Tue,Sep 17,2013
The president of the Royal Society Sir Paul Nurse visited People’s Daily Online on Sept. 14, 2013. As a guest of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), he shared his opinions on cooperation between China and Britain in an exclusive interview.
Investing in youth important for cooperation
Commenting on the cooperation between the two countries, Nurse said it is “quite strong but needs to be stronger”. Both China and Britain see science playing an essential role. Since the two countries share the same scientific philosophy, although they take different approaches, it is still very important to learn from each other.
For further improvement on cooperation, Nurse said that both sides should pay more attention to young scientists, which means investing in youth. “What I would like to see is schemes of mixing of young scientists. They can then learn from each other at an early age and be driven by their natural curiosity.” When dealing with big challenges, they need more organization and more combined programs.
Chinese member at the Royal Society
In this May, the Royal Society elected Chinese member Dr. Chen Zhu from Chinese Academy of Sciences. Nurse pointed out that the society would probably elect more Chinese scientists as it knows China better.
“To become a foreign member of the Royal Society is more difficult than becoming a fellow of the Royal Society”, said Nurse. It is very difficult for foreign scientists to be elected as foreign members if they are not from the United Kingdom or the Common Wealth. There are less than 200 foreign members in the world. The first contact from the Royal Society with Chinese scientist can be dated back to 18th century.
“Getting to know Chinese scientists also gives us opportunities for improving nomination process. Because I think we are missing very high quality scientists in China and we would like to correct that in the next several years in the future,” he said.
Nurse, who was on the first official visit to China since he took office in 2010, signed a joint statement on promoting scientific and technological cooperation with the CAS.
Click here for the coverage of Sir Paul Nurse’s visit in English.
Click here for the coverage of Sir Paul Nurse’s visit in Chinese.
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