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China's universities are wooing Western scientists

China's universities are wooing Western scientists

Straits Times25-05-2025

A handful of senior Western scholars have recently taken up posts in China, at universities such as Tsinghua. PHOTO: TSINGHUA.EDU.CN
Dr Charles Lieber had few options. On April 28, the renowned former Harvard chemist took up a new post at Tsinghua University's Shenzhen campus. Dr Lieber had been looking for a perch after he was convicted in America in 2021 for hiding ties to Chinese research funding. He is one of a handful of senior Western scholars who have recently taken up posts in China. Others have done so more from a position of choice.
The websites of Peking University and Tsinghua University, respectively, recently confirmed that Dr Gerard Mourou, a French Nobel prize-winning physicist, and Dr Kenji Fukaya, a decorated Japanese mathematician, were joining their faculties.
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