Tsinghua, Imperial College London organize COVID-19 symposium

Themed COVID-19 Fightback and the Future "New Normal", a symposium organized by Tsinghua University and Imperial College London was held online on June 10.

The event, which brought public health experts from the World Health Organization, Tsinghua University and Imperial College London together, is the latest attempt by Tsinghua University to share knowledge and experience, and promote global efforts in the fight against COVID-19, which has affected more than 200 countries around the world.

Delivering a welcome speech at the symposium's opening session, Alice Gast, president of Imperial College London, stressed the importance of scientific collaboration and cooperation among universities and other international institutions around the world to overcome the pandemic and other global challenges.

"We must ensure that this pandemic strengthens the links between Chinese and UK science, and institutions such as ours. The coronavirus operates across borders, and so do our efforts to inhibit and defeat it," she said. She announced that Imperial College London will be welcoming applications for the Tsinghua-Imperial Research and Innovation Seed Fund at the beginning of the next academic year. The fund promotes and supports early-stage collaboration among academics, researchers and students at Tsinghua and Imperial.

Chen Xu, chair of the Tsinghua University Council, gave a welcome speech and said that universities around the world have a common commitment to building educational resilience, as well as contributing to the fight against global health emergencies. "I have confidence that our vibrant partnership will not only benefit the two universities, but also provide critical solutions for the world at large," she said.

Reaffirming Tsinghua's commitment to safeguard global public health security and improve human health, she said Tsinghua has set up a research fund and established the Vanke School of Public Health to encourage and support university faculty to initiate joint research on COVID-19 with international partners. She also shared recent significant scientific and technological achievements made by Tsinghua faculty and students to fight COVID-19.

"Tsinghua has contributed to structural studies of coronavirus-receptor interactions, the development of a nucleic acid detection kit, the creation of an intelligence-assisted diagnosis system and the efficient isolation of antibodies against the coronavirus. In addition, we have provided open access to Tsinghua's drug discovery resources and platforms for global researchers," she said.