CARES celebrated its 10th anniversary on Friday, 1 December at Shaw Foundation Alumni House, marking a decade of collaborative research between Cambridge and Singapore.
The Scientific Showcase kicked off with a welcome address by CARES Director Prof Markus Kraft, who looked back at the centre’s achievements in the academic and commercialisation areas. Her Excellency Kara Owen, British High Commissioner to Singapore, provided the keynote opening and reinforced the importance of CARES as a testament to the shared commitment of the UK and Singapore to advance science and technology.
Pictured are Prof Markus Kraft (left), Her Excellency Kara Owen (top right), and VIP guests Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar, Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith, and Prof Lim Khiang Wee (left to right; bottom right).
Prof Lim Khiang Wee followed and shared a retrospective of his time as the then-Executive Director of CREATE, who welcomed CARES into the programme. Prof Lim shared examples of how impactful outcomes start from humble beginnings and highlighted the spin-off Accelerated Materials (AM) as a direct consequence of the Cambridge-CARES Studentship Scheme that nurtured the talents of AM founder, Dr Nicholas Jose.
Pictured are Prof Lim Khiang Wee (left), Asst Prof Liu Wen (Paul) and Dr Nicholas Jose (top right), and Chamira Lessigny and Prof Dominique Baillargeat from CNRS@CREATE (left to right; bottom right).
Following the keynote opening, the event was divided into four themed rooms to reflect the diverse research initiatives of CARES: digital transformation, chemical technologies and processes, from emissions to solutions, and lifelong learning. Each themed room had varied content curated by our Cambridge and Singapore Principal Investigators, encompassing an array of presentations.
Related booths provided practical demonstrations of the research, such as the shipping decarbonisation calculator, the Singapore MacKay Calculator, and the CLIC human participant tasks for their research on cognitive flexibility.
Pictured are the poster presentations (top left), art exhibit from CLIC’s Brainiverse competition involving special needs students (top right), Singapore MacKay Calculator (bottom left), and other interactive booths (bottom right).
Invited speakers: pictured are representatives from the Singapore-ETH Centre, Oliver Wyman, Siemens, and A*STAR for the panel discussion (top left), Prof Ric Parker from the Technology Centre for Offshore and Marine, Singapore (top right), Saifudin Abubakar from ExxonMobil (bottom left), Dr Sintia Teddy-Ang from AI Singapore (bottom centre), and Giosue Vezzuto from RINA (bottom right).
Click here to see the compiled scientific posters and slides from the event.
Senior representatives from CARES (Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith, Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research and International Partnerships at the University of Cambridge) and Tohoku University (Prof Toshiya Ueki, Executive Vice-President) marked the event by signing a Memorandum of Understanding in a move to highlight new collaborations in the areas of hydrogen research.
The Scientific Showcase concluded with a joint address from Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith and Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar, Executive Director of Academic Research of CREATE. This address symbolised the shared responsibility of both Cambridge and NRF, acknowledging their pivotal support throughout CARES’ decade-long journey.
Pictured are Prof Subodh Mhaisalkar and Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith (left), the CARES programme members (top right), and Prof Markus Kraft, Prof Kaoru Maruta, Prof Toshiya Ueki, Prof Anne Ferguson-Smith, and Prof Epaminondas Mastorakos (left to right; bottom right).
A smaller evening reception followed at the British High Commissioner’s Residence, Eden Hall. Attended by key members of the showcase and Mr George Yeo, former Singaporean Minister and Cambridge alumnus, the event welcomed Prof Dame Lynn Gladden, a founding CARES board member. Prof Gladden provided insights into the dynamics of international partnerships, addressing challenges and emphasising the conducive environment in Singapore that facilitates such collaborations.
Pictured are Prof Dame Lynn Gladden (top left), guests mingling at Eden Hall (top right), Mr George Yeo, Her Excellency Kara Owen, and Dr Hanbin Zheng (left to right; bottom left), and Prof Alexei Lapkin (bottom right).
As the centre celebrates its first 10 years in Singapore, we share our achievements with fellow collaborators and aim to reach new heights in the next decade.
The creation of CARES in 2013 was supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.
