There is a risk the UK could fall behind in establishing research collaborations with Chinese institutions even as other European nations gain ground, academics have warned.

In a discussion on UK-China relations at the British Council¡¯s Going Global conference in Singapore, scholars expressed concern over the UK¡¯s sluggish approach to building up its China ties.

It is only a matter of time before international relations restart anew after the pandemic slowdown, said Mike Shipton, dean of biomedical sciences at the University of Edinburgh.

¡°Are we prepared for when things do open up more easily¡­if we¡¯re not prepared, we could miss the boat,¡± he said, noting China¡¯s ¡°pent-up demand¡± for postgraduate and PhD mobility.

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Others are also worried.

Daniel Brooker, director of UK Research and Innovation in China, said that institutional partners with which his agency works have also been expressing ¡°genuine concern¡± about falling behind ¨C even as countries including the US and Germany have made headway on their collaborations with Chinese institutions.

¡°If we¡¯re not engaging, we¡¯ll lose the leverage we¡¯ve built up over the years,¡± Dr Brooker warned.

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Still, there are hopes that China¡¯s easing of lockdown measures ¨C when it does eventually come ¨C could bring renewed dialogue.

¡°One of?the frustrating things about Covid is we were not able to have any high-level bilateral dialogues,¡± said Matt Burney, director of the British Council in China.

He expressed hope that there would be a ¡°significant¡± bilateral summit in early 2023.?¡°I think [it] will be a catalytic moment for education,¡± he said.

Sue Welburn, executive dean at the Zhejiang Edinburgh Institute, a joint venture between Zhejiang University and the University of Edinburgh, noted that it was ¡°really good timing¡± to develop partnerships, with US geopolitics forcing many Chinese academics ¨C who already have strong international ties and English language skills ¨C back to China.

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¡°If we want to be smart, we want to start engaging much more proactively,¡± she said.

But she said that for partnerships to succeed, institutions would have to tackle underlying problems that hinder more equitable collaborations, including vastly uneven resources between academic partners.

¡°The balance is just so skewed,¡± she said, noting that split funding models the UK has with many other countries don¡¯t work with China, which has a vastly different and complex system of grant funding.

¡°If you¡¯re going to set up a partnership with someone with 10 times as much money as you have, some matching scheme...is just not going to cut it,¡± she said.

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pola.lem@timeshighereducation.com