The University Global Partnership Network (UGPN) annual meeting, which included presentations, workshops and networking events, drew approximately 85 attendees from UGPN partners: University of Surrey, North Carolina State University, Universidade de São Paulo (USP), as well as UOW. The UGPN is an international consortium of selected research-intensive universities focussed on turning ideas into action by developing sustainable world-class research, education and knowledge transfer.

Professor Alex Frino has been appointed Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Global Strategy). Professor Frino will return to Wollongong to spearhead the institution's international growth strategy having overseen the Macquarie Graduate School of Management's rise in international business school rankings and with experience as CEO of leading R&D organisation, Capital Markets CRC.

Ten talented international researchers will visit Wollongong this year as part of the Vice-Chancellor’s International Scholar Awards (VISA) scheme. While here, they will collaborate with UOW academics on research projects including generating energy from sewage, advancing artificial muscle technology and investigating the impact of omega-3s in pregnancy.

UOW strengthens its international ties by conducting its inaugural Global Mobility ‘Partner Day’ on 25 February. The overseas visitors, drawn from 15 of UOW’s international partners, had an opportunity to first visit UOW’s Sydney Business School at Circular Quay before a full program of campus tours and faculty overviews on the main campus coinciding with the autumn session O week.

Fujian Longking Co Ltd, and Tidfore Heavy Equipment Group, have signed a $1.6 million joint research and development contract with UOW’s Faculty of Engineering and Information Sciences. The joint research collaboration will establish the International Solids Handling Research Institute (ISHRI) at UOW to undertake collaborative research in bulk materials handling technology.

UOW students Thomas Curran and Lachlan Foster, have recently returned after participating in the Uni-Capitol Washington Internship Program (UCWIP) earlier this year. The UCWIP is in its 18th year, and is a unique opportunity for Australian university students to participate in an internship in the United States Congress.

A group of UOW’s School of Law students recently attended a summer study tour in Taiwan and Indonesia in January in a first offshore law elective “Asian Legal Systems Field Study”.
Students were hosted by our partner universities Soochow University and Brawijaya University. The study tour provided students with an introduction to the legal systems of selected Asian countries, with emphasis on those which differ from the Australian and other common-law legal systems.