The one-week joint international summer school between Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) and Royal Institute of Technology (KTH) on the topic of "interdisciplinary biomedical engineering" successfully concluded on June 14th, 2019 in Stockholm, Sweden.
This summer school was jointly hosted by the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health (CBH) of KTH and the School of Biomedical Engineering of SJTU. It was held at both the main campus and the Flemingsberg campus of KTH. The event was funded by the KTH-CBH and SJTU-BME funding for international education for the School of Biomedical Engineering. A total of 44 graduate students and 17 teachers from both universities participated in the summer school, including 21 graduate students from the School of Biomedical Engineering from SJTU. SJTU-BME has established a dual master program with KTH and a KTH-SJTU joint doctoral program will be announced soon.
The opening ceremony of the 2019 SJTU-KTH Joint International Summer School
The SJTU-KTH International Summer School program has been focusing on exchanging academic knowledge and promoting cooperation within the field of biomedical engineering by providing opportunities for interaction and communication between multiple cultures. The courses in this summer school was in-depth and covered a wide range of topics. Not only did well known scholars in the field of biomedical engineering from both SJTU and KTH gave extensive and wonderful academic lectures, it also included specialized lab session of relating topics. In addition, through cultural exchange activities, the teachers and students of SJTU had a direct and in-depth understanding of Swedish culture and KTH insights.
Professor Yang Guoyuan’s academic lecture
Professor Lin Guan-Ning’s academic lecture
Professor Tong Shanbao’s academic lecture
Professor Svein Kleiven’s academic lecture
Professor Huang Qiu’s academic lecture
Professor Rodrigo Moreno’s academic lecture
Professor Ye Jian’s academic lecture
Professor Gu Lixu’s academic lecture
Professor Mahiar Hamedi’s academic lecture
Seventeen professors from both universities presented professional academic lectures in brain science research, nano-biotechnology, neuroscience engineering, medical devices, medical imaging, medical diagnosis, and treatment technology. In addition, in order to better integrate the application of biomedical engineering knowledge and practice, computational experiments and lab sessions were integrated into the summer school curriculum; providing students with first-hand opportunity to learn and translate theory into practice. The professors provided on-site guidance to the students and promptly resolved student’s questions in the lab sessions such as CT and PET image reconstruction, stress resistance testing of broken bone bonding materials. The combination of practice and theory with the interaction of problems solving enables the students to gain critical experience.
Lab sessions
This summer school added interactive mingle sessions to provide a solid communication platform between students and professors. Faculty mingle session mainly focused on the various funding systems and methods of international cooperation research, in order to broaden scientific research cooperation funding channels to support academic exchanges between the two universities; posters mingle session allowed the students to present their research to each other to bridge knowledge between fields. Each student was given 60 seconds to present their research progress to a jury. The jury and students selected their most favorite posters, Shi Xiaojing, Sharath Tippur Narayana Iyengar were awarded the “Best Poster Award of the Jury”. He Jing and Natalie Hendrikse were awarded the “Most Popular Poster Award”. In the faculty-students mingle session, professors participating in this summer school each formed a team and welcomed the students to discuss research. Promoting questions and communication, each student has the opportunity to have in-depth conversation with the research that they are interested in. These mingle sessions promoted strong enthusiasm for professors and students alike.
KTH-SJTU faculty mingle session
Poster mingle session
Jury's Best Poster Award and Most Popular Award Winners (From left: Shi Xiaojing, Natalie Hendrikse, Sharath Tippur Narayana Iyengar, He Jing)
KTH-SJTU faculty-students mingle session
On June 10th, the opening ceremony of the summer school was held in the Q building of the main campus of KTH. Professor Mikael Lindström, Dean of the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health from KTH, gave a welcoming speech to all the professors and students involved in the project, welcoming the participants that have traveled from Shanghai. On the same day, SJTU students visited the KTH main campus and enjoy the campus scenery. At the same time, gaining had a deeper understanding and recognition of a nearly 200 years of history and culture of KTH.
SJTU participants touring KTH’s history and culture
In addition to the academic activities, the organizers also arranged many cultural activities. On the first day, Professor Björn Kjellgren from KTH was invited to discuss the challenges that are often encountered in multicultural exchanges. Students from different countries and universities participated in a heated discussion and become familiar with each other. Nearing the midsummer holiday of Sweden, a day worth celebrating in the Nordic countries, students prepared a midsummer night picnic party, learn to sing Swedish traditional festival song such as “Helan Går”, team up for friendly competitions, and danced together to the “Små grodorna” frog dance, everyone experience the charm of different cultures in the pleasant cultural activities, enjoyed the midsummer’s generous sunshine, and gained unforgettable memories.
Professor Björn Kjellgren’s multicultural communication workshop
Midsummer party
Taking advantage of the international cooperation and exchange, the two parties held a renewal ceremony of the SJTU–KTH double master program agreement during the summer school (June 10th, 2019) at the Q Restaurant Dining Room of KTH. Tong Shanbao, vice-dean of the School of Biomedical Engineering, SJTU and Mikael Lindström, Dean of the School of Engineering Sciences in Chemistry, Biotechnology and Health, KTH renewed the supplementary agreement on the development of biomedical engineering in the two universities. Stefan Östlund, vice-president of KTH, witnessed the signing ceremony and provided congratulations. All the faculty and students of the summer school also expressed their congratulations. At the signing ceremony and welcoming dinner, Professor Tong Shanbao expressed his gratitude. He emphasized that the two parties have always been thinking highly of cultivating internationalized talents. The successful renewal of this supplementary agreement reflects the continued strengthening of scientific research and academics in the field of biomedical engineering. The determination and confidence in academic exchanges and cooperation will add new momentum to the international talent training strategy of both institutions.
SJTU–KTH Renewal of the Supplementary Agreement for the Dual Master's Program
The farewell ceremony of the summer school was held on the afternoon of June 14th. After a week of exchange and interaction, members from SJTU and KTH have learned a lot and have forged deep friendships. Professor Yang Guoyuan congratulated all trainees on their successful participation and thanked KTH for their hospitality. He said that this seventh summer school was successfully held, which is a perfect presentation of the in-depth cooperation and friendly relations between the two universities. He then stated that he looked forward to joining the next event in Shanghai. Student representatives from both sides exchanged experiences on participating in this summer school. The student representative of SJTU, Shi Zhengkai, shared his personal experience of cultural and academic exchange through the past week, and made new friends, broadened their horizons and gained new experience.
Professor Yang Guoyuan's closing ceremony speech
Shi Zhengkai, on behalf of the students, gave thanks to KTH
Summer school graduation ceremony
At the summer school graduation ceremony, Professor Anna Herland from KTH and Professor Yang Guoyuan from SJTU jointly awarded each student a certificate of completion; at the end of the closing ceremony, everyone celebrated the success of the summer school.
The successful conclusion of the 2019 SJTU-KTH International Summer School
The successful conclusion of the 2019 SJTU-KTH Summer School is the physical implementation of our institute's international cooperation in scientific research and cultivation. Compared to previous years, this summer school had more number of participants, with richer content and activities, and more diverse communication platforms. This event allows students to have more direct communication and intuitive understanding of other's scientific research project. Both professor and students also took this opportunity to achieve multi-dimensional in-depth exchanges. At the same time, it promoted the academic exchanges and cooperation between SJTU and KTH in the field of biomedical engineering and strengthened the cultural exchange experience between faculty members and students from both sides. This event shows the characteristics of the internationalized effort that BME and CBH both promote.
Office of International Affairs, BME
Author：Wang Hanqun
Translated by: Antony R. Warden
Photo Credit: He Chang, Shi Zhengkai
Hu Jiawen, Shan Huimin
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