Professors from four member universities of the Sterling Group will deliver engineering lectures to thousands of Vietnamese students in Vietnam in three major cities from 9 to 16 September. This year marks the seventh time the Sterling Group Lecture Tour has been organised in Vietnam by the British Council.
Participating UK universities include Aston University, University of Leeds, Newcastle University and Queen’s University Belfast and lectures will be delivered to elite engineering universities and high schools in Hanoi, Danang and Ho Chi Minh City.
Founded in 1998, the Sterling Group consists of 13 research-led UK universities which share a commitment to international excellence in Engineering research and teaching. The Sterling Group seeks to establish channels of communication between its member institutions and like-minded institutions overseas. Links and collaborations of all types – student, faculty, teaching, research – are actively sought and encouraged between members of The Sterling Group and overseas institutions.
In Hanoi, a public talk, scheduled to take place on 10 September from 1730 at Hotel de l’Opera, 29 Trang Tien, will be a highlight of the lecture tour as for the very first time it features a successful local engineering researcher – Dr Duong Quang Trung, an Assistant Professor (Lecturer), from Queen’s University Belfast.
Chairing the talk will be Professor Steve Bull, Cookson Group Chair of Engineering Materials and Chair of the Sterling Group. Professor Bull will address the future challenges for society and what engineers have to offer, using developments in sustainability, healthcare and new technologies to improve the quality of life for all in the coming century. Participants will also learn about the advantages and job prospects of studying Engineering.
Dr Duong Quang Trung will share his hands-on experience of winning a scholarship, working with research supervisors, life of a researcher, career options after graduation. These are topics of great appeal to engineering students and researchers in Vietnam.
Towards the end of the public talk, participants can meet in person with the UK professors to discuss study and scholarship opportunities, seek advice for their proposals, and locate potential supervisors in order to study Engineering in the UK. To register your attendance for the Public talk in Hanoi, please call 04 3728 1920 (ext 1995)..
Cherry Gough, Country Director, British Council Vietnam said: “We’re delighted to bring the Sterling Group Lecture Tour to Vietnam for the seventh year running. In 2013 the Manpower Group’s Global Talent Shortage Survey showed that the top two job shortages worldwide were for skilled trade workers and engineers. Both the UK and Vietnam are facing challenges in producing high-quality engineers.
“In this context, we hope that the Sterling Group Lecture Tour will inspire more people, including high school students and engineering students at universities, to choose engineering as their career.”
For participating academics, the lecture tour offers a unique opportunity to increase their understanding of new technologies. From Aston University, David Webb, Professor of Photonics, Deputy Director, Aston Institute of Photonic Technologies (AIPT) will talk about how AIPT photonics research can be used in real-life applications, such as optimising internet traffic or making measurements inside living creatures.
A lecture on automotive engineering education and research in the UK by Professor David Charles Barton, University of Leeds, presents detailed case studies such as the design of the chassis, the steering and suspension systems and the crashworthiness of the car. The lecture will be of special interests to local lecturers and students as it discusses opportunities to study Automotive Engineering at under- and post-graduate levels in the UK.
From Newcastle University, Professor Steve Bull will focus on ways to design products using nanostructured materials and coatings while Professor Sudipta Roy will present a significant research on energy-efficient electrochemical recovery of toxic metals from soils and effluents, which can have a significant impact on sustainable development.
Finally, Dr Trung from Queen’s University Belfast will look at a ways to combine the cognitive radio technologies and cooperative communication for a new paradigm in wireless networks for improving the energy and spectral efficiencies.
Apart from the lectures and public talks, the Sterling Group academics will also meet with partner institutions in Vietnam to discuss joint research and training possibilities and explore the ways to best approach the UK’s Newton Fund. The Newton Fund is part of the UK’s official development assistance to develop science and innovation partnerships that promote the development and welfare of developing countries. The fund is worth £75 million a year from 2014 for five years; Vietnam is a partner country which can receive up to £2 million per year.