Did you know that teabags are made of plastic? Do you know where that plastic ends up? With WUN funding, a team of researchers led by Professor Bruce Sutherland (University of Alberta) are learning how to predict the movements of microplastics after their entry into water systems. Click through to read more about their recent workshop and their goal to help policy-makers take action.

Researchers and policy experts from across the globe are collaborating to monitor and analyse the role of evidence in policy-making during the COVID-19 pandemic. Their data cover more than 100 countries, publicly accessible in the INGSA COVID-19 Evidence-to-Policy Tracker. Click through to read more about this WUN-supported initiative.

In Ghana, the term “dumsor” (literally meaning “off-on”) is a term that was born to describe the periods of electricity blackouts in 2015 when the country experienced persistent and intermittent power outages. Though access to electricity is widespread, communities in different regions confront challenges of reliability, cost, and safety.

Click through to read about how the WUN-funded research group SEN-Africa is working on new models that incorporate the range of stakeholder priorities.  

The International Symposium on Digital Health is an annual event that connects international experts and professionals from the healthcare and engineering sectors in the promotion of interdisciplinary research in digital health. Click through to learn more about this upcoming free virtual symposium.

Why do we have the Sustainable Development Goals and why are university collaborations essential in making progress on them? Hear from Peter Lennie, WUN Executive Director, and special guest Jeffrey Sachs, President of the United Nations Sustainable Development Solutions Network, as they launch a new WUN networking initiative for early-career researchers working on the world’s biggest challenges.  

A WUN Interdisciplinary Research Group is hosting an international symposium that reflects on the challenges and opportunities in thinking about what counts as public space during a global pandemic. WUN Executive Director Peter Lennie and Chair of Global Higher Education and Research Global Challenge Chair Jose Escamilla, join PI Hendrik Tieben to discuss ‘Campus as Public Space in the Age of Pandemics’.  Click through for the program and registration information.

We are delighted to invite you to the virtual launch of the Worldwide Universities Network Global Africa Group book, Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals. Attendees are invited to meet the editors of Africa and the Sustainable Development Goals and participate in a live Q&A session with its contributors.  Click through for full details and to register for the event.

This is one of the first academic publications to comprehensively and critically engage with the intersection of the Sustainable Development Goals and African development agendas. It presents multidisciplinary research that captures the necessary complexity and breadth of the theory and practice of sustainable development on the continent. 

Click through for full details and to register for the event.

The ways of thinking and knowing developed in Indigenous cultures have long been marginalised within the academy and in public life, including in approaches to the environment, migration, and justice. Dr June Bam–Hutchison (University of Cape Town) is leading a collaborative network that aims to restore understandings of Indigenous concepts, enrich existing scholarship, and help to develop new approaches to today’s global challenges.

With a potentially large proportion of COVID-19 cases showing no symptoms but still infectious, sensitive and accurate methods of testing for the virus are essential to reduce the dangers of transmission within communities. A newly established WUN research group is helping to refine testing methods of testing for SARS-Cov-2.

Click through for the full story.

Some of the most striking spaces of the twentieth century were conceived with the modernist ambition to make urban living healthier. In the twenty-first century, the COVID-19 crisis and the changing use of public space is encouraging a return to such thinking. These debates have crystallised discussions of how to make public spaces work best for local communities—questions that the WUN group on sustainable, healthy cities has been exploring in their research and practice for several years.  Click through to discover more.

We are delighted to announce that Makerere University has joined the Worldwide Universities Network.  WUN warmly welcomes Vice Chancellor Barnabas Nwangwe and colleagues as partners.  Click through to learn more.

The third instalment of WUN’s webinar series sharing experiences during the COVID-19 pandemic focused on research: how universities are managing priorities during campus closures and conditions on returning to work. Click through for a summary and recording of the event. 

An international consortium of WUN member universities along with WUN+ partners is examining the experiences of staff members and students at universities around the world, seeking to reveal the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on their mental health and wellbeing. Click through to learn about the project and to access their global survey for academic staff members.

Peter Lennie discusses the importance of collaborative networks at the Sustainable Development Solutions Network ‘University Sector Support to UN Secretary-General’s Call for a Decade of Action on the SDGs: A Meeting of Presidents of Universities’. to an audience of university and United Nations leaders.

In the second of the WUN webinars on challenges universities are facing during the COVID-19 pandemic, teaching and learning experts shared their experiences and techniques for helping students stay engaged with their courses during online delivery.  Every university in the Network has been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic and has had to adapt at pace. However, these common challenges have taken diverse forms and prompted distinctive solutions, with each university responding to a specific and locally grounded set of dynamics.  

Click through for a summary of the discussion and to watch a video of the webinar in its entirety.

WUN is pleased to announce the results of its 2020 special initiative to address research needs triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Eight awards were made to support time-sensitive research projects whose value depends on being able to collect or analyse data obtained during the pandemic, and on which the collaboration of WUN partners confers real advantage. Awarded project teams are comprised of researchers from across 19 WUN member universities.  

Peter Lennie, Executive Director of WUN, said “We had an overwhelming response to this special call, and received many strong and exciting proposals. The eight successful projects take special advantage of member universities’ cultural and geographical diversity in tackling urgent and important problems that have arisen from the pandemic.”

Click through to learn more about the awarded projects.

WUN is hosting a series of webinars to help member universities benefit from each other’s experience in addressing some of the unprecedented pandemic-related challenges facing them.  The next in our series, to be held on Thursday 23 July will discuss the challenge of maintaining student engagement and attention during remote course delivery.

Universities around the network have deployed various approaches, reflecting the different geographical and cultural contexts in which they work, to help keep students engaged as classes have shifted from the classroom to computer screen.  In this webinar we will explore what successful strategies have emerged, what we’ve learned from failures, and how the diversity of experiences from around the network can help inform each of us as we continue to teach remotely.

Click through to learn more and register for the webinar.

We are delighted to announce that the University of Lausanne (UNIL) has become the newest member of WUN.

Rector Nouria Hernandez noted that “UNIL is very excited to join WUN and to contribute to its development. We are particularly enthusiastic about the focus of the network on research activities and collaboration, and above all the fact that it addresses major contemporary challenges. These issues are also high on UNIL’s agenda.”

WUN Executive Director Peter Lennie added, “The distinctive strength of the network lies in its capacity to bring together major research universities from different parts of the world to collaborate on solving global challenges—particularly those related to sustainable development. In joining WUN, the University of Lausanne adds significantly to our strengths, and to our effectiveness in addressing research challenges.”     Click through to read the full story.

(22 June series update)

Following World Oceans Day, WUN is pleased to share a presentation of a series of articles in which United Nations Academic Impact (UNAI) presents ocean science from WUN member the University of Bergen, UNAI’s Hub institution for SDG 14: Life below water in the Sustainable Ocean Series. 

We will be sharing four features from this project, a new article to be published each Monday, and also highlight what WUN research teams are doing to address the future of our oceans.  Click through for more.

Before COVID-19 there were transnational trends in student mental health as well as local particularities, as students face adjustment challenges, the demands of a competitive environment and external pressures like finances and employability.

As the pandemic and related containment measures take hold, click through to learn about how WUN universities are supporting students’ mental health.

Through transdisciplinary research the WUN Interdisciplinary Research Group on Climate Resilient African Landscapes is building insights into how different stakeholders use and shape the places they share. The group has established practitioner partnerships and is capitalising on regional and global academic networks.

Click to read more about the approach they are taking as their work continues.

In this story, we hear how two WUN member researchers benefited from new connections made through the Research Mobility Program: Colin Chu, who worked with engineers at the University of Rochester, and Victoria Rivera Ugarte, who collaborated with social scientists at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

Click through to learn more about their discoveries and plans.

As the coronavirus pandemic spreads, interruptions to public services and the imposition of social distancing have had major impacts on global agriculture and food supply. Professor Mark Eisler of the WUN supported Global Farm Platform discusses likely impacts of the crisis and the potential for rebuilding systems in more environmentally and economically sustainable way. 

Click through to read more.

Stressors and traumas such as violence and abuse, the effects of poverty, and the experience of emergencies or disasters have a major impact on the health of pregnant women and their children.

As the impact of climate change multiplies the threats, understanding why and how we can make effective and early interventions is paramount.

Click through to read the full story.

WUN is hosting a series of webinars to help member universities benefit from each other’s experience in addressing some of the unprecedented pandemic-related challenges now facing them.  Each webinar will last an hour, and will be organised around the sharing of insights about a specific challenge, followed by a broad Q&A.

The focus of our first webinar, to be held on Tuesday 5 May (click through for local times) will be student mental health.  The webinar will begin with the sharing of both research and practice insights and experiences from members of the WUN Student Mental Health Working Group. This will be followed by a broader discussion with all attendees.

To enable WUN as a network to best address research needs triggered by the Covid-19 pandemic, WUN is making available a limited number of grants for collaborative projects that focus on research challenges related to the present pandemic, and are urgent and of the moment.

We therefore welcome special requests to support projects that a) should be undertaken now, because circumstances will be less favourable later; b) benefit particularly from collaboration among WUN partners (e.g., capitalize on the geographical and cultural diversity of the network).

Click through for full details.

Although we won’t be able to gather this year for the 2020 WUN Annual General Meeting (AGM), we are excited to announce the dates for WUN AGM 2021!

Working with Tecnológico de Monterrey, we have been able to confirm arrangements for the WUN AGM 2021, which will take place in Monterrey, Mexico from 17-21 May 2021. 

While disasters and environmental factors have always been important drivers of migration, even more people are expected to move as they face the projected impacts of climate change, including more extreme weather events, changes in water quality and availability, and interactions with conflict. 

A recent ruling of the UN Human Rights Committee, which stated that people cannot be sent back to countries where climate change impacts place them in immediate danger, was treated by many commentators as a landmark protection for environmental migrants. As Professor Andreas Neef (University of Auckland) explains in this feature, the reality is more complex. Recipient of a 2020 WUN Research Development Fund award, a WUN member consortium will advance interdisciplinary research into climate-induced migration. It aims to help improve policies through a better understanding of the complex drivers of migration and displacement associated with climatic changes.  Click through for the full story.

UPDATE: The WUN Summer School, originally scheduled for July 2020, has been postponed to 2021 due to covid-19 developments.  The information and application website will be re-opened for the 2021 program in due course. 

WUN is pleased to announce the results of the 2019 round of the Research Development Fund (RDF) applications.  These awards, which facilitate collaborative research among WUN universities, will bring our financial investment in establishing new WUN Interdisciplinary Research Groups (IRGs) to more than £170,000 over the past six months.

From among 31 applications, we have been able to support 15 projects from the RDF.  Notably, all 23 WUN member universities are represented on awarded projects research teams in this round.  These new projects join 88 existing IRGs that have engaged over 2300 researchers across the Network.

Since 2009 the WUN Research Development Fund (RDF) has directly invested over £2 million to establish research projects on problems of global significance, and on which member universities, working together, can make distinctive progress.

In 2015 a WUN-funded research collaboration among the Universities of Bergen, Cape Town, and Southampton set out to understand whether parasite exposure is having an impact on allergy rates. Their research since suggests that the answer is yes, but exactly what is happening and why remains a mystery.  Click through to read the full story.

Not just talking, but doing: with funding from the WUN Research Development Fund, academics from four WUN universities got together with experts and decision-makers in Accra to combine forces on global waste management. Professor Shyama V. Ramani and PhD researcher Ms Maria Tomai talk here about their recent activities.

Public debates about marriage migration are vulnerable to a series of misconceptions, often conflating migration with trafficking and undermining the agency of the women who migrate. The WUN Marriage Migrants in Asia research group is addressing these misconceptions with interdisciplinary research that aims to inform regional policy. Click through to read more about their activities and the thinking behind them.

New technologies are capturing different information about health and treatments, opening up new pathways for more efficient and effective care. With its distinctive collaborative model, the WUN Digital Health Research Network has founded a new international society and is developing methodologies for studying and evaluating digital health innovations.  Click through for the full story.

WUN’s Legume Network is building a global reputation for research excellence – paving the way for pulses to be embraced as crucial allies in the fight against climate change, hunger, obesity and other threats to world health.

In 2018, the network was awarded a sustainability grant from WUN to bolster its efforts to secure large-scale, transnational funding to establish a centre of excellence and associated nodes of research.  “Large-scale funding will ensure we tackle major challenges in legume biology as a unified world-leading academic community of excellence, driving WUN bioscience forward in this key area,” says PI Associate Professor Michael Considine (UWA). 

WUN’s Legumes Network comprises dozens of leading scientists across 12 institutions from five continents. Since its launch in 2015, the number of papers published relating to legumes and climate change has tripled from under 20 to more than 60 per annum – many connected directly to the network.  (Click through to full story.)

The convergence of data and diplomacy and its far-reaching effects are the focus of a new academic paper by WUN-affiliated researchers published in Science & Diplomacy.

Data Diplomacy was co-authored by Andy Boyd (Bristol), Jane Gatewood, (Rochester), Stuart Thorson, (Syracuse)  and Timothy Dye (Rochester).  The publication reflects insights from the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) symposium on data diplomacy held at the Academy of Medicine in New York in October 2015.  It also names symposium delegates who lent their expertise in the areas of public health and translational research, governance and public policy, and data sharing and management to investigate the intersection of data and diplomatic engagement.

The paper shows data to be a two-edged sword: used to empower communities by granting them cultural capital and opening diplomatic possibilities, and as a tool to manage citizens’ behaviour. (Click through to full story.)

WUN member Maastricht University, which leads the Young Universities for the Future of Europe alliance, has recently been awarded a large grant by the European Commission to set up one of the very first models of European Universities.  WUN is strengthened when our member universities extend their reach internationally, and we congratulate Maastricht University on this notable achievement.

From 19-24 May, 230 participants from WUN member universities came together for the Network’s Annual General Meeting Week 2019, hosted by University College Dublin.

Peter Lennie, Executive Director of WUN noted, “Our hosts at UCD provided a marvellous environment for a most productive meeting that highlighted both the achievements and the great potential of WUN. Several important initiatives have resulted from the meeting, and I’m confident they will bring considerable benefit to the partnership.”

WUN would once again like once again to thank President Andrew Deeks and the organising team at University College Dublin for their generous support in hosting WUN AGM 2019. The 2020 edition will be held in Monterrey, Mexico with the support of host member Tecnològico de Monterrey from 17-22 May 2020.

Click through for the full article and further images from the week.

Led by the University of Auckland at number one, WUN universities make a strong showing in a new ranking that assesses the social and economic impact of universities based on the UN Sustainable Development Goals.

WUN is pleased to announce an internship opportunity for a doctoral researcher at IOM GMDAC in Berlin.

To be held from 19-21 June 2019 at Maastricht University.

Held 19-24 May in Dublin, Ireland.

WUN Summer School on Energy Transitions, 8-19 July 2019, University of Alberta.

“Exploring resilient peacebuilding actors, cultures and policy transfer in West Africa”.

Open: call for research proposals on Marriage Migrants and Care, deadline 15 March 2019. 

Implementing the SDGs in East Africa: Translating collaborative research into policy impact.

Sixteen projects have been awarded funds to begin in 2019.

National conference on the role of Norwegian universities in relation to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Apply for a travel grant by 15 January 2019 and submit your abstract by 15 February 2019.

WUN academic workshop report: The Shiloh Project In Ghana. An Intersectional Exploration of Religion and Gender-Based Violence.

What does mobile phone usage in Africa and small-town hospitality to queer people in South Africa reveal about globalisation as it’s encountered in the margins and peripheries?

A new platform to identify climate-smart adaptations in Fiji and Tonga will assist communities vulnerable to climate change.

WUN research: an inexpensive and easily replicable journalling exercise can build resilience in pregnant women affected by natural disaster.

The RDF provides researchers in WUN universities with grants of up to £10,000 to foster research collaborations across the network.

The Canmore Declaration is defined as the interdependent vitality of all natural and anthropogenic ecosystems: social, political and otherwise.

Tinashe Jakwa volunteered at the Worldwide Universities Network Conference, AGM, and Presidents Forum 2018

WUN Understanding Cultures Global Challenge Workshop: how heritage can help people deal with trauma of forced and unsafe migration 

WUN Responding to Climate Change Global Challenge Workshop 

Promoting adaptability across the life course

What 21st Century challenges for higher education should inform GHEAR’s research agenda?

We have got the talent, the knowledge, and the vehicles through the policy institutes

Migration Data Portal Blog

Professor John Hearn concludes his work as WUN’s Executive Director on 31 July 2018

Conference and AGM round-up

Professor Peter Lennie will be the network’s new Executive Director, commencing in August.

Monday 9 – Thursday 12 July 2018, Bristol Marriott Hotel

A unique book that captures the diverse experiences of first generation higher education students and explores ways universities might better serve them was launched on May 24 at the WUN AGM. 

Details of the Migration Data for Policy Summer School hosted by the University of Bristol and the IOM’s GMDAC

Op-ed from UWA VC Professor Dawn Freshwater on international engagement. 

The Worldwide Universities Network Global Policy Research Group (WUN GPRG) was launched (stage 1) at Renmin University of China (RUC) on 24 March 2018 during the RUC-WUN Think Tank Conference.

International Inflammation Network announces name change

WUN-Universities are high in the ranking with no less than eight members in the Top 60. This score illustrates the fact that WUN members are committed to an international outlook in their research and in increasing the mobility of their staff and students.   

WUN member, The University of Bergen (UiB), will be climate-neutral by 2030 thanks to a commitment to sustainability announced at the first SDG Conference Bergen held in February 2018.

The fellowship will be offered for visits between 4 and 6 weeks per year and applicants may request funding for up to £2,500.

The program comprises lectures on various Brazilian-related topics, Portuguese classes and cultural activities. The Summer School will take place at UFMG main campus in Belo Horizonte and all activities will be conducted in English.

Closing date 28 February 2018   

On 24th March 2018, the RUC-WUN Think Tank Summit will be held on the campus of Renmin University. Springtime Beijing and Renmin University of China welcome experts and colleagues from WUN partner universities.

Scholarship Opportunity for early career researchers to participate in WUN academic workshop Promoting Adaptability across the Life Course held in Perth on 21-22 May 2018.

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) is pleased to announce the results of the 2017 round of the annual Research Development Fund, marking a direct investment in international, interdisciplinary research collaboration among WUN member universities of over £130,000.

WUN welcomes UCD, one of Europe’s leading research-intensive universities, currently ranked within the top 1% of institutions world-wide and home to over 33.000 students drawn from over 120 countries.

WUN member The University of Bergen is organising a major conference on the role of Norwegian universities in relation to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDG).

WUN members Maastricht and York have agreed a major partnership in which they will establish joint research projects, teaching collaborations, knowledge exchange, student exchanges and sharing best practice among their staff. 

The UNESCO Institute of Statistics 

Major findings WUN Responding to Climate Change research group published in science journal Atmospheric Environment.

The next WUN Conference & AGM will be held in Perth, Australia from 20 to 25 May 2018. 

Helping adolescents and the people who work with them adapt positively to adversity is the aim of this ambitious collaboration between researchers in South Africa, the UK & China.

How life-course research can help more of us stay healthy as we age

Early Career Researcher travel grant opportunity to attend the International Inflammation Network (inFLAME) annual meeting in Canmore, Canada, 4-6 April 2018

WUN welcomes its 22nd member, UFMG, one of the leading institutions of higher education in Brazil. 

WUN Project the DREAMS Network organised second workshop. 

WUN expands its global network to Latin America. 

This year’s AGM provided a key opportunity for all stakeholders to form a fit-for-purpose strategic plan to carry WUN into the next decade.

A statement from the Senior Leadership Group of the University of Cape Town.

Professor Dr Martin Paul reflects on the consequences of Brexit for higher education.

Sir Keith Burnett reflects on what he learned about international students while in India with the UK prime minister.

Research in Focus: in-FLAME

WUN supported research group has introduced novel Glucose-Responsive Hydrogels for Glucose Detection. 

WUN is delighted to announce that the University of Nairobi (UoN) has joined the Worldwide Universities Network. We welcome Vice Chancellor Professor Peter Mbithi and his colleagues to the WUN Board, research teams and programs. The Worldwide Universities Network looks forward to a valuable and productive partnership.

We are delighted to announce that National Cheng Kung University (NCKU) has joined the Worldwide Universities Network. 

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“It has been very difficult to get these [results] published, because the concept of adolescent boys, having impact on their offspring born years later is new and editors could not believe our findings. I think that the WUN can inspire further research to support our findings and convey the new concepts to public health policy makers…”

Migration governance continues to fail in several key areas such as labour rights, employment opportunities and social protection.

On 12 November 2016 

Congratulations to the WUN international team that has achieved this highly competitive support. 

The Climate- Resilient Open Partnership for Food Security project (CROP-FS) published in Nature magazine. 

Multi-disciplinary team from the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) publishes in Nature Plants.

Professor Dr Martin Paul reflects on the consequences of Brexit for higher education.

Higher education and research are no longer privileged pursuits pursued by high priests in isolated ivory towers. That history and stereotype, itself only partly true, has given way to the increasing catalysis of change. The change is fuelled by rapid development and competition, and by a concert of factors and global dynamics affecting the international research universities that are the subject of this discussion.

On 7 April, WUN Presidents, as well as distinguished representatives from the European Parliament, European Commission, European Research Council and national embassies, convened in Brussels for the sixth annual WUN Presidents Forum. Titled ‘Open Doors: European Opportunities in Research & Education,’ the Forum took place alongside the WUN Conference and AGM 2016.

From 2-7 April, close to 400 academics and university leaders from around the world participated in the WUN Conference & AGM 2016, hosted by Maastricht University.

On 7 April, WUN Presidents, as well as distinguished representatives from the European Parliament, European Commission and European Research Council, will convene in Brussels for the sixth annual Presidents Forum.

Maastricht University (UM) has climbed to the fourth place in the Times Higher Education (THE) 150 Under 50 ranking for best young universities in the world. After maintaining the sixth place since 2013 in the former THE 100 under 50, this fourth place can be considered as a compliment and congratulations in Maastricht Universities 40th anniversary year. The list has been published at the Young Universities Summit in Barcelona on April 6th.

On 4 April, # international researchers came together at the second WUN China FDI Workshop to examine the progress of President Xi Jinping’s Belt and Road Initiative, which is designed to build knowledge and innovation partnerships and accelerate business development. 

On 2-7 April, close to 400 academics and university leaders from around the world will descend on Maastricht for the WUN Conference & AGM 2016, hosted by Maastricht University.

On 2 April, the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) and the Global Migration Data Analysis Centre in Berlin of the International Organization for Migration (IOM GMDAC) signed a collaboration agreement at the second WUN Migration Conference in Maastricht.

The researchers of the joint team from Zhejiang University, University of Leeds and University of York are currently exploring novel glucose-responsive materials for GOX-free glucose sensors which will be more sensitive and stable. 

The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) recently launched the Global China Research Program with the goal of understanding China’s global presence and international relations, as well as the global reception of China’s outward engagements. 

After many years of failed attempts, world leaders have finally signed a comprehensive deal to address climate change at COP21 in Paris. WUN was there.

As the world’s population continues to grow and the effects of global warming and climate change begin to affect crop yields, new and existing crops must be developed that are resilient to temperature extremes, drought and salinity, while also being cheap to produce. The UN Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon, himself, noted the scale of the problem saying “diversification of crops with legumes and other practical measures must be scaled up to end hunger while meeting the challenge of climate change”.

The world will gather in Paris in early December for the 21st Conference of Parties (COP21) to develop solutions to climate change and WUN will join them as an official observer organisation.

Much like the printing press, the invention of the world wide web has afforded us unprecedented opportunities for spreading information. Not only do we now have the capacity to share rich data sets online, we also have vast amounts of data about our online activity. However, without a proper framework in place, it is difficult to take full advantage of this rich information resource. There are currently multiple barriers to using this resource effectively, including accessibility of datasets, lack of comprehensive and shareable metadata, dataset identification and searching, access control and privileges, and analytics.

A pioneering partnership has been signed between the University of Sheffield and Zhejiang University as part of ongoing commitments to work collaboratively in tackling some of the biggest global issues.

The higher education sector is rapidly evolving as a result of new technologies and globalisation. WUN universities continue to innovate, using these new technologies to expand their offerings and global reach. The Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is one such technology, allowing students from around the world to access world-class expertise from anywhere at any time. Below are ten free MOOCs, offered by WUN universities through FutureLearn, beginning over the coming months.

The Foreign Minister of Australia, the Hon Julie Bishop launched the new AGAAR on Friday 4thSeptember. She stated that the group would advise her and the Australian Government on economic diplomacy and development of Australian African mutual interests within Australia’s overall international engagement. These equal partnerships in mid-term programs and a long term framework for cooperation would inform the government and stakeholders with evidence based policy options. The Advisory Group was charged to help develop such a framework. The emphasis would be on sustainable and specific activities, with Australian African characteristics, in key sectoral areas and with key countries. The approach would build teamwork between governments, academic and business, along with NGO’s and international agencies.

Professor John Hearn, Executive Director of WUN, today announced the appointment of Professor Joe Berger as the new Chair of the Global Higher Education & Research Global Challenge (GHEAR) to take effect from 1 October 2015.

Professor John Hearn, Executive Director of WUN and Chairman of the Australia-Africa Universities Network, discusses the prolific threats that continue to plague public health and outlines initiatives in place that promote education and prevention.

In communities where livelihoods are linked to the land and sea, environmental security is of utmost importance. This is particularly true in the developing nations of the Asia-Pacific, where many localities have a high dependency on fisheries, tourism and agriculture. Moreover, global changes are increasingly resulting in challenging localised impacts, such as increased frequency of extreme events. Thus, understanding the social-environment system is imperative to providing solutions for responding to climate change.

WUN Executive Director, Professor John Hearn, and WUN China Manager, Associate Professor Grace Liu, visited WUN member Zhejiang University in June to meet with the new President Professor Zhaohui Wu, reviewing the WUN-Zhejiang Partnership and exploring greater engagement and teamwork. Zhejiang currently ranks in the top three Chinese universities and is a recognised international research leader.

Renmin University School of Marxism in Beijing held a high level international conference on “China’s Path in International Relations” at the end of June 2015. The purpose was to explore and develop the scholarly and practical concepts of “One Belt One Road” as articulated by President Xi Jinping. WUN Executive Director, Professor John Hearn, and WUN China Manager, Associate Professor Grace Liu, were among international speakers from Canada, USA, Russia and Europe invited to present papers.

Medical research and advanced mathematics are usually considered separate disciplines. But for one WUN collaboration, bringing maths and biology together could hold the key to understanding how cells in the human body signal to each other, and might potentially unlock the secrets of a range of non-communicable diseases.

In the coming months, WUN will see considerable transition in its Partnership Board, with leading figures that have helped shape WUN over the last ten years moving on from their respective universities. WUN thanks these individuals for their dedicated service and wishes them the best of luck in their future endeavours. We also look forward to welcoming their successors and continuing to build on mutual strengths.

There has been a significant increase in asthma and allergies in high-income countries over the past few decades. These diseases are also increasingly prevalent in developing countries, which can substantially increase mortality rates since proper medication is often expensive. The causes of asthma and allergies are not well understood, and there is currently neither a cure or effective prevention. At the same time, parasitic infections have decreased and have known immunological effects.

Today’s higher education landscape is changing rapidly as a direct result of globalisation and technological advancement. Key issues include access and affordability, public/private collaboration, technology’s impact on research, and the evolving roles of academics, students and administrators in light of increased internationalisation. 

As the world’s population continues to rise, so does the increasing demand for water, energy and food. These three resources are inextricably linked and any shortage or disruption of one will significantly impact the other two. This is known as the water-energy-food nexus.

WUN is pleased to announce the launch of the 2015 Research Development Fund (RDF). The RDF is an annual competitive grant scheme designed to foster innovative, high quality and sustainable research among member universities.

Non-communicable diseases (NCDs) such as allergies, asthma, cancer, diabetes and obesity are on the rise. Inflammation and immune dysregulation are common features of these conditions, often associated with environmental and lifestyle risk factors such as dietary patterns, environmental pollutants, microbial patterns and stress.

Anne Christine Johannessen takes over as chair of the Worldwide Universities Network’s Public Health Global Challenge Steering Group.

The University of Leeds is currently accepting applications for visiting fellows through the Cheney Fellowships scheme. 

The WUN Understanding Global Digital Cultures Conference explored the emergence and development of global digital cultures through a number of themes, including social media, cultural identity and politics. 

The WUN Migration Conference 2015 explored the issue of migration through the lens of WUN’s four Global Challenges in a multi-disciplinary, multi-thematic and multi-cultural approach.

The annual WUN Conference and AGM 2015 took place at The Chinese University of Hong Kong over six days from 25-30 April.

The WUN Public Health Global Challenge Conference on Healthy Ageing focused on how lifecourse research might contribute to the promotion of healthy ageing. 

Academic leaders from across WUN and local Chinese universities came together for the fifth annual WUN Presidents Forum at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen on 30 April.

The fifth annual WUN Presidents Forum will convene at The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen on 30 April as part of the WUN Conference and AGM 2015.

The WUN Conference and AGM 2015 begins today at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Spanning six days, this year’s event will run from 25-30 April.

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) has extended its global footprint into West Africa with the signing of the University of Ghana to its global network.

The WUN Partnership Board Directors, which includes the 18 member University Presidents and the Executive Director, have elected the Vice Chair 2015-16 and Chair 2016-18 of the Board.

The mission of WUN is twofold: to support international research collaboration and to foster the next generation of researchers. It appears to have accomplished both in regard to two PhD students who have recently published a joint paper in a special issue of the Journal of Asian Social Work and Policy Review.

Global food security has become an increasingly important issue as climate change further reduces the amount of land available for farming. Coupled to this is the higher demand for animal protein as developing nations become wealthier, and a higher demand for cereals, making them less attractive as animal feed at both an economic and social level. This has resulted on a greater emphasis on ruminant farming (e.g. cattle and goats) because these animals are capable of converting feed unsuitable for human consumption into high-value protein.

Getting heard in the world’s most populous country can be a hard task. As China’s economy continues to drive forward and the nation’s political clout on the world stage grows, more and more international organisations recognise the importance of building a strong profile in China.

The Worldwide Universities Network (WUN) today announced that the University of Basel has joined its global research network, raising membership to 18 universities.

WUN Executive Director, Professor John Hearn announced today that The University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMass Amherst) joins its global research university network, lifting the number of members in the network to 17.

One of the world’s most vital resources—water—is increasingly at the centre of debate. Its scarcity has intensified the movement toward water as a human right, yet private control over water utilities is simultaneously increasing. Although this tension is only just emerging, experts believe it will rapidly intensify as more investors seek access to fresh water in new countries.

Senior leaders from Australian universities came together to discuss Australia-China higher education in a workshop held at Australian Technology Park in Sydney on Tuesday.

Autism Spectrum Conditions (ASCs) are one of the most important emerging health concerns. Approximately one in every 100 children is diagnosed with an ASC, which includes autism, Asperger syndrome and atypical autism. 

Senior leaders from Australian universities will come together to discuss innovation in higher education at a workshop held in early December at Australian Technology Park in Sydney.

The University of Southampton welcomed HRH The Countess of Wessex to LifeLab on Friday 27 June to officially open the facility that aims to empower school students to take more control over their health.

Green spaces in towns and cities need extra consideration as they may be damaging buildings in the area, according to new research from the Universities of Southampton and Surrey.

The University of Southampton based SETsquared incubation centre has been named the number one university business incubator in Europe and second best in the world.

New research, led by scientists at the University of Southampton, has found that neurogenesis, the self-repairing mechanism of the adult brain, can help to preserve brain function in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Prion or Parkinson’s.

Representatives from WUN international exchange and study abroad offices met at the 2014 NAFSA Conference in San Diego, USA.

A study of how penguin populations have changed over the last 30,000 years has shown that between the last ice age and up to around 1,000 years ago penguin populations benefitted from climate warming and retreating ice. This suggests that recent declines in penguins may be because ice is now retreating too far or too fast.

John Dearing, Professor of Physical Geography at the University of Southampton, has been given the prestigious Murchison Award (2014) by the Royal Geographical Society (RGS).

Deep sea fishes remove and store more than one million tonnes of CO2 from UK and Irish surface waters every year, according to a new study led by the University of Southampton.

WUN announced it will fund sixteen young researchers from member institutions to spend periods of up to three months at partner institutions across the network through its Research Mobility Program (RMP).

WUN is pleased to announce the launch of the 2014 Research Development Fund.

In the spring 2014 edition of the IIE Networker Magazine, WUN Executive Director, Professor John Hearn writes about the convenient and inconvenient truths of international higher education.

It is a time of turbulence for higher education and research around the world. The effects of the global financial crisis continue, with reductions in resources from all sides. In contrast, the demand for higher education increases, with international student mobility likely to double according to the OECD. For research intensive universities, there are great challenges in maintaining quality and competitiveness, the cost of which increases constantly. In teaching and learning, new methods and technologies are also more costly. There is also a shortage of talent and availability of senior, experienced academics and research leaders, while conversely there is unemployment among new graduates as the generational transition is postponed along with retirement.

Gases such as methane expelled by grazing animals make up roughly one-third of global greenhouse gas emissions. Dr Alex Chaves, Senior Lecturer of Animal Nutrition in the Faculty of Veterinary Science, is working on ways to reduce these livestock emissions, which contribute to global warming.