On behalf of the members of the Soochow University- Western University Centre for Synchrotron Radiation Research, I would like to welcome you to our website. The Centre (SWC) was founded in November 2012 jointly by Soochow University in China and Western University in Canada. It was built from an immensely successful institute, FUNSOM in Soochow, led by Professor S. T. Lee, Academician, Chinese Academy of Sciences and a consortium of synchrotron researchers coordinated across campus by the Faculty of Science at Western University, led by Professor T.K. Sham, Canada Research Chair, Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. SWC presently has 8 faculty members in Soochow and 12 in Western. We will continue to recruit talents to join. This is an exciting time.
The vision of the Centre is to be a global leader in interdisciplinary research and education in synchrotron radiation (SR); to facilitate exchange and collaborative research between the two universities; and to enhance research capability and capacity in SR and related areas by assembling a critical mass of expertise and resources. The Centre will provide a multi-disciplinary platform for materials research and the training of highly qualified people by providing on-going support for conducting research at large-scale synchrotron radiation facilities. The Centre will foster frontier high quality research and education programs in line with the strategic directions of China and Canada. The Centre will attract and retain the best of the world’s research talent in synchrotron research and application.
We envision SWC to become one of the top international collaborative research centres in China and in Canada in SR research and in time, one of the top centres in the world. The Centre will use all possible resources provided by the universities and governments to build an interdisciplinary research platform, providing students the opportunity to conduct interdisciplinary and internationally collaborative research; it will assemble a team of outstanding scientists working effectively and collaboratively as independent researchers as well as team players. Scientific and technological advancements in Chemistry, Physics, Materials Science, Earth Science, Environmental Science, Life Science and Engineering will be explored. Strategic research areas of global importance will be addressed using synchrotron techniques with objectives of knowledge enrichment and practical applications such as in novel materials, clean energy, environment and sustainability, as well as human well-being. Thus, the Centre will contribute to the economic competitiveness by training students and researchers of the highest quality with a multidisciplinary vision, and promoting international mobility between China and Canada and beyond.
The Centre conducts its major activities via collaborative research, exchange and graduate programs jointly supervised by members in Soochow and Western, as well as regular workshops and summer schools. The first summer school held in July 2013 in Soochow University was a great success. The Centre coordinates long term and timely research efforts and has already established collaborative partnership with synchrotron facilities in Hefei and Shanghai in China, the Canadian Light Source in Saskatoon, the Advanced Light Source (ALS) in Berkeley and is presently exploring opportunities in the Taiwan Light Source (TLS). SWC is also planning to implement a soft X-ray beamline in Hefei. A hub at the CLS with on-site technical staff from SWC will be set up in the fall of 2013. In education, although graduate training is our initial step, undergraduate program with synchrotron specialty and co-op internship are also being explored.
Graduate students and their supervisors of the Centre members will have opportunity to visit each other short term and long term via collaborative programs (e.g. jointly supervised projects and students). A 2+2 PhD degree program will be inaugurated in the fall of 2013. Graduate students admitted into this program will be jointly supervised by members of SWC-Soochow and SWC-Western and will be spending 2 years in Soochow and 2 years in Western earning a Western PhD degree in a variety of programs.
Research in the Centre covers a broad spectrum of specialties as well as multidisciplinary research from fundamental to applied science, but generally falls within the research themes highlighted in the mission section of this website. We welcome all of you, administrators, researchers, faculties and students alike to visit our Centre in Soochow University in China and Western University in Canada. The next time you are in the area! Please don't hesitate to contact us. If you and are interested in being part of our effort, please let us know.
Tsun-Kong (TK) Sham
Director, Soochow University-Western University Centre for Synchrotron Radiation Research
