2019年CRI Belt and Road research consortium launched at Lancaster University

 

The Lancaster University Belt and Road Initiative Research Consortium, known as LUBRIC, has been launched in the United Kingdom.

LUBRIC is the first Belt and Road research institute of its kind in the United Kingdom, and also the first Belt and Road-oriented academic organization led by a UK-based Confucius Institute.

The consortium builds on Lancaster University's position as one of the first British universities to engage in academic cooperation with China.

Professor Mark Smith, the vice-chancellor of Lancaster University, spoke¹ about the links between China and the university.

"Today, the launch of the Lancaster University Belt and Road Initiative Research Consortium is one of those developments that means the relationship continues to get deeper and ever richer. We know that this place into the overall national policy of China with its BRI as a global development, and you can already see the profound effects that the initiative is having in generating new links of China across the world. And the launch of LUBRIC puts us in a strong position to help understand legal research into the development of BRI."

During the inauguration² ceremony, Yang Xiaokun, a counsellor at China's embassy in the UK, spoke about the role LUBRIC can play in future bilateral³ cooperation.

"First, LUBRIC could become a world leading research base on the BRI. Secondly⁴, LUBRIC should become a platform for China-UK cooperation. Third, LUBRIC could facilitate the development of the Confucius Institute."

LUBRIC plans to establish a global interdisciplinary research hub that focuses on challenges emerging from the regions covered by the Belt and Road Initiative.

The research consortium has several unique advantages, as Zeng Jinghan, the head of the consortium, explains.

"We are trying to build an interdisciplinary team to make us an interdisciplinary hub for leading research focusing on BRI. We want to bring together academic experts, policy-makers, practitioners⁵ and government officials come together to generate knowledge and provide actionable solutions to deal with BRI."

All of the members of the consortium have undertaken research relevant to the Belt and Road, and have taken part in or organized seminars about the initiative.

A three-day symposium⁶, which will conclude on June 8, was held at the university to discuss issues associated with the Belt and Road Initiative.

Covering topics ranging from diplomacy⁷ and culture to environment and law, it was attended by more than 30 scholars from the UK, China, and elsewhere in the world.

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 inauguration   

n.开幕、就职典礼

参考例句：

• The inauguration of a President of the United States takes place on January 20.美国总统的就职典礼于一月二十日举行。
• Three celebrated tenors sang at the president's inauguration.3位著名的男高音歌手在总统就职仪式上演唱。

3 bilateral   

adj.双方的，两边的，两侧的

参考例句：

• They have been negotiating a bilateral trade deal.他们一直在商谈一项双边贸易协定。
• There was a wide gap between the views of the two statesmen on the bilateral cooperation.对双方合作的问题，两位政治家各自所持的看法差距甚大。

4 secondly   

adv.第二，其次

参考例句：

• Secondly,use your own head and present your point of view.第二，动脑筋提出自己的见解。
• Secondly it is necessary to define the applied load.其次，需要确定所作用的载荷。

5 practitioners   

n.习艺者，实习者( practitioner的名词复数 )；从业者（尤指医师）

参考例句：

• one of the greatest practitioners of science fiction 最了不起的科幻小说家之一
• The technique is experimental, but the list of its practitioners is growing. 这种技术是试验性的，但是采用它的人正在增加。 来自辞典例句

6 symposium   

n.讨论会，专题报告会；专题论文集

参考例句：

• What have you learned from the symposium?你参加了这次科学讨论会有什么体会？
• The specialists and scholars present at the symposium come from all corners of the country.出席研讨会的专家学者们来自全国各地。

7 diplomacy   

n.外交；外交手腕，交际手腕

参考例句：

• The talks have now gone into a stage of quiet diplomacy.会谈现在已经进入了“温和外交”阶段。
• This was done through the skill in diplomacy. 这是通过外交手腕才做到的。