From May 14 to 15, a delegation from the University of New South Wales (UNSW Sydney), headed by Professor Lisa Zamberlan, Pro Vice-Chancellor International, and Professor Patricia M. Davidson, Vice Chancellor’s Fellow, visited HUST. The delegation was received by Zhan Yiqing, member of the University Standing Committee and Vice President of HUST. During the visit, the two universities held a plenary meeting, launched the Seed Fund Initiative, engaged in academic exchanges at the school and departmental levels, and toured laboratories.

At the plenary meeting, Vice President Zhan Yiqing extended a warm welcome to the delegation on behalf of HUST. She highlighted that UNSW Sydney is HUST’s key partner in Australia. Following the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding last year to establish a Joint Center and the launch of a Joint Research Seed Fund, the partnership has yielded substantial results. She expressed hopes to further strengthen the collaboration through diversified approaches such as expanding joint research centers, joint education programs, summer schools, and international academic conferences, in order to jointly address the major challenges in health and sustainable development faced by both countries.

Pro Vice-Chancellor Lisa Zamberlan expressed her gratitude to HUST for its warm reception. She stated that over the past year, the two teams have built deep mutual trust and friendship, providing a strong foundation for further expanding cooperation. She mentioned that UNSW’s soon-to-be-launched Health Translation Hub aligns closely with HUST’s Junshan International Campus, which emphasizes interdisciplinary development in life sciences and health. She looks forward to both universities leveraging their strengths in the health sector to promote collaborative research, innovation and entrepreneurship, as well as educational partnerships.

Representatives from the departments of health data science, nursing, public health, ophthalmology, and international offices from both universities exchanged views and explored pathways to further collaboration in medical sciences.

The two sides also reviewed the outcomes of the 2024 Seed Fund projects and held the launching ceremony for the 2025 Seed Fund. Vice President Zhan Yiqing and Pro Vice-Chancellor Lisa Zamberlan jointly signed the 2025 UNSW - HUST Strategic Partnership Research Seed Fund Scheme.

During their stay, the delegation visited HUST’s International Education and Scientific Innovation Campus (Junshan International Campus), Wuhan National Laboratory for Optoelectronics, and also exchanged with the School of Computer Science, School of Nursing, School of Public Health, and Tongji Hospital to discuss opportunities for academic and research cooperation.

Founded in 1949, UNSW Sydney is one of the world’s leading public research universities. It is a member of the Group of Eight, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, and Universitas 21, and is ranked 19th in the QS World University Rankings 2025. The HUST-UNSW partnership was established in 2024, with joint centers, seed funding, semester exchanges, and 3+1+1 joint training programs currently in place.