CUHK reaffirms partnership with Brown University, US

CUHK has entered into three agreements with Brown University (Brown), US, further strengthening the partnership between the two institutions. The agreements included the "Brown Plus One" International Programme, short-term Faculty Exchange Programme and Internship Programme for CUHK Master of Arts graduates in Chinese Linguistics and Language Acquisition at Brown. Professor Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President of CUHK, led a delegation to visit Brown on 23 August 2011 to reaffirm CUHK's partnership with Brown and signed the agreements for these three initiatives. Members of the CUHK delegation included Professor Michael Hui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor; Professor Gordon Cheung, Director of Academic Links; and Ms. Antonia Yeung, Director of Alumni Affairs.

Under the "Brown Plus One" International Programme, Brown students can undertake a period of exchange at CUHK while completing their baccalaureate degree at Brown and return to CUHK in their fifth year to pursue a taught master's degree at CUHK. On the research front, the two institutions will start exchanging one faculty member per year for a one-week visit to explore potential collaborations. Through the Brown-CUHK Language Teaching Fellowship Programme, one graduate of CUHK Master of Arts in Chinese Linguistics and Language Acquisition Programme will undertake a two-year professional development teaching internship at Brown's East Asian Studies Department.

In addition to the above joint initiatives, Brown and CUHK are collaborating on a number of teaching and research activities, including an undergraduate student exchange programme, a new thematic summer programme launched in 2011, and a Summer Undergraduate Research Exchange Programme launched by CUHK's Department of Physics since 2000 to allow undergraduate students to conduct research at some North American universities including Brown.

CUHK to host Gordon Research Conferences Meeting in 2012

CUHK will host a Gordon Research Conferences (GRC) meeting in 2012. Entitled "Salt & Water Stress in Plants", the meeting will be held during 24-29 June 2012 and will bring together world class scientists from universities, research institutes and industries to present and discuss their latest research findings in identifying individual biological processes that are required for plant survival under abiotic stress.

The GRC is a non-profit organization managed by and for the benefit of the scientific community. The GRC provides an international forum for the presentation and discussion of frontier research in the biological, chemical, and physical sciences, and their related technologies. Initiated by Dr. Neil E. Gordon of the Johns Hopkins University in the late 1920s the GRC now organizes almost 200 meetings every year in a number of sites in the US, Italy, Switzerland, and Hong Kong. The GRC allows scientists with common professional interests to come together for a full week of intense discussion and examination of the most advanced aspects of their field.

CUHK welcomed Dr. Nancy Gray, Director and President of GRC to the campus on 13 July 2011 when she spoke with some 70 members of the CUHK community, including faculty members, researchers and PhD students about the GRC. A number of CUHK faculty members took the occasion to share their experience from previous GRC meetings and encouraged students and other researchers to participate in the meetings. PhD student Terence Tam from Molecular Biotechnology Programme was then given a prize from Dr. Gray to attend a GRC meeting of his choice.

For further information on the "Salt & Water Stress in Plants" meeting, please visit:
http://www.grc.org/programs.aspx?year=2012&program=salt.

For further information on the Gordon Research Conferences, please visit: http://www.grc.org/home.aspx.

Recent outreach trips

The following is a list of outreach trips that took place from 20 August to 23 August 2011:

Date / Partner institution	CUHK delegation member(s)
20 August 2011 University of Toronto, Canada	Professor Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President.
23 August 2011 Brown University, US	Professor Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President; Professor Michael Hui, Pro-Vice-Chancellor; Professor Gordon Cheung, Director of Academic Links; Ms. Antonia Yeung, Director of Alumni Affairs.