World-renowned scientists, postgraduate and undergraduate students will gather at Griffith University today for the First Joint Workshop on Soil and Food Security between Sun Yat-sen University (SYSU), China and Griffith University.

Hosted by Griffith’s Environmental Futures Research Institute, the workshop hopes to facilitate collaborative research and joint funding applications between the Universities. They will also discuss joint degree programs becoming core activities of the Australia-China Centre for Environmental Quality and Sustainability (ACCEQS).

The twenty-five strong delegation from SYSU arrived in Australia on 17 July for three days of presentations, discussions, workshops and networking. Undergraduate students attending the workshop will also be involved with an eight-day student excursion program; aiming to give potential students exposure to Griffith lectures and cultural living experiences.

One of the key organisers, Professor Zhihong Xu, Director, Environmental Futures Research Institute, said that the workshops are an important development on a number of levels.

“Soil and Food Security is an important area for research and training for both Australia and China, and Griffith University and SYSU are two leading universities in both nations in this regard”.

“By facilitating collaborative research and joint funding, it will assist Griffith University in the implementation of a joint 3+1+1 degree program. We will also explore avenues for joint funding for higher degree by research (HDR) students and early career researchers to undertake research training and projects between the two universities”.

SYSU is Griffith’s most long standing and valued partner institution; the two universities have maintained strong cooperative relations since the 1970s.