Bradford-China partnership celebrates cutting edge tech and investment 

University of Bradford Professor of Polymer Engineering Phil Coates was invited to deliver a keynote address at the recent Chinese Innovation Forum in Beijing – a major annual Government organised event in China. 

A range of humanoid robots were at the Zhongguancun (ZGC) Innovation Centre to shake hands with delegates.   

Professor Coates, director of the University’s Polymer Interdisciplinary Research Centre (IRC) and a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, attended the ZGC Forum, which celebrates international collaborations to fund research into cutting-edge materials and technology. 

He said: “This was a profoundly significant event that highlights just important our relationship is with China and just how cutting-edge some of the work we do here in Bradford really is. 

“Ultimately, this is about forging partnerships based on trust that end up delivering materials and products that change the world for the better."

Polymer research 

Professor Coates has led the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) Science Bridges China collaboration since 2009, a partnership that led to the formation of the UK-China Advanced Materials Research Institute, which has over 300 academics involved in joint research projects and has already resulted in numerous scientific breakthroughs, principally in healthcare, but with applications in other areas such as engineering, recycling and energy use.  

World-leading polymer research by Bradford academics have led to numerous applications, including micro-needles for pain-free drug delivery, super-strong elevator ropes and pipes, ’geo-grids’ to stop land erosion, waste recycling, advanced polymer materials such as those used in suitcases and even bio-resorbable medical implants. 

Professor Coates said: “Advanced materials research, including polymer research, has a direct beneficial impact on people’s lives. If you ever need to go into hospital, polymers are used in all kinds of procedures. This conference shows the level of trust we researchers have and the strength of our collaboration.   It would be good for our politicians to be able to build on this."

£9m investment 

Since its inception over a decade ago, the Since Bridges China collaboration has resulted in over £9m in research funding (around £6m of which has come to Bradford), 80 research exchanges and over 100 publications in top quality peer-reviewed journals. 

Professor Coates attended the conference at the invitation of Fortune Top 500 company Sinopec, which has consistently funded polymer orientation research at the University’s Polymer IRC. He spoke immediately after the President of Sinopec, who gave the first keynote address. 

Prof Coates keynote was entitled ‘Cross Boundary Collaboration and International Open Cooperation in the Era of Big Science.’ 

In 2018, Professor Coates was presented with China’s top scientific award for overseas academics by President Xi Jinping.