Mapping UK-East Asia Research Collaboration Partnerships : Initial findings

Representing the research team for an international collaborative project led by Coventry University in the UK examining the UK partnerships with ASEAN + 3 Universities, Professor Mok presented a paper entitled “Mapping UK-East Asia Research Collaboration Partnerships”. He highlighted major findings regarding research collaboration and partnership between universities in the UK, ASEAN, China, Japan, Korea, and Hong Kong SAR, etc. The findings show strong collaboration between UK institutions with universities in Asia, particularly revealing UK-EA top trilateral co-authorships. Research productivity is further enhanced when institutions working trilaterally across institutions in the UK, Malaysia, Thailand, Japan and China. Research findings also show the research collaborations focus on hard sciences disciplines like Medicine, Physics and Astronomy, Engineering rather than studies in humanities and social sciences. Some useful implications being drawn from the research is to support more female researchers and early career researchers to get involved in these regional / international research partnerships. The project is funded by the British Council with research partners from the UK, China, Hong Kong and other Asian countries.