The University of Sunderland has welcomed a delegation of food industry specialists from China on campus as part of a UK-wide tour to forge collaborative projects and share research.
As a result of Sunderland’s research in the area of food safety, academic Dr Derek Watson was invited by the Food Federation of Inner Mongolia (FFIM), which represents 2,000 of China’s largest manufacturers, to present the findings of his globally recognised ‘enlighten’ industry-based model earlier this year, which puts business practices under the microscope and lays the foundations for them to run more effectively and efficiently.
The success of the visit has led to a delegation from FFIM spending all this week meeting food manufacturers across the UK.
The tour also included a visit to the University’s Sunderland campus where a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) was signed by the Vice-Chancellor of the University, Sir David Bell, forging closer educational, research and cultural links between the two organisations.
Attending the signing from China was Mr Wei Guo, FFIM Secretary General, Mr Wenhua Yang, FFIM Director of General Office, Ms Zhanchen Wang, Vice President of the Inner Mongolian Tea Artists Association and Ms Wenlei Wang, Senior Lecturer at Bao Tou Light Industry Vocational College.
The University’s newly appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Jon Timmis, also attended the meeting, alongside Pro Vice-Chancellor (International), Professor John Macintyre.
Sir David Bell said: “It’s always a pleasure to welcome international guests to our University, in particular on this project, where our knowledge exchange expertise is being shared with friends and colleagues from China.
“Our senior academic, Derek Watson, has been bringing his food safety research to the Food Federation of Inner Mongolia.
“This is part of a collaborative project that is a practical demonstration of how our expertise at Sunderland is being applied internationally.
“Our students also benefits from such collaborations. They see the University being involved in practical knowledge exchange activity, which gives them a good example to follow.
“Our academic staff are able to transfer the knowledge they gain into the curriculum.
“This is really important for our students, who benefit from staff whose knowledge and expertise is relevant and indeed globally significant.”
During their visit the delegation was taken on a tour of the University campus and gained an insight into the programmes Sunderland offers and the research taking place.
The University has been welcoming students from China to Sunderland for many years onto a diverse range of undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, and has developed strong educational, cultural and business links between the two communities.
Dr Watson, who was made an honorary member of the FFIM, said: “We have had a very exciting week with the delegation which included a meeting at the British Retail Consortium’s global headquarters and had strategic meetings between their members, the FFIM and ourselves.
“The purpose of the visit is to offer the delegation an opportunity to look at Western styles of food safety management systems and share our expertise.
“We are very proud of the links we are building with FFIM, which will be of major benefit to Sunderland and will help further our collaborative multi-disciplinary research particularly in the areas of food safety.
“It’s an opportunity which we hope will really enhance our work and hopefully lead to further collaborative exchanges between our staff and students.”
Ms Zhanchen Wang, Vice President of the Inner Mongolian Tea Artists Association, a healthcare and quality assurance expert, added: “This is our first visit to Sunderland and it is a wonderful university in a beautiful environment, the people have been very welcoming.
“This visit has given us a strong link to develop a strong friendship between the University and Food Federation of Inner Mongolia.
“The signing of the MoU helps us build future communications and makes it easier to collaborate on projects.”
The enlighten model caught the attention of FFIM, thanks to Dr Watson’s Chinese PhD student Yuan Zhai, who brokered the connection and has acted as a translator for the delegation during their UK visit.