Does your university as a body participate in international collaboration on gathering or measuring data for the SDGs? 

 

Scholars from the University have actively participated in international cooperation projects. By combining the characteristics of domestic research with international research, the University is able to enhance its international research perspective and its influence in sustainable development.

 

For example, Professor Chi-Ying Lee was invited by the Institut Polaire Français Paul-Emile Victor (IPEV) to participate in research in the polar regions and activities related to the influence of environmental changes on biological systems.

 

The academic research results of Professor Lee of the Department of Biology have received international attention. IPEV invited Professor Lee to join its French and Australian laboratories to form an international research team. The team visited Antarctica at the end of 2014 and participated in the polar research project led by Professor Jean-Yves Toullec of the Université Pierre et Marie Curie (UPMC) to study the impact of environmental changes on polar organisms. The French Polar Institute funded the expenses of the trip. The team set off from the port of Hobart, Tasmania, Australia, boarded the L’Astrolabe (a French research vessel), and arrived at the Dumont d’Urville Research Base in Terre Adélie (a French territory in Antarctica) to conduct a two-month research programme.

 

The research expertise of Professor Lee is related to crustacean neuroendocrinology and molecular physiology. He was the first biologist from Taiwan to go to Antarctica to conduct explorative research. Although the Taiwan research teams have visited the South Pole in the past, the expeditions usually required huge investment. The fact that the French Polar Institute was willing to fund this trip showed the extent to which his research is valued internationally. The presiding researcher of the project, Professor Toullec, was a colleague of Professor Lee at the Ecole Normale Supérieure 20 years ago. Professor Lee was awarded the Centre National de la Recherche scholarship that supported his research at the Ecole Normale Supérieure. Both professors focus on crustaceans as their research subjects and have maintained a cooperative relationship thereafter. In this project, Professor Toullec relied on Professor Lee’s expertise in the endocrine system, metabolism, and proteins to further improve his research achievements on genomes.

 

Moreover, the Office of International and Cross-Strait Affairs of the University actively assists teachers’ participation in international activities. Currently, the University has 172 sister-schools and the cooperation coverage is spread globally. The situation regarding international exchange is described below.