Celebrating Waterloo's connection with our UK partners

On Monday, 26 September 2022, Waterloo International was pleased to host delegates from the British High Commission in Ottawa and the British Consulate-General in Toronto. The visit reviewed and celebrated many of the connections between researchers, universities, innovators, and others based in the United Kingdom and those based at the University of Waterloo.

Hosts for the visit were Ian Rowlands (Associate Vice-President, International) and Marilena Strambu (Manager, International Relations). Visitors were David Barnes (Head of Science, Climate and Energy), Kathryn Chen (Head of Science, Innovation and Policy), and Greg Quinn (Acting British Consul-General).

A welcome from Norbert Lütkenhaus (Professor; Executive Director) and a discussion led by Michele Mosca (Professor) at the Institute for Quantum Computing were followed by a tour showcasing two laboratories in the Institute. Canada and the United Kingdom share strengths in quantum research, and have committed resources to collaborative research.  Waterloo has a number of UK-based partnerships in this space, and there is great potential for more.

A roundtable focusing upon climate and energy – with the participation of Simon Glauser (Managing Director) and Daniel Scott (Professor) from the Waterloo Climate Institute and Armughan Al-Haq (Managing Director) from the Waterloo Institute for Sustainable Energy – was another highlight of the visit. Building upon last week’s successful Sustainable Future Initiative launch at Waterloo, Waterloo’s integrated approach to sustainability fits well with UK priorities.

Discussions between the visitors and Waterloo International focused upon the multiple dimensions of the Waterloo-UK relationship – talent (e.g., very popular student exchanges in both directions), research (e.g., upwards of 400 co-authored publications a year), and community (e.g., shared priorities in effective local engagement and common membership in key global organizations). Conversation also explored ways in which these could be grown and strengthened even further.

Engagement with individual UK universities and other organizations is on-going – a successful collaborative call with the University of Strathclyde and successful visit from the University of Warwick earlier this year are just two examples; planned inbound and outbound travel during the rest of 2022 (and into 2023) indicate that this engagement is set to grow. Waterloo members who would like to learn more – or who would like to share their own work with the United Kingdom – are encouraged to reach out to the Waterloo International, International Relations Manager, whose areas of responsibility include the United Kingdom, Eric Jardin (international.relations@uwaterloo.ca).