Warwick is delighted to be participating in an innovative initiative bringing together 12 UK and 12 Mexican universities aimed at fostering academic mobility between the two countries. The call is now open for Warwick researchers to apply for mobility funding to support their visit to a Mexican partner institution.

Initially proposed by the Mexican Agency for International Development Cooperation (AMEXCID), the Mexico-UK Visiting Chair Initiative will see senior figures from prestigious UK and Mexican universities spend up to two weeks each year working collaboratively to explore new and exciting links in research and teaching. This is the second call under a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by Warwick and 11 other Russell Group universities in 2015.

The UK universities participating in the initiative include King’s College London, Birmingham, Bristol, Durham, Edinburgh, Leeds, Manchester, Nottingham, Sheffield, Southampton, University College London and Warwick with collaboration set to span the Arts and Humanities, Socials Sciences and STEM. The Mexican Commission comprises of Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey (ITESM), Instituto Politécnico Nacional (IPN), Universidad Autónoma de Baja California (UABC), Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León (UANL), Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán (UADY), Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México (UAEM), Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana (UAM), Universidad de Guadalajara (UDG), Iberoamericana University (UIA) Universidad de Guanajuato (UG), University of the Americas Puebla (UDLAP) and the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM).

Professor Pam Thomas, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Research), who signed the MoU on behalf of Warwick at the International Book Fair in Guadalajara in November 2015 commented:

‘This is an excellent opportunity for Warwick’s academics to engage with the research community in Mexico, enhance existing partnerships and indeed develop new bilateral opportunities for mobility’.

Warwick’s research collaborations with Mexico currently span all four faculties. Professor Christopher James (Biomedical Engineering) was Warwick’s first recipient of the UK-Mexico Visiting Chair grant (2016-17), visiting UAM and Tec de Monterrey in May 2017. On his return, Professor James commented:

'The Visiting Chair scheme provided me with a great opportunity to strengthen existing links with UAM and their biomedical engineering research institute. It also provided an opportunity to create new links with the Tec de Monterrey (ITESM) and their biomedical engineering teaching and research programme. As a result of my visit we have a number of plans to submit funding applications – both for the mobility of staff and students as well as for joint research projects.'

The deadline for applications under this call is Friday 18^th August 2017. Full details of the call and an application form are available online. For further information contact Emily Lim in the Global Partnerships team.