On November 10th, the "First Joint Symposium of the China–Australia Centre for Health Sciences Research (CACHSR)", which was organized by Shandong University was held on the Baotuquan Campus of Shandong University.

More than 20 professionals and scholars from the University of South Australia (UniSA) and Shandong University exchanged ideas and discussed the status of nine projects being undertaken by researchers from the two universities.

Professor Cory Xian, Sanjay Garg, Rietie Venter, Xinfu Zhou and Shudong Wang from UniSA and Professor Zhaopeng Liu, Ke Li, Dr. Bo Zhang and Xiaoye Yang from SDU presented their research projects. A round table discussion concerning the development of the center was also held and a panel comprising representatives from the two universities convened the second round review of joint proposals.

Established in April, 2013 by SDU and UniSA, CACHSR is a comprehensive international collaborative research institute in Australia. With a multi-disciplinary stretch, the center is committed to resolving common challenges faced by China and Australia in health research.

CACHSR focuses on academic research, consultancy and training, involving such disciplines as pharmaceutical sciences, medicine, public health, nursing, etc. It contributes to faculty and graduate student mobility as well as the joint education and training of undergraduate, postgraduate and doctoral students.

Substantial collaboration between the two universities has been evidenced since the institute’s establishment. The first round of funding applications was launched in October of 2013, with more than sixteen joint proposals being received, ten of which were approved for seed funding.