Biomedical success and collaborating for greatness

Dear colleagues,

I’m freshly back from a trip to North America, where I worked on a number of strategic initiatives that arise from our Sydney in 2032 Strategy. Joined by our Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Research), Professor Emma Johnston and Executive Dean and Pro Vice-Chancellor Medicine and Health, Professor Robyn Ward, we looked at the factors driving the success of biomedical accelerators in Toronto and Boston. 

It’s clear that the great research capabilities of universities like Toronto, Harvard and MIT have been central to driving rapid innovation and development of diagnostics, drugs and devices to help bring solutions to the most complex health challenges and medical conditions. 

We saw how strong partnerships were critical to building collaboration between researchers, industry and creative start-ups. It was encouraging and insightful for us as we work on planning the Sydney Biomedical Accelerator, in partnership with the Sydney Local Health district. And it was a strong affirmation of our aspiration in the 2032 Strategy – that in the future at Sydney, we will do our best work in partnership.

The nature of collaboration and partnerships will also be in the spotlight when the University of Sydney hosts the 2023 Times Higher Education Global Academic Summit in September. The baton was passed to us by New York University which hosted this year’s event at their Manhattan campus. 

At the 2023 Summit, we will be looking to focus on how we best create environments where we are “collaborating for greatness in a multidisciplinary world”. The Summit presents a great opportunity to showcase how the University is increasingly working across disciplines to find solutions to pressing global challenges and to connect with other great global universities. You can read more about our plans so far, and stay tuned for more updates to come. 

Regards,  
Mark

Mark Scott 
Vice-Chancellor and President