of big data in transportation planning and block chain technology in internet finance. As early as 2014, the “Joint Laboratory of Applied Data Science” was co-established by the two universities in London, dedicated to improving research and application of big data technology in smart city construction, internet finance and life sciences.

 
As the global leading universities, Cambridge, Oxford and Imperial College are indispensable strategic partners of Zhejiang University. The study of humanities and social sciences entails internationalization of interdisciplinary research in modern society. To establish a global cooperative network has become an important part of ZJU’s “double first-class” construction.