Location:
On May 15, 2026, the NJU-UoB Research Workshop on Climate, Environment and Health was successfully held at the Zijin Conference Center of the Purple Palace Nanjing. This workshop was jointly hosted by the NJU-UoB Joint Centre for Research and Education in Climate, Environment & Health, the School of Environment of Nanjing University, the College of Life and Environmental Sciences of the University of Birmingham, and the State Key Laboratory of Water Pollution Control and Green Resource Recycling. It served as a featured environmental engineering event during the Jiangsu International Exchange Week on the Cooperation and Integration of Industry, Education, Research & Application. Experts, scholars, and representatives of teachers and students from universities such as the University of Birmingham, the University of Hong Kong, Nanjing University, Shandong University, and Chongqing University participated in the workshop, and conducted in-depth exchanges on cutting-edge topics such as climate change, environmental risks, environmental health, low-carbon transition, and artificial intelligence.
Professor Bi Jun from the School of Environment of Nanjing University presided over the opening ceremony. Professor William Bloss, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Birmingham and Head of College of Life and Environmental Sciences, provided an update on the development of the NJU-UoB Joint Centre for Research and Education and the implementation of the Pump-Priming Funding. He reviewed the key milestones of the deepening collaboration between the two sides in the fields of climate, environment, and health since 2023, and highlighted the phased achievements made through joint workshops, Pump-Priming Funding, and student fieldwork courses. Professor Bloss emphasized that the partnership is gradually evolving from project-based academic exchanges toward a more institutionalized and long-term mechanism for joint research and talent cultivation.
Professor Gu Cheng, Director of the International Affairs Office of Nanjing University, presented Nanjing University's international development strategy and global cooperation framework. He highlighted the university's progress in building interdisciplinary programs in Earth system science, future environment, and sustainable development within the context of the "four-campus integration" initiative. He also introduced supporting programs such as NJU International Fellowship Initiative (NIFI), NJU International Exchange Initiative (NIEI), and NJU International Collaboration Initiative (NICI), which provide important support for further deepening the partnership between the two sides.
The keynote session was chaired by Professor William Bloss. The participating experts shared their latest research progress on topics including extreme climate, water resource security, low-carbon just transition, and AI-empowered environmental research.
Professor Gregor Leckebusch (University of Birmingham) systematically analyzed the evolution patterns of extreme weather and climate events in the Eurasian region and demonstrated the potential applications of methods such as cyclone quantitative assessment, extreme precipitation forecasting, and compound drought and heat events diagnosis in climate risk management and insurance adaptation. Professor Stefan Krause (University of Birmingham) explored the complex interconnections among emerging contaminants, aquatic ecosystems, and public health under the background of climate change around the concept of "One Health" in the global water crisis and introduced the innovative applications of intelligent sensing and eco-hydrological technologies in water resource governance. Professor Kuishuang Feng (The University of Hong Kong) focused on equity issues in low‑carbon transitions and noted that a scientific and reasonable policy combination can effectively alleviate poverty and inequality while promoting emission reduction, realizing the coordinated promotion of climate action and social equity. Professor Wei Shi (Nanjing University) shared the research progress in knowledge‑driven artificial intelligence in environmental toxicology. The "white-box" AI model constructed by her team effectively improved the interpretability of the ecological and health risk prediction of complex pollutants, providing new ideas for the interdisciplinary research between artificial intelligence and environmental science.
The afternoon session on the Joint Pump-Priming Fund projects was chaired by Professor Yuli Shan (University of Birmingham). The session focused on the five Pump-Priming Fund projects jointly established by the two sides, highlighting the latest progress in interdisciplinary collaborative research achieved by the Joint Centre for Research and Education.
The projects cover a range of topics, including risk assessment of emerging contaminants in warming waters, atmospheric new particle formation and climate change, nature contact and neurobehavioral mechanisms, air pollution and cognitive health, as well as biodiversity change under climatic and economic pressures. These research initiatives integrate multiple disciplines, including environmental science, atmospheric science, ecology, neuroscience, social science, and artificial intelligence, reflecting the characteristics of cross-disciplinary cooperation between the two sides in addressing complex environmental problems .
During the workshop, the participating experts had in-depth discussions on the future development directions of the Joint Centre for Research and Education. Both sides expressed their commitment to further advancing the establishment of a long-term and stable cooperation mechanism, continuously expanding collaborative activities such as joint research, joint courses, student exchanges, and international practices, and exploring a more systematic model for international joint research and talent cultivation.
At the closing ceremony, Professor Zhao Yu, Dean of the School of Environment of Nanjing University, noted that the challenges of climate change, environmental risks, and health are increasingly characterized by complex system dynamics. Future environmental research needs to more closely integrate the forces of multiple disciplines such as natural science, social science, and artificial intelligence. He pointed out that the NJU-UoB Joint Centre for Research and Education is gradually forming an interdisciplinary cooperation platform for addressing global complex environmental problems. He expressed hope that the two sides will continue to deepen cooperation in the future to jointly promote high-level research and international talent cultivation in the fields of climate, environment, and health. The workshop concluded amid a vibrant atmosphere of academic exchange.
