The year 2021 marks ten years since the establishment of the Confucius Institute at the University of Glasgow in collaboration with Nankai University. In order to celebrate this anniversary, the Confucius Institute has arranged a series of four lectures at the masters’ level to be exchanged between the University of Glasgow and Nankai University. These lectures are an opportunity for students of each university to learn from academic staff of the partner university across different disciplines.

On the afternoon of September 29, the medical sub-forum was successfully held online. Nathan Woolley, Foreign Dean of the Confucius Institute at the University of Glasgow, Zhang Ning, Deputy Director of the International Cooperation and Exchange Office, Gao Haiyan, Director of the School of Medicine, and Zhang Yan, Vice Dean of the School of Medicine, as well as representatives of teachers and students attended the forum.

Nathan Woolley, the Foreign Dean of the Confucius Institute, made an opening speech, introducing the activities and the lecturer, Professor Jim Brewer of School of Medicine, GLA. Associate Professor Shi Yi of the School of Medicine, NKU, introduced the Chinese participants of this lecture and presided over the forum throughout the course.

Gao Haiyan reviewed the establishment and development of the Confucius Institute at GLA, and hoped that the Confucius Institute at GLA will take the 10th anniversary as an opportunity to continue to strengthen cooperation between the two universities, deepen cooperation in medical disciplines, share curriculum, and promote cooperation between the two sides into a new stage of development.

Professor James Brewer gave a special academic lecture entitled “Vaccine Adjuvants: Where they go, how they get there, what they do and why should you care?” In the lecture, Professor James Brewer first introduced the types of vaccine adjuvants and their application status and development trends. Next, he focused on sharing the main research results of his laboratory on vaccine adjuvants. With advanced multiphoton imaging technology, he vividly demonstrated the interaction between dendritic cells (DC) and T cells, and further clarified the specific effect of vaccine adjuvants on the function of dendritic cells/antigen presenting cells (DC/APC) and T cell activation. Finally, in the context of the global epidemic of COVID-19, Professor James Brewer also introduced the important role of vaccine adjuvants in the preparation of COVID-19 vaccines.

Professor James Brewer's extensive and in-depth report fully demonstrated the academic charm of biology, and triggered a lively discussion among participating teachers and students. In the question-and-interaction session, the teachers and students of the School of Medicine put questions that they were interested in to Professor James Brewer, and Professor James Brewer answered the questions patiently and meticulously and actively interacted with the teachers and students present.

The Confucius Institute at GLA was co-founded by NKU and GLA in 2011. In the past ten years, the two sides have made positive contributions to the cultural exchanges between China and the UK with the core of cultivating Chinese language talents and promoting cultural exchanges. In 2016, it was awarded “Advanced Confucius Institute”.