A new partnership agreement between the University of Sydney and the University of California, Davis will see academics benefit from new access to research collaborations and shared funding.
Leaders from both institutions joined a partnership signing event this morning, including members of UC Davis’ senior leadership team – Vice-Chancellor for Research Professor Cameron Carter, Vice Provost and Associate Chancellor, Global Affairs Dr Joanna Regulska, and Associate Vice-Chancellor for Interdisciplinary Research and Strategic Initiatives Dr Paul Dodd – and University of Sydney leaders – Vice-Chancellor and Principal Dr Michael Spence AC, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research) Professor Duncan Ivison, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) Professor Katherine Belov and Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Philippa Pattison AO.
Professor Carter and Dr Spence both highlighted the fact that UC Davis has research expertise which greatly complements areas of research strength at Sydney.
“We are very excited about this partnership agreement, particularly for the areas of Agriculture and Veterinary Science,” said Dr Spence at the signing event.
Veterinary Science is a strong research field for both institutions – UC Davis was ranked first in the world for the subject area in the 2016 QS World University Rankings, and the University of Sydney was ranked first in Australia and ninth in the world in the same rankings.
Another major field of collaboration will be in the agricultural sciences, a discipline for which UC Davis was ranked second in the world in the latest QS rankings.
“There is also potential for collaboration in new areas such as neuroscience, life sciences, public health, and food security and safety,” said Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement) Professor Katherine Belov.
Under the terms of the new partnership, both institutions will contribute up to $100,000 annually for two years to support cooperative research projects and activities.
The partnership agreement follows many years of active academic collaboration between UC Davis and the University of Sydney. The institutions have published 199 joint research papers since 2011.
University of Sydney academics also travelled to South Lake Tahoe, California in September last year to take part in a cross-institutional workshop at the UC Davis Tahoe Environmental Research Center.
The new partnership is the second signed since the release of the University of Sydney's 2016-20 Strategic Plan, which highlighted the University’s commitment to developing a focused approach to global engagement. The first agreement under the new strategy was signed with Hong Kong University last year.