Over seventy researchers and senior representatives from the eleven UK-Japan RENKEI member universities spent time in Durham this week as we hosted the Just Transitions to a Net Zero World Workshop and RENKEI Steering Committee.
As part of our week-long celebration of our rich and varied engagement with Japan, we also welcomed Mr. Masahiro Ikegami, the Japanese Deputy Ambassador and representatives from UK and Japanese funding agencies, including the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, the Daiwa Anglo-Japanese Foundation, the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering.
The workshop was led by Durham’s £5m Strategic Research Fund, the JusTN0W initiative, which is developing a world-leading interdisciplinary work programme, to research sustainable and just solutions for accelerated decarbonisation of economies and to achieve lasting societal well-being for the present and future generations.
Researchers worked together and pitched proposals on themes including just transitions in urban environments and industry; policy impacts of just transitions; access to affordable energy; and improving environmental public health.
The RENKEI network
RENKEI is the Japan-UK Research and Education Network for Knowledge Economy Initiatives. We became a member in 2021.
This consortium comprising eleven UK and Japanese universities has been at the forefront of strengthening UK-Japanese research collaborations. RENKEI supports our researchers in forging new connections to address pressing global issues.
As RENKEI launches its new programme for the next five years, we also hosted a reception at our Oriental Museum, bringing together our UK and Japan university colleagues, research funding agencies and Japanese multinationals based in the North East of England.
Working closely with Japan
Durham has a longstanding connection with Japan and has many research and partnerships across the country.
Durham-Japan collaborations have conducted cutting-edge research to improve lives across the world, in fields such as emerging technologies, disaster prevention, sea-level change, and fertility science.
We’ve collaborated on work around the emerging deep-sea mining industry and the Health Interventions in Volcanic Eruptions (HIVE) project, which informs better health interventions in humanitarian crises by researching the effectiveness of respiratory protection worn by people during volcanic eruptions.
Professor Chris Done (Physics) is one of the scientists leading the XRISM mission, a collaboration between the Japanese Space Agency (JAXA) and NASA, with significant participation from the European Space Agency. We also have student exchange agreements with eleven Japanese universities. As part of the Durham Collection Fellowships, we are delighted to announce the Great Britain Sasakawa Foundation Fellowship, which is to support applicants based in Japan to come to Durham to work on any of the collections.
Research that makes a difference
Deputy Ambassador Ikegami visited our newly launched Durham University Space Research Centre (SPARC). SPARC supports North East England’s growing space industry and leads on the sustainable exploration of the cosmos. Through interdisciplinary research and collaboration SPARC is driving sustainable space technology, operations and policy, ensuring responsible innovation that safeguards the future of space.
There, scientists from our Quantum Light and Matter research section are playing a key part in the UK’s drive to develop quantum technology. Quantum technology could benefit a wide range of areas including healthcare, computing and security. Earlier this year researchers set a global milestone by achieving quantum entanglement of individual molecules. This opens up new possibilities in quantum computing, high-precision measurements, and physics research.
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