On Monday 22nd January the University of Kent had the pleasure of receiving a delegation from the University of Lille, France, one of our long-standing partners with whom we are involved in a range of collaborative activities across a number of Kent academic schools.
The delegation was hosted by Professor Jeremy Carrette, Dean for Europe, and joined by Professor Karen Cox, Vice-Chancellor and President, Professor Philippe De Wilde, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Research and Innovation, Professor Rachel Forrester-Jones, Director Tizard Centre, Dr Peter Nicholls, Dean for Kent Health, Dr Simon Kerridge, Director Research Services, Dr David Hornsby and Dr Laura Bailey from the Department of English Language and Linguistics, Dr Stella Bolaki from the School of English, Dr Julie Anderson, from the School of History and International Partnerships staff.
The University of Lille has been created by a merger of the three Lille universities on 1 January 2018. Kent and the various Lille universities have worked collaboratively for a number of years on a range of initiatives including a double degree (Bi-diplôme) in Politics and International Relations, jointly supervised PhD, research links and staff and student exchange partnerships.
The purpose of the visit was to explore potential for further cooperation, particularly in the context of the University of Lille’s I-SITE Project, the main goal of which is to increase research impact and international visibility. The project, which is themed around three hubs (Precision Human Health; Science for a Changing Planet; Human-Friendly Digital World) aims to sustain and expand excellence in research, develop international visibility and attractiveness, improve collaborations with socio-economic partners and develop innovative pedagogical methods.
Further details on the I-Site project can be found on the project website: http://www.isite-ulne.fr/en/
This successful meeting between Kent and Lille colleagues resulted in a range of areas of common interest being identified and plans for further steps to be taken regarding Kent’s participation in the project.
For more information about this and other international partnerships, please contact International Partnerships: internationalpartnerships@kent.ac.uk