About IARU

Early Career Collaboration Grants

The Secretariat has received the backing of the Presidents for a new version of a proposal, made at the 2021 Senior Officers’ Meeting, aimed at fostering research links between IARU members.

Encouraging research collaboration between universities is a key part of IARU’s mission, but only the Ageing, Longevity & Health Initiative is mainly focused on research at the moment. A tremendous amount of joint research is, of course, being carried out between IARU members outside of IARU, but in 2021 the Senior Officers agreed that there was an opportunity for IARU to have a real impact with a carefully targeted initiative. In light of the serious difficulties younger researchers had encountered in trying to build their global networks during the pan- demic, it was decided to focus that initiative on early-career researchers.

Under the collaboration grant scheme, researchers will be able to apply for up to US$5,000 to help meet the costs of a short-term stay at another IARU university as part of a new or ex- isting research collaboration between their home and host university. Applicants will be asked to consider how their trip would support additional collaborative links between the two insti- tutions. The Presidents recommended that the proposal be focused on early-career academics as a way of encouraging longer-term ties between IARU members, and that the allocated funding be doubled to $40,000 in its first year.

The revised proposal was finalised with the Senior Officers in Oxford and the first call for applications will be launched in 2023.

Presidents' Meeting 2023

The IARU Presidents met together on 14 & 15 January 2023 for their annual meeting, kindly hosted by the team at ETH Zürich. The group were delighted to welcome Professor Gong Qihuang (PKU), Professor Irene Tracey (Oxford) and Dr Anthony Freeling (Cambridge) to their first IARU meetings, with Dr Freeling also taking on the role of IARU Chair.

Discussing strategies for achieving net zero in universities, examining the rise in mental health challenges in student and staff communities, and exploring the complex issue of trust in higher education all provided excellent opportunities to compare approaches and share experiences.

The Presidents were able to continue their conversations over dinner at Villa Hatt, which, due to its position high on the Zürichberg, afforded wonderful views over the city below.

Many of the attendees had planned a busy week of business travel and, following the Presidents’ Meeting, went on to join delegations at the World Economic Forum at Davos. We are especially grateful to ETH Zürich for being such generous hosts and facilitating the meeting.

Mental health in university communities

The increase in mental health difficulties is not only a challenge for universities, but one for society on a wider scale. Dr Anthony Freeling, Acting Vice-Chancellor of Cambridge and IARU Chair, led a session outlining the measures Cambridge had put in place for support for students: an expansion of its university counselling service; the reduction of waiting times; and improved collaboration with national mental health services.

Other IARU universities had experienced similar increases in mental health difficulties for students, and are working to provide cohesive, streamlined mental health care and specialised training for staff. It was clear that while the pressures from within university communities(exam stress, workload, loneliness) should be considered, the increase in reported mental health difficulties is mirrored in wider society, making it a challenging issue to deal with.

It was notable that many IARU members felt that although good progress had been made with student mental health care, they now needed to focus on staff mental health and wellbeing, as similar support systems and protocols were often lacking in this area.

Governance in world-class universities

Although the IARU universities share an emphasis on intensive research, there is great variation in how these institutions are operate and governed.

Professor Teruo Fujii, President of the University of Tokyo, led a session exploring decision-making, accountability and effective organisational structures, which provided an insight into the different ways of working of their international partners.

As UTokyo is currently considering its governance structure, it was particularly interested in the extent of involvement of external parties in the boards of the other IARU universities, and was grateful for the advice it received from the group.

Net zero in universities

Dr Claudia Zingerli, Head of Sustainability at ETH Zürich, outlined the institution’s ambitious plans to reach net zero by 2030. Significant progress has already been made on scope 1 (direct emissions caused by an organisation and its operations) and scope 2 emissions (indirect emissions related to the energy purchased by an organisation). ETH are now turning their attention to the more complicated area of scope 3 emissions, focusing efforts on business travel, catering and commuting, real estate and infrastructure.

Similar schemes are already underway at other IARU universities, although it is notable that each institution is operating in very different regional situations. For example, ANU’s electricity comes from 100% renewable sources, but due to geographical location, business travel is a huge factor in reaching its sustainability goals. For Oxford and Cambridge, one of the biggest challenges is improving the sustainability of the historic buildings that are part of their estates.

The Presidents discussed the balance between striving to make universities more sustainable and engaging in world-leading research to improve sustainability for society in general. It was suggested that the impact that research universities make should be recognised as part of their contribution to achieving net zero and this could be discussed with governments.

Expectations and changes in attitude to academic business travel were also considered. Many IARU members reported that younger faculty members were questioning the need to travel more, although they were also concerned about the potential disadvantages of not participating in person at conferences, networking events and exchanges. This discussion highlighted the complexity of the situation and it is an area that the Presidents will return to at future meetings.

Chair and Secretariat transition

At the end of April 2023, the role of IARU Chair and Secretariat passed from the University of Cambridge to the University of Cape Town. Since 2021, Cambridge has chaired IARU and provided the Secretariat team which manages the general administration of the Alliance. During its tenure, the projects that the Cambridge Secretariat has worked on include a survey of IARU members, establishing the new Education Committee, launching the Early-Career Collaboration Grants scheme and creating a newsletter for the IARU community.

On handing over the Secretariat duties to UCT, Cambridge IARU Senior Officer, Dr. Karen Kennedy, remarked:

“Cambridge has been delighted to serve the IARU community as Chair and Secretariat, benefitting greatly from the guidance and experience of our predecessors, the University of Tokyo. It has been especially rewarding to oversee the return to in-person meetings and activities as we have emerged from the restrictions of the pandemic years. We look forward to our friends at UCT taking IARU into its next chapter.”

Carolyn Newton, IARU Senior Officer and Director of Global Engagement at UCT, will head the new Secretariat team that will take over IARU administration from May 2023. Cambridge and UCT will work closely over the next few months to provide continuous support to IARU members.

New IARU Chair: Professor Daya Reddy, University of Cape Town

We are delighted to announce that Professor Daya Reddy will be the new IARU Chair. Professor Batmanathan Dayanand ‘Daya’ Reddy, a former holder of the South African Research Chair in Computational Mechanics at UCT, took on the role of interim Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in March 2023.

Professor Reddy’s research interests are focused around solid and computational mechanics, applied mathematics and engineering sciences. An alumnus of UCT, he completed a PhD at Cambridge, before returning to Cape Town as a postdoctoral researcher. He then remained at UCT, becoming Professor of Applied Mathematics in 1989, and was then appointed South African Research Chair in Computational Mechanics in 2006.

Professor Reddy has served in various leadership positions at UCT, including Director of the Centre for Research in Computational and Applied Mechanics, Head of the Department of Applied Mathematics (1989–1994), Dean of the Faculty of Science (1999–2005) and acting deputy Vice-Chancellor over three separate periods.

From 2018-2021, he was President of the International Science Council (ISC), a body comprising 45 international scientific unions and associations, and national and regional scientific organisations from around 150 countries.

His other accolades include the National Order of Mapungubwe, awarded by the President of South Africa for distinguished contributions to science, and the Georg Forster Research Award from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. He speaks regularly on aspects of science and public policy, the promotion of science, academic and scientific freedom, and science diplomacy.

Global Transformations Borderlands field course

This summer, we welcome the return of the IARU Global Transformations group fieldwork course, Borderlands. After a hiatus of three years (due to the impact on travel from the pandemic), the Global Transformations group will once again host the course, combining classroom learning, field engagement and immersion in a local environment. The course culminates with a short term placement with local NGOs or ongoing research projects in and around Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, an immensely valuable experience for the attending students.

Migration, mobilities and immobilities

Open to undergraduates and Master’s students, the Borderlands course is designed to provide an opportunity to think critically about the research process, epistemologies, and ethics in the conduct of research.

It focuses on the research process rather than the mastery of a specific topic or method, with the aim of providing students with the tools to raise and address critical questions in their own research and establish a foundation from which they can apply the knowledge and practices from the course to future research projects.

With the focus on the research process, the course is organised around the themes of Migration, Mobilities and Immobilities that have emerged as among the most pressing 21^st century challenges, cutting across 11 of the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals. In engaging migration, mobilities and immobilities, the Borderlands course explores the different forms and facets of migration (internal, cross-border; regular and irregular), and of im/mobilities – e.g. social, political, economic), as well as intersectionalities among causes and consequences of migration and im/mobilities.

In exploring these themes, the course combines classroom learning with meaningful interactions and placement with local NGOs or ongoing research projects in and around Chiang Mai in northern Thailand. Through this placement, students will have the opportunity to engage in critical research, issues and policies related to the themes of the course, as well as communities and institutions impacted by and working on addressing these issues through research, policy formulation, community development or advocacy.

Course structure and format

The course contains the following elements: pre-departure research and preparation; in-class lectures and discussion; field placement; independent and supervised research writing; and public presentation.

All activities in the course revolve around the themes of Migration, Mobilities and Immobilities and are designed to complement each other and reinforce learning and meaningful engagement with the curriculum. The readings, lectures, and experiential activities are aimed at providing the necessary contexts for student field engagement and for the development of the research proposal, while the work conducted with NGOs and the research projects are meant to give students ‘real-world’ experience that informs critical research. Drawing upon insights from these different forms of field engagement, students will reflect on the research implications, and develop a succinct research proposal (based on their work for the NGO or ongoing research project or on a completely different topic of their choice that is related to the themes of the course).