Academia Sinica Logo

Academia Sinica and the Royal Society co-hosted the “UK-Taiwan Bilateral Meeting: Biology for Health, Food and Energy” from October 15 to 17 in London, marking another milestone in strengthening academic collaboration between the United Kingdom and Taiwan.

Led by Academia Sinica President James C. Liao, the Taiwanese delegation, together with their UK counterparts, brought together nearly 50 researchers across disciplines spanning biology, medicine, agriculture, and energy to share cutting-edge findings and explore new opportunities for interdisciplinary and sustainable research collaboration.

During the event, Academia Sinica introduced several new initiatives, including the Taiwan International Graduate Program-X (TIGP-X) and the Visiting Scholars Scheme, both designed to facilitate greater academic exchange and long-term cooperation between the two countries.

President James C. Liao highlighted the historical significance of the Royal Society, one of the world’s oldest and most prestigious scientific academies. Since 2023, Academia Sinica and the Royal Society have established a framework for reciprocal visits and bilateral meetings to foster closer dialogue among researchers and to build a robust foundation for scientific collaboration between the UK and Taiwan. He noted that, in addition to scholars from Academia Sinica, several researchers from National Taiwan University also joined this year’s delegation—many of whom are early-career scientists—to engage in meaningful discussions with UK researchers on critical scientific issues.

President Liao also emphasized the increasingly close partnership between the two institutions. Within the span of two weeks, he and Sir Mark Walport, Vice President and Foreign Secretary of the Royal Society, met in three different countries. Sir Mark Walport was also invited to Academia Sinica last week, where he delivered a lecture titled “International Scientific Cooperation in an Era of Disruption”, sharing insights from his decades of experience in academic diplomacy. President Liao expressed confidence that these exchanges will lead to even deeper and more substantial cooperation in the near future.

Building on the success of the first bilateral meeting held in Taiwan two years ago, this conference adopted a co-design approach to jointly determine the meeting themes and to establish direct channels of communication. Over the three-day event, discussions centered on health, food, and energy, covering topics such as emerging paradigms in fundamental biology, metabolism and disease, designed crops with improved resilience to climate change, metabolism and synthetic biology, and biodiversity and natural resources for health. These sessions highlighted the fruitful outcomes achieved by both research teams in cross-disciplinary integration and sustainable technology development.

The meeting also featured flash talks by early-career researchers, providing an open platform for dynamic scientific dialogue and the development of future international partnerships.

Founded in 1660, the Royal Society serves as the United Kingdom’s national academy of science. It is committed to promoting scientific excellence, informing evidence-based policymaking, and advancing science for the benefit of humanity. Its Fellows include many of the most influential figures in the history of science—Isaac Newton, Charles Darwin, and Stephen Hawking—whose work continues to shape global scientific progress.