The University of Exeter welcomed a senior delegation from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS)
Top Think Tank visits Exeter for Research Networking and Partnership Building
On Saturday 3 December, the University of Exeter welcomed a senior delegation from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences (CASS). The visit, led by the Vice-President of CASS Professor Jiang Zhang, met with a number of academics based in the Colleges of Humanities and Social Sciences and International Studies to discuss how Exeter might collaborate with CASS in the future.
CASS is a premier academic organisation in the fields of humanities, philosophy and social sciences, made up of 31 research institutes and 45 research centres. At present, CASS has more than 3,200 professional researchers who carry out research activities covering nearly 300 sub-disciplines concerned with humanities, social sciences and business. They are currently ranked 20th among the World Top 50 Think Tanks according to the Think Tank and Civil Societies Programme at the University of Pennsylvania.
CASS and the College of Social Sciences and International Studies have significant overlap in research interests, which this visit sough to explore in more detail. The CASS delegation spent the afternoon with academics from the departments of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology (SPA) and Politics. Professor David Inglis, Head of Department for SPA, opened the meetings with a short presentation outlining key research themes and areas of interest in the department. The delegation identified a number of areas where there was potential to work with Exeter including aesthetics, Eastern philosophies, and Prof Inglis’ own research into the sociology of Chinese wine. Following this discussion, the delegation moved on to meet with Professor Ian Hampsher-Monk from Exeter’s Politics department, who led discussions on building potential links in China for Exeter’s Centre for Political Thought. Both meetings showed significant potential for CASS and Exeter to work together in future, and both institutions will continue to explore how we might develop research collaborations in future.
Professor Andrew Massey, Associate Dean for International and Development in SSIS, said of the visit; ‘The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences are a prestigious and influential organization, with expertise that is very relevant to a number of disciplines in our College. I’m pleased that colleagues from both the departments of Sociology, Philosophy and Anthropology and Politics were able to find areas of common interest with the delegation, which could lead to some exciting links for the College in the future.’
Date: 16 December 2016
