MCI Fund supports academic exchanges between the UK and Greater China

The MCI are delighted to announce that our UK-China Travel Fund has supported nine UoM students to travel to the Chinese-speaking world this academic year. The same fund will also enable several visiting scholars to be based at the MCI over the coming year

MCI Funding

Nine successful Manchester-based students each received £1000 after applying for our Travel Fund grant in September 2022. The students will all be studying the Chinese language.

The awards were made possible by MCI benefactor, Dr. Lee Kai Hung. In 2020, Dr. Lee generously committed £100,000 to match any other charitable gifts made towards the same travel fund, supporting UoM students and staff to study Chinese and conduct research on Greater China. Last year, ex-UMIST student and now one of China’s top electrical engineers, Li Ruomei, gifted £30,000 to be paid over three years, which has been since matched by Dr. Lee’s donation.

Keisha Lam 237x237

“I’m Keisha and I was born and raised in London. I’m currently studying Modern Language and Business & Management (Chinese) at the University of Manchester. As part of my degree, I have the opportunity to study in Taiwan where I will be able to focus on improving my Chinese at the National Taiwan University in Taipei. I believe that learning Chinese is a very useful skill and will be valuable in my future as I hope to be involved in international organisations or work in communications related roles”. - Keisha Lam, 2022-2023 Travel Fund Awardee

Aside from sending students to research in the Chinese-speaking world, the gift has enabled the MCI to fund the arrival of world class researchers to be scholars in residence at the institute. The fund will be used to cover “bench fees” at the university, allowing the MCI to host at least four multi-disciplinary scholars in China studies in the 2022-2023 year.