China

China has become a scientific superpower and by any measure, be it science inputs (research budgets, active researchers) or science outputs (research publications), China has a seat at the scientific top table with partners such as the US, UK, Germany and Japan.

The John Innes Centre has been attributed, by some Chinese commentators, as playing a small but important role in the meteoric rise of Chinese science and was an early Western partner for Chinese scientists, providing a base for the studies of some influential figures in the current Chinese science system.

The John Innes Centre retains these strong links with Chinese science. We have more than 30 Chinese scientists working or studying in our laboratories in Norwich and we maintain contact with over 100 alumni in China.

This network of existing scientific partnerships between the John Innes Centre and China and our shared history of scientific success are now being used as the foundation upon which major new initiatives are being built.

CAS-JIC Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science (CEPAMS)

The Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) is consistently ranked top of the annual Nature Index of high-impact scientific institutions. In 2014, the John Innes Centre and CAS established a joint Centre of Excellence for Plant and Microbial Science; CEPAMS.

CEPAMS brings together three world-leading institutes in the UK and China to tackle the global challenges of food security and sustainable health care. The Centre nurtures excellent science and focuses on the improvement of food crops and the production of high-value, beneficial products from plants and microbes.

The Centre has dedicated state of the art laboratories in Beijing and Shanghai and is staffed by faculty members with joint appointments between the John Innes Centre and CAS.

CEPAMS is funded by CAS, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Newton Fund.

CAAS-John Innes Centre Alliance for Global Food Security

The Chinese Academy of Agricultural Science (CAAS) is the world’s largest national agricultural science organisation. In 2015, the John Innes Centre and CAAS formalised an Alliance that will undertake cutting-edge research addressing the global challenge of food security.

Collaborative research projects are being undertaken in areas such as improving crop yields, decreasing the threat from crop pests and reducing the need for artificial fertiliser.

The CAAS-JIC Alliance is funded by CAAS, the UK Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC) and the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF).