UQ and North-East Asia

China

UQ has more student mobility, research collaborations, and commercialisation partnerships with China than with almost any other country.

Reducing greenhouse gasses

UQ Professor Yusuke Yamauchi, in collaboration with Associate Professor Toru Wakihara from the University of Tokyo (UTokyo), have been awarded the first Rio-Tinto Australia-Japan Collaboration Program Grant. The Program encourages collaboration between Australia and Japan in science, technology and innovation, awarding $150,000 to the joint project. The UQ and UTokyo researchers will design and alter raw materials with a unique nanoscale structure to enable inexpensive, highly efficient adsorption of high volumes of greenhouse gasses. The Project will develop new nanostructured materials to extract harmful greenhouse gasses out of the atmosphere and convert them into useful fuels.

Pioneering vision saves lives

Collaborating with Emeritus Professor David Doddrell at UQ’s Centre for Advanced Imaging, Professor Stuart Crozier co-invented a signal correction technology that corrected magnetic field distortions to produce faster, clearer and more accurate images, without adding to the cost of the MRI machines: Magnetica. Magnetica’s research and innovation in magnet design also led to the development of small 1.5T extremity magnets used in systems sold by US company, GE Healthcare. These were developed in collaboration with Japan Superconductor Technology, Inc (Jastec), and supported by grant funding from the Queensland Government. About 220 of these units have been sold for ~US$110 million.

Food, farming, and financialisation

The growing presence of financial firms in contemporary economic relations is an increasingly important, yet poorly understood, concept. Through interviews and document analysis, Korea University Sociology Professor Chul-Kyoo Kim and UQ School of Social Science Emeritus Professor Geoffrey Lawrence are examining the ways financialisation is transforming agri-food industries in Australia. By investigating which foreign firms are purchasing food companies and farmlands, and why, the research intends to ascertain the place of financialisation in the emergence of a third food regime. Ultimately, the project aims to clarify issues of ownership and control regarding Australia's agri-food resources.

Supporting Mongolia's golden resource

Mining is critically important to the Mongolian economy, and UQ's Sustainable Minerals Institute (SMI) has a long history of ensuring it remains sustainable, safe, and viable. The Mongolia Research Hub – the first forum for cross-disciplinary research into the responsible development of mining in Mongolia and Central Asia – was established at UQ's Centre for Social Responsibility in Mining (SMI-CSRM) in 2013. Since then, UQ has engaged with Mongolian collaborators, including the South Gobi Aimag Government and the Mongolian Ministry of Mining, on a range of mining and resources issues, such as social responsibility, environmental management, and health and safety.

Tiny house based on a big idea

UQ is home to a tiny house made using an experimental technique developed by researchers from the ARC Future Timber Hub. The timber building was erected in under seven hours and showcases ‘3E panels’. These thin, lightweight panels are made from a hybrid fibre reinforced polymer timber, invented by UQ civil engineering researcher, Associate Professor Dilum Fernando, and his team, including partners at Hong Kong Polytechnic University. This quick-build, low-cost, complete pre-fabrication construction system could be ideal for low-cost housing where anyone can get involved in building a home, no matter their skill level. The panels slot together to create an environmentally friendly construction alternative that is the strongest system of its kind.

Mongolian student funding

More than 40 Mongolian students have studied at UQ via a scholarship since 2010, the majority of whom have been funded by the Australian Government’s Australia Awards Program. In addition, 3 students have been funded by the Mongolian Government’s Ministry of Training & Education, and 1 has been funded by Oyu Tolgoi LLC – a copper-gold mine in the South Gobi region that is being developed as a joint venture between Turquoise Hill Resources and the Mongolian Government.

Tourism scholarship to Macau SAR

Each year, the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law (BEL) supports an undergraduate student from UQ to undertake an exchange semester to the Institute for Tourism Studies in Macau SAR. The value of the Overseas Study Assistance Scholarship is MOP20,000 (more than A$3000).

Hong Kong SAR-Thailand exchange

Students within the Faculty of Business, Economics and Law (BEL) can study at 2 UQ partner institutions – the Chinese University of Hong Kong and Mahidol University, Thailand – and gain credit towards their degree. Commencing in the second half of 2017, the New Colombo Plan-funded exchange opportunity enables students to gain a new perspective on their studies and broaden future employment opportunities. Study at both institutions is compulsory.