Vice-President for Academic Affairs Professor Barry Godfrey shared some of his thoughts on the future of academic strategy at Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University, stressing interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.
Professor Godfrey’s appointment was announced in January, along with the departure of his predecessor Professor André Brown who was thanked by Professor Youmin Xi, executive president of XJTLU, for his ‘great contribution’ to the University over the previous three years.
“XJTLU emphasises collaboration between staff and students, independent learning, and careful guidance from teachers,” said Professor Godfrey (pictured above). “We want to create leaders and new thinkers who can take a fresh approach to the challenges and opportunities presented by the 21st Century.”
Professor Godfrey sees XJTLU’s academic strategy as being based on combining the heritage of two well-established universities with the vibrancy of a new university and an energetic staff base to create innovation in higher education in China.
He leads a collaborative project between the University of Liverpool and other UK universities, The Digital Panopticon, that is part of the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council’s Digital Transformations programme to ‘exploit the potential of digital technologies to transform research in the arts and humanities’. Professor Godfrey commented on how the digital is affecting all academic disciplines:
“The ‘digital’ stretches across virtually all disciplines now, from architecture to engineering to the social sciences,” said Barry. “As XJTLU is a fast-moving, fast-developing university, we should be able to connect together researchers from any discipline to develop the next phase of digital research – virtual engineering, artificial intelligence – and to connect our research to real-world applications.”
Barry Godfrey has over twenty years of experience in researching comparative criminology, particularly international crime history, desistence studies, and longitudinal studies of offending. He holds a PhD in Social History, and began his academic career at Keele University, joining in 1995 as a junior lecturer and leaving as Professor of Criminology in 2011.
Prior to his appointment at XJTLU, Barry was professor of social justice and associate pro-vice chancellor (research and impact) for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Liverpool, where he encouraged interdisciplinary collaborations that he views as essential for innovative research:
“Thanks to the support of excellent professional services and a friendly and enthusiastic set of research leaders I was able to help bring about the production of cutting-edge, impactful research in various areas,” he said.
Professor Godfrey first visited XJTLU in April 2016 to attend a conference on heritage conservation in China. There he spoke about the conflict between the conservation of cultural heritage and urban development with reference to the City of Liverpool.
“I was very impressed by the Suzhou Industrial Park where XJTLU is located and its close proximity to the old city of Suzhou: the blend of old and new is fascinating,” he said. “I was also impressed by XJTLU as the largest international collaborative university in China, and its creation ten years ago that was an important milestone in the development of higher education here.”
Barry expressed his appreciation for the academic staff at the University and his plans to support their career development:
“We have wonderful academic staff here, and I would love to think that they will stay and develop their careers with us, receiving training and support in order to grow their expertise,” he said. “For early-career staff, I hope to support them to develop into world-renowned professors, entrepreneurs and research leaders of the future here at XJTLU.”
reporter: Danny Abbasi; photos by Xiaoxi Zhao