LANDSCAPE — NTU Research and Development
LANDSCAPE — NTU Research and Development, Issue 4, January 2018
In 2013, President Pan-Chyr Yang and Executive Vice President (EVP) Liang-Gee Chen envisioned the integration of university resources and the unificationof research personnel for maximum global impact. Hence, the “Strategic Partnership Project” was conceived. The aim of the Project was to highlight the university’s top-notch research while strategically encouraging faculty and students to strengthen existing links with our key partners.
The Project launched in 2013 with the expected goal of 1+1>2. National Taiwan University (NTU) and its identified partner would collaborate to create new opportunities and exploit research synergies. Together, the collaborating universitiesaimed to improve in international reputation, increase their impact, and play apivotal role in teaching and research globally. Together with the Deans from NTU’s11 colleges, EVP Liang-Gee Chen studied each college’s alumni, research foci,and exchange students while also taking physical location and regional similaritiesinto consideration in order to select the most promising partnerships. Every collegethen chose three potential universities as their short- and long-term researchpartners.
Five years after the initial launch, the Office of International Affairs has identified the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC), Peking University, The University of Tokyo (UTokyo), Kyoto University, The University of Sydney (USYD),Hamburg University (UHH), and the University of Tsukuba as the strategic partnersthat NTU will collectively work with at the university level. Importantly, asTaiwan’s largest and most comprehensive university, NTU continues to carry outother research projects with a variety of institutions in addition to the abovementionedpartners. Each college and department and individual researchers are stillencouraged to conduct their own research and develop their own unique characteristics.
The Strategic Partnership Project has achieved outstanding results since its implementation in 2013. NTU and UIUC, UTokyo, Kyoto University, Peking University,and UHH have conducted more than 10 matchmaking conferences, connecting over 1,500 participants and producing hundreds of joint research publications. Though the model of collaboration may be different for each university, the research foci are always in line with the strengths of our renowned partners. Moreover, the research topics are all global issues of common concern. For example, under the “Smart Cities, Healthy Cities” framework, NTU and UIUC focused on community planning, food safety, public transportation, ageing, environmental health and other cross-disciplinary subjects. In addition to college and college matchmaking, NTU and Peking University have also piloted environment and ageing forums as the focal point of their collaboration. Similarly, after the initial matchmaking conferences between NTU and UTokyo and Kyoto University, several topicsof interest have been identified, such as veterinary medicine, medical science,food safety, public health, agricultural technology, machinery, and marine science. In the case of Hamburg University, the emphasis was on the integration of each faculty’s individual research focus or the integration of 2-3 projects. This resulted in the formation of 11 research working groups in common areas of interest, such as digital humanities, biology, physics, arts and sinology. Each year, more than 50 faculty members and students are invited to participate in the University of Tsukuba’s Global Science Week (TGSW), an annual symposium that brings together internationally renowned researchers and aspiring young researchers and students to create a platform for transdisciplinary, trans-organizational and trans-border collaborations.
More recently, in 2017, NTU and the University of Sydney reached an agreement to establish a seed fund and subsidize a total of seven collaborative research projects over a period of three years – a solid plan to facilitate concrete research developments. This issue of Landscape features three reports that came out of the Strategic Partnership Project. Prof. Yu-Wen Chen collaborated with USYD on cross-border adoption; Prof. C. Y. Chang wrote a paper on the relationship among the planning of urban areas, forests, and water resources and human health with his counterpart, Prof. William Sullivan from UIUC. Their collaboration represents a ten-year partnership between NTU and UIUC– from courtesy visits to joint publications, joint PhD supervision and a jointly appointed professorship, one of the most profound and concrete evidences of strategic partnership. Finally, the collaboration between Prof. Ru-Shi Liu and Kyoto University, which eventually expanded to include additional world-class university researchers, is a perfect example of the strategic partnership vision being taken to the next level, with its extension from bilateral to trilateral and multilateral collaboration.
Other reports in this issue may not be a direct product of the Project but have the potential to connect with the Project. For example, Prof. Yu-Bin Lin’s research on ecosystem protection planning and community environmental planning is highlyaligned with the issues we have worked on with UIUC and Peking University. Apaper by Prof. Shan-hui Hsu featured in this issue may not have derived from the Project, but Prof. Hsu is an active member of one research working groups collaborating with Hamburg University.
All the featured studies, whether directly engaged in the Project or not, reflect one of the emphases of NTU in the past ten years: international collaborations inadvanced research. For example, Prof. Chia Wen Wu’s research on mesoporousmaterials is the fruitful outcome of the joint efforts of researchers from Taiwan, Japan, the United States, and Australia. Prof. Abby Ren from the Department of Geologyengaged in coral reef research in the Pratas Islands (Dongsha Islands) withresearchers from Taiwan and the United States. Prof. Hwei-Fang Tien workedwith Italian scholars in her molecular genetics research on leukemia. ProfessorChia-Lin Chung studied mycosis with scholars from Japan and the Philippines.The research findings of these scholars are examples of international collaboration.
Such collaboration represents an academic trend of the future. Only through collaboration, close links, and collective trans-border, trans-disciplinary talent can we begin to solve pressing global problems. With the efforts of NTU faculty and the support of the Strategic Partnership Project, we humbly present some of the results of the Project in this issue. However,our work is not finished. NTU aims to engage in further cross-disciplinaryresearch and to leverage more research power and resources globally in order to achieve greater success and become a frontrunner in research on global issues, a contributor to humanity and the earth, and, as our former President Fu Sinian said, dedicate this university to the spirit of the universe.
Professor Luisa Chang, Ph.D.
Vice President for International Affairs
Landscape 期刊引言
臺灣大學自 2013 年開始，在楊泮池校長和陳良基學術副校長的構想下，啟動臺灣大學的「重點大學策略聯盟」（Strategic Partnership）計畫，旨在妥善匯聚校內資源，統整學術研究人力，並著眼臺大的頂尖研究，策略性鼓勵教師與本校重點姊妹校加強連結，共同執行研究計畫，繼而帶領碩、博士生，共同指導，共同發表論文，以 1＋1 >2 的預期目標讓臺大與合作姊妹校互相協助拉抬，提升國際聲譽，並發揮影響力，在全球高教國際化趨勢與教研中佔有一席之地。
陳良基學術副校長與各學院院長就各院的教師博士學位畢業學校、各院重點研究領域、學生交換最多的姊妹校、最有可能合作成功的國際高校、全球區域考量…等主要因素確認後，每個學院選取三所重點大學，作為該院短、中期學術研究媒合的對象。迄今將近五年下來，國際處彙整出伊利諾大學香檳分校、北京大學、東京大學、京都大學、雪梨大學、漢堡大學、筑波大學為本校策略性密集合作的國際知名大學。然而，必須了解的是，臺灣大學作為臺灣最頂尖的研究型大學和最大的綜合型大學，「重點大學策略聯盟」之外的各項研究依然持續進行，教師個人或個別系所因其特色與發展鼓勵推動的研究計畫，均同步進行。
從2013 年迄今，重點大學策略聯盟執行的成果卓著，兩校研究媒合一來一往雙邊研討會與伊大、東大、京大、北大、漢堡，共進行 10 次，總計超過 1,500 人次參與，相關研究成果發表超過 800 篇。每校合作的模式或有不同，但是重點研究項目與世界頂尖大學的研究領域吻合，而且是全球共同關心的議題。例如，與UI 在 “Smart Cities, Healthy Cities” 的框架下，發展出社區規劃，食安，交通，老齡，公衛，醫學，生科等跨領域合作; 與北京大學院對院合作之外，另以環境與老齡論壇作為兩校重點發展領域; 與東大，京大兩校，院對院一來一往的研討會之後，也發展出幾項拔尖的研究領域，例如獸醫、醫學、生科、食安、公衛、生農、機械、海洋…等等。漢堡大學方面，則以教師個人研究領域的媒合為主，或是2-3個領域的整合型計畫，計有11 個群組，例如，數位人文，生科，物理，藝術，漢學研究方面，均持續合作。筑波大學每年的科學週研討會（TGSW），本校每年也有超過50 位師生受邀參與。此外，2017年開始，臺大與雪梨大學達成合作協議，以三年時間共同補助雙方媒合研究計畫共七件，此為將雙邊研討會更具體落實為共同領域研究的計畫案。
此次 Landscape 發表的 11 篇論文導讀，從重點大學策略聯盟計畫產出的有三篇，分別是陳毓文教授和雪梨大學合作有關跨國領養的問題，張俊彥教授和UI的論文，就市區，山林，水資源的規劃與人體健康的關係予以剖析，尤其強調兩校超過十年的合作與媒合，得來不易，兩校共同聘任 Adjunt-Professor 的努力更是打開教研合作成功的先例：教師定期互訪授課，共同指導博士生，堪稱重點大學策略聯盟最深耕也最具體的實踐。劉如熹教授和京都大學的合作，連帶媒合其他國際高校研究人員加入，正是我們推動重點大學策略聯盟的目的，可以從雙邊擴充到三邊，甚至多邊合作。
其他幾篇論文雖然不是直接從重點大學策略聯盟合作的計畫產出，但是這些老師以及其所屬的院系所也都參與國際處主導的跨國研究媒合規劃，例如 Yu-Bin Lin 教授的生態系統保護計畫和社區環境規劃有極大關係，這也是我們跟 UI 和北大合作的項目。此外，生醫研究所徐善慧教授的研究，雖非因重點大學策略聯盟衍生的論文，但是她也是與漢堡大學合作的教師成員，必能拓展研究領域合作對象的多元。吳嘉文教授在奈米組件上的應用，是由臺灣、日本、美國及澳洲四國的研究者共同努力的成果。地質系任昊佳教授關於東沙群島珊瑚礁的研究是臺美合作的結果、田蕙芬教授與義大利學者共同完成關於白血病在分子遺傳學上的研究、鍾嘉綾教授在真菌病害上與日本及菲律賓學者的研究…等等，在這期 Landscape 專刊中選出的研究，都是藉由與世界各地的學者共同合作而成，也是未來學術的趨勢：透過越來越緊密的國際合作與連結，拓展更多領域更多人才合作的契機，以解決世界面對的重大問題，並在尋求真理的路途上更進一步。
重點大學策略聯盟最終的目的，希冀達到跨領域，跨學科，學習與應用不同領域的研究方法論，擴充教師的研究範疇，並了解校內其他學術單位的教師的研究專長，從而得知彼此的研究可以相輔相成，收事半功倍之效，同時結合彼此與國際高校合作的脈絡，以滾雪球和織網的模式伸展影想力，同時創造多元且有效益、對人類與社會有貢獻的學術成果。
張淑英 Luisa Shu-Ying Chang 