Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance
A strategic partnership between world-leading research institutions.
The Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance (A-NA) builds on years of collaboration in research and education between the University of Adelaide (UoA) and the University of Nottingham (UoN).
The Alliance sees our long-standing friendship develop into a strategic global partnership, deepening our commitment to work together to address the challenges shared by Australia and the UK and our partners across the world.
The Alliance draws on the capabilities of each university and areas of our shared expertise. We will develop the next generation of students with a truly global mindset. Our alliance will increase the impact of our research at local, regional and national levels and further opportunities for wider international collaborations.
Vice-Chancellors announce Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance
UoN and UoA formally launched the alliance on 18 November 2022.
Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance (A-NA) Research Seed Fund: apply now
The Adelaide-Nottingham Alliance (A-NA) Research Seed Fund supports a core aim of our partnership: to encourage and develop high-quality research collaborations between our universities.
The A-NA Research Seed Fund is inviting proposals for research collaborations that align to one of the alliance’s strategic themes: Global Food Systems, Intelligent Health, and Sustainable Futures.
It is expected that funded projects will generate high-quality outputs and go on to deepen engagement between Adelaide and Nottingham.
Applicants should discuss their intended proposals with the relevant theme lead at their institution prior to submission. Theme leads are there to assist.
The fund opens for applications at midnight UK time (GMT) on Monday 20 March 2023 and will close at midnight UK time (BST) on Monday 10 April 2023. Complete applications must be received by the deadline. No extensions will be granted.
Our research themes
Adelaide and Nottingham each have world-leading strengths in food, health and sustainability research. These areas will provide a strategic focus as we deepen and broaden collaboration between our universities.
Each theme draws on the unique research ecosystem resulting from the combined capabilities and infrastructure across the two universities and underlines our commitment to bring together transdisciplinary teams to tackle complex global challenges and train the research leaders of tomorrow.
Global Food Systems
As the world’s population grows, it is more important than ever we take a multi-disciplinary approach to understanding and developing food production systems. Through our research in agriculture, food science, advanced technologies and data science, humanities and social sciences, Global Food Systems will contribute to the grand challenge of providing healthy food in a constantly changing environment.
UK lead
Professor Ian Fisk
School of Biosciences
Australia lead
Associate Professor Chris Ford
School of Agriculture, Food and Wine
Sustainable Futures
The world faces complex environmental, social and economic challenges. By working in partnership to deliver sustainable solutions, we will help societies in Australia, the UK and beyond to adapt and flourish. Sustainable Futures will explore:
- planetary health and biodiversity restoration
- sustainable production and consumption through clean technologies
- resilient, healthy and sustainable communities, buildings and infrastructures
- sustainable governance and decision-making
UK lead
Dr Eleanor Binner
Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering
Australia lead
Professor Veronica Soebarto
School of Architecture and Civil Engineering
Intelligent Health
Innovative technologies and intelligent, data-driven social strategies will shape the future of healthcare. Our researchers explore how transformational biotechnologies and tools, better understanding of health systems and inclusive, evidence-informed socio-health policies will improve outcomes. Our multi-disciplinary, intelligence-informed approach will help make health systems more agile, tailoring care for the needs of individual patients while improving wellbeing for communities at a national and global scale.
UK lead
Dr Sally Eldeghaidy
School of Biosciences
Australia lead
Professor Amanda Page
School of Biomedicine
Get in touch
Our theme leads engage colleagues from a broad range of disciplines across UoA and UoN, and build relationships with industry and other stakeholders to identify and respond to opportunities to deepen the impact of our innovations.
Our international Doctoral Training Partnership
Since 2015 we have delivered an International Doctoral Training Partnership (Joint PhD award program), enabling doctoral students to undertake a research degree at both universities at the same time. The researchers spend at least a year in each location, benefitting from the expertise of world-leading supervisors and access to specialist research facilities at both UoN and UoA.
This flagship programme initially bridged UoN’s School of Biosciences and UoA’s School of Agriculture, Food and Wine. Today it spans all disciplines with students enrolled in areas including Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Medicine, Sociology, Education and Mathematics. Co-authored publications have grown year on year, with 192 published in the past three years in prestigious journals such as Science, Nature and The Lancet.
"Academically it’s an interesting opportunity to be able to work in two different countries, in two different labs. It also means you create a far broader network than you would when staying in one place and a jointly awarded degree is definitely a plus for finding future employment." Cindy Callens, Joint PhD Student
"Both universities have facilities that I can only access on their campuses, such as X-ray Computed Tomography at Sutton Bonington (Nottingham) and the Plant Accelerator here at Waite (Adelaide)."
Olivia Cousins, Graduate Joint PhD Student
Discover more on our PhD programmes (programs)
“We are excited to be part of this global approach”
UoN and UoA are working together to address the world’s great challenges, including how to secure sustainable, nutritious food supplies in the face of climate change and population pressures.
Our researchers share expertise on improving the quality of sustainable, healthy, plant-based food. An AU$2.5m facility at the UoA is expanding a partnership with the UoN-based International Flavour Research Centre and is supported by a major investment by v2food, a global leader in plant-based alternatives to meat.
Professor of Food Chemistry and academic lead for the International Flavour Research Centre, Ian Fisk added: “Due to the globally interconnected nature of our food supply chain, we need to work together to identify sustainable alternatives in our diet to ensure a safe, reliable supply of high-quality nutritional foods that consumers enjoy.”