This forum is the ideal starting point for the academic exchange between the two leading universities.

Professor Daping Chu

Professors Ian White, Bill Milne, Gehan Amaratunga, Michael Kelly and Daping Chu each gave a presentation in their respective fields of research.

Five professors from Tsinghua, Professors Zheng You, Rong Zhu, Liangcai Cao, Tianhong Cui and Changxi Yang also presented their view and works.

The presentation part of the forum was held in a lecture hall in the main building of Tsinghua with an invited audience including Tsinghua academics, post-docs and postgraduate students, as well as researchers from some major Chinese companies.

Before the forum started, Vice President of Tsinghua University, Professor Weiping Xie, and Deputy Director of Tsinghua International Office, Professor Yuhong Li, met the Cambridge delegates. Professor Xie addressed the importance of engineering in society and expressed Tsinghua's willingness to collaborate with Cambridge. Professor White thanked Tsinghua for their support for the forum and responded with a mutual interest in collaboration.

The formation of the forum was first discussed in a meeting between Professor Chu of Cambridge and Professor You of Tsinghua during Professor Chu's visit to Beijing in October 2012. The aim was to promote information and personnel exchange and facilitate collaboration projects. The organisation work was mainly carried out by Dr Zichen Zhang (a Cambridge alumni) in Professor You's group with the support of Dr Kun Li in Professor Chu's group. Currently a discussion is underway to hold the next forum in Cambridge in May/June 2014.