The appointment of Professor Sue Welburn as Executive Dean of Zhejiang University-University of Edinburgh Institute was formally announced today, 14 March 2017, during a formal inaugural ceremony. Prof. Yonghua Song, Executive Vice President of Zhejiang University, Prof. Yibin Ying, Vice President of Zhejiang University, and Prof. K.C. Ting, Vice Dean of International Campus attended this event. Prof. Ying delivered a welcome speech and expressed his great expectation. Prof. Michael Shipston, Dean of Biomedical Science of University of Edinburgh (UoE), introduced Prof. Sue Welburn to the faculty, staff and students of the institute. Prof. Song presented Prof. Welburn with an official letter of appointment and welcomed her to create a brighter future for the International Campus together.
After this ceremony, Sue’s first act as Executive Dean was to present a lecture to ZJE students on the "Global Challenges" course. This course consists of a series of lectures, which are open to the public, and which aim to equip our students with a global outlook and the skills to address global issues.
Sue has worked at Universty of Edinburgh (UoE) since 2000. She graduated with a BSc from the University of the West of England in 1984, and received a PhD at the University of Bristol in 1991, where she also started her academic career at the Tsetse Research Laboratories. She is currently Professor of Medical and Veterinary Molecular Epidemiology. She is the Founding Director of the Global Health Academy. Prof Welburn has held several senior management positions at UoE; firstly as Assistant Principal for Global Health and subsequently Vice Principal for Global Access. She is also a Fellow of several prestigious UK Royal Societies, including the Royal Society of Medicine, the Royal Society of Biology and The Royal Society of Edinburgh.
In her academic career, Sue has pursued a strong commitment to research focusing on interventions for disease control in the Global South, with on-going projects in Kenya, Morocco, Mozambique, Tanzania, Uganda, Nigeria, Zambia and Zanzibar. Her research has resulted in over 195 published works including 153 original research papers, 31 peer refereed reviews and 11 book chapters arising from more than £30 million in research support. Prof. Welburn also has a strong commitment to the career development of young scientists. She has supervised 49 PhD and 4 MSc research students from Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia, working on all aspects of Zoonotic disease management. In recognition of her work on the development of research-led distance learning master’s programmes, she was awarded the Chancellor’s Medal in 2011 by HRH The Princess Royal, Chancellor of UoE.
Traveling with Prof. Shipston and Prof. Jeremy Bradshaw, Assistant Principal Researcher Development of UoE, Prof. Welburn first visited the International Campus in Haining in January 2017.On that trip, she met the leaders of the International Campus and was warmly welcomed by the ZJE administrative team. On 14 March 2017, Prof. Welburn took office as Executive Dean of ZJE Institute and officially met ZJE students.
Prof. Welburn's appointment solidifies the collaboration between Zhejiang University and The University of Edinburgh, and the aim to put the students at the cutting edge of modern science.
