Intelligent collaboration with leading China university

A new era of increased research collaboration is beginning between UTS and Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) through a Joint Research Centre in Intelligent Systems.

The new centre was formally launched on 2 November 2011. It is co-funded by both institutions and establishes long-term and sustainable research collaboration, including joint PhD supervision, staff exchanges and joint research projects.

Professor Chengqi Zhang, Director of UTS's Quantum Computation and Intelligent Systems research centre (QCIS), has been announced as a co-director of the centre and says the importance of the collaboration comes from SJTU exclusive rulings.

"The president of SJTU gave a general rule that they only assign a joint partner if they rank within the top 100 research institutions worldwide," he said, "however they decided to make an exception for QCIS."

"QCIS is a leading group in data mining, behaving informatics and image processing, and we can bring our expertise to the collaboration to make a mutually beneficial partnership".

Based in China, the centre will provide the ability for exchange for academics and students of UTS. Professor Zhang says a key goal of the centre is to strengthen research training for research students in both institutions, through increased capacity and availability of exchange programs and supervision opportunities.

"The calibre of professionals coming together presents a hub of research knowledge that staff and students at each institution will benefit from," Professor Zhang said.

"The centre is a symbol for the future, for opening the doors for future collaborations in China and worldwide, and extending both QCIS and UTS's research capacity."

UTS Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Attila Brungs, said the joint research centre presents an opportunity for researchers to thrive in an international collaboration environment.

"This is a great opportunity for the researchers involved and for UTS as a whole. By combining resources and bright minds in an already successful research area at UTS, we are further building on areas of research strength for UTS," Professor Brungs said.

"This new centre presents a huge scope for collaboration and has the capacity to enable real impact in the Intelligent Systems field. Together with Shanghai Jiao Tong University we are paving the way for the future research developments in this important area."

QCIS is expanding its collaborative strength, with the recent signing of a joint research centre with Beijing Institute of Technology (BIT). The Centre for Data Mining and Service Technology will further encourage student and researcher exchange.

A five professor per side team will bring together the world class research strengths from each institution to work intensively on developing new strategies and approaches to data mining and service technology.

QCIS is already a stronghold in UTS's research strengths, with the 2012 ARC funding announcements further enhancing the bright future in this area of research.

QCIS received funding for four Discovery, two Linkage, and one Future Fellow projects in recent round work over $2 million in funding for projects including building reliable quantum communications networks and building cyber-physical technologies that can adapt to new, unexpected and unforseen situations.