Going global
Imperial’s four new international hubs bring great minds together to tackle the world’s most complex problems.
A brilliant mathematician in Accra.
An environmentalist banker in Singapore.
A dazzling technologist in San Francisco.
A climate scientist in
Bengaluru.
An expert engineer in London.
Alone, they can achieve great things. But together? Anything is possible.
Which is where Imperial Global comes in: a global network creating spaces, structures and relationships to enable the world’s greatest minds to grapple with the greatest challenges.
“From pandemics to global warming and pollution, all these challenges cross borders,” says Michael McTernan, Director of the International Relations Office. “They can’t be tackled in isolation. And Imperial’s internationalism is one of our community’s greatest strengths: our academics work across 192 countries, and our staff, students and alumni come from all over the world. They are doing amazing things, and if we can leverage this network, then we can make a greater impact.”
A key strand of Imperial’s Science for Humanity strategy, Imperial Global currently has hubs in the USA, Singapore, India and Ghana. Each hub is different, focusing on that area’s particular strengths and needs. But all are strengthening the Imperial network, inviting in new collaborators, bringing Imperial’s work to the world, and more of the world to the university’s work. And every member of the Imperial community is invited.
Singapore
As an epidemiologist, Professor Azra Ghani, Academic Director for Imperial Global Singapore, has seen the power of the scientific network at first hand.
“During the early stages of the pandemic, we were able to share information in a very open way that was not achievable at the political level,” she says. Now, Imperial Global Singapore is harnessing that same desire to work together and make things better.
“At a time when some countries are starting to look inwards, it feels very different here in Singapore,” she says. “We want Imperial Global Singapore to look at the broader direction of travel. Absolutely, we’re doing the science and publishing the papers – all of which is, of course, incredibly strong in Singapore. But we’re also thinking: what does this science mean for the world? How can it benefit society?”
At a time when some countries are starting to look inwards, it feels very different here
Imperial Global Singapore opened in January 2024 in the beating heart of Singapore’s research and innovation ecosystem: the National Research Foundations Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE). And its first research programme, IN-CYPHER, is already up and running. A S$20 million collaboration with Nanyang Technological University (NTU), IN-CYPHER is focused on improving the security of medical devices and health data. The programme harnesses Imperial’s expertise in this area to establish Singapore as a global leader in health cybersecurity and AI for healthcare.
The collaboration with NTU Singapore will enable scientists to rapidly scale new breakthroughs and technology to societal benefit and commercialisation in Southeast Asia.
Glenn Neo is Director of Innovation and Capabilities Enablement at Synapxe, the national health tech agency that creates intelligent technological solutions to improve health, and is keenly aware of the security risk around medical devices that store vast amounts of personal data. “When I read the synopsis of what Imperial and NTU were trying to do, I was blown away,” he says. Following a meeting with Professor Anil Bharath, director of IN-CYPHER, and Professor Liu Yang of Nanyang Technological University, he joined IN-CYPHER’s board.
“I was very impressed by Professor Bharath’s level of conviction and aspiration in wanting to move the needle in this space,” says Neo. “It was so great to see that there is a clear thought leader, someone who is committed to the cause. Knowing that there is a real demand for this technology and that we need to figure out how to do this better, being involved and adding value was a no-brainer.”
“Scientists tend to have an automatic desire to work with the right people, regardless of where they are,” says Ghani. “Imperial Global builds a cultural understanding of different systems and different approaches, and that diversity of views also has a direct impact on the science. By bringing those different perspectives together, I think we can achieve so much more.”
Connect with Imperial Global Singapore on LinkedIn.
San Francisco, USA
Silicon Valley: a red-hot hub of innovation, commercial technology creation and scaling expertise. And the perfect place for Imperial Global USA to have its home, says Daniel Doulton (Engineering 1993, MBA 1993), CEO of Solaris Suborbital. “Imperial is such a powerhouse, particularly in terms of translating science into technologies that become cornerstone elements that transform markets and industries. For that, a presence in Silicon Valley is symbiotic and crucial.”
Since Imperial Global USA’s launch in November, Programme Director Cole Harry has been criss-crossing the Bay Area, meeting with industry, alumni, foundations, government bodies and other universities with the goal of identifying points of collaboration to develop partnerships. “There is massive interest in the work of Imperial researchers in Silicon Valley. In a short amount of time, we’ve been able to build connections to industry and academia that will form the basis of significant future partnerships,” he says.
A presence in Silicon Valley is symbiotic and crucial.
Indeed, Imperial Global USA has identified seven academic themes where the university excels and that dovetail with the Bay Area science ecosystem: human and artificial intelligence; advanced materials and cleantech; health technologies; space and satellite technologies; deep tech entrepreneurship; engineering biology for health and environment; and biotech. Each has their own Academic Theme Lead who will support networks and partnerships.
And some of those partnerships are already live: the new $150 million Rio Tinto Centre for Future Materials, led by Imperial and supported by UC Berkeley, aims to develop a sustainable model to produce materials that help the transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy; while the Children’s Hospital of Orange County, a paediatric healthcare system in California, is partnering with Imperial to drive AI in paediatric care.
Imperial Global USA will enhance Imperial’s collaboration with US academic and industrial partners, and support the growing US alumni network and student recruitment opportunities.
Imperial Global USA is also playing a pivotal role in supporting startups and spinouts founded by Imperial alumni, reaching new investors and potential partners. For example, the Enterprise Lab recently led an Imperial Global USA venture trek that helped health tech company OSSTEC boost its investment to £2 million.
And along with creating partnerships and research opportunities, Imperial Global USA is also serving as a hub for Imperial alumni in the Bay Area. “Being able to access Imperial expertise here is hugely informative for what I’m doing in my professional work,” says Doulton. “It means I hear about the latest cutting edge developments and can also connect with key people who are in those areas of science and technology.”
University ecosystems have allowed Silicon Valley’s extraordinary culture of innovation to flourish, Harry points out. “I think the role Imperial plays in London is very similar to the role that Stanford and UC Berkeley play in the Bay Area. Having stronger ties to this ecosystem will help Imperial and London develop scientific collaboration – a transatlantic partnership that will be crucial to solving the biggest issues that we face. Having a physical presence here is core to that.”
Connect with Imperial Global USA on LinkedIn.
Accra, Ghana
“Science is always done better when we are closer to where the question is: it helps us think better about the questions we are trying to answer and how we interpret our findings,” says Professor Majid Ezzati, Academic Director for Imperial Global Ghana. The hub already has a growing network of African partners in government, civil society, development and universities. Now, it’s aiming to foster the co-creation of research, education and innovation programmes which both solve the continent’s particular challenges and shed new light on scientific questions worldwide.
Questions like: why are some diseases such as sickle cell disease more prevalent in Africa than anywhere else, and how can people with the disease be treated? And how might the dust blown from the Sahara Desert that travels hundreds of kilometres affect the respiratory health of everyone who breathes it in? Ezzati is clear that the answers to these questions are best investigated locally, but sees other benefits too.
The hub in Ghana builds on a growing network of African partners in university, government and civil society to support the co-creation of research, education and innovation programme.
“For example, I’d love to see a programme around digital technologies that can bypass the bottlenecks in health improvement,” he says. “Imperial is extremely strong in this area. This could be a larger programme where medicine, engineering, natural sciences and businesses interact, to ask how Africa could become a place for device innovation in the same way that South Asia has become a frontrunner in vaccine manufacturing.”
And programmes like this are already happening. “During the pandemic, approximately 30 per cent of the African population had access to at least one dose of vaccine. In rich countries, on average 70 per cent of the population was fully vaccinated with multiple doses, and in some cases, spare doses of vaccines were actually discarded,” says Professor Faith Osier, Co-Director of the School of Convergence Science for Health & Technology. “This inequity in access to vaccines underpins the drive to manufacture vaccines locally in Africa.”
Osier is now working towards enabling vaccine manufacturing in multiple African countries, including Ghana. “The projects are African-led academic-industry partnerships with a bottom-up strategy for vaccine development, bringing together interdisciplinary skillsets to establish ground-breaking services on the continent. We strongly believe that health and technology can turn the challenges Africa faces into opportunities for businesses that can improve lives.”
She hopes that Imperial Global Ghana will help to coalesce like-minded partners around projects like these. “It will help to build a community of entrepreneurs and visionaries who see the incredible opportunities Africa offers in the health and technology innovation space. The African population is set to grow to 2.5 billion by 2050. Investing in businesses in Africa now is a no-brainer.”
Connect with Imperial Global Ghana on linkedin.
Bengaluru, India
Accelerators, startups, unicorns: India is buzzing with talent and innovation right now. And Professor Sanjeev Gupta and Dr Elena Dieckmann, Imperial Global India’s joint Academic Directors, can’t wait to start making the most of it.
“India is such an exciting country at the moment,” says Gupta. “And Imperial Global India is all about building partnerships with universities, businesses and companies throughout India to share knowledge and innovation between India and the UK. It’s an exciting opportunity for Imperial to learn about India – and India to learn about Imperial.”
Imperial Global India will drive high-impact science and technology programmes with academic, industrial and innovation partners.
Hear more from Imperial Global India's two Academic Co-Directors, Professor Sanjeev Gupta and Dr Elena Dieckmann.
Imperial has a long history of collaboration with Indian institutes and researchers, typified by its current partnerships with the Indian Institute of Science. The new hub in Bengaluru – opened in May and established as a liaison office – will focus on creating even more research collaborations in three areas: emerging technology, climate science and healthcare. This could include telecommunications, critical minerals, semiconductors, AI, quantum, biotechnology and advanced materials.
It will aim to strengthen existing industrial collaborations – such as Imperial’s current partnership with Tata Steel – and create new ones with industry and policy makers. And it will encourage a free flow of students and experts between the two countries, sharing ideas, talent, knowledge and experience for the good of humanity.
“I think it’s highly enriching for our students to actually go to India and experience the country at first hand,” says Dieckmann. “There is so much we can learn from India – for example, they have massively rolled out AI digitalisation across society. Indian researchers and entrepreneurs are phenomenal in translating ideas from the lab into the real world.”
Both Gupta and Dieckmann are looking forward to exploring how Imperial Global India’s research and partnerships will help to solve the big questions that resonate with their own specialisms. Gupta is an Earth sciences expert with a particular interest in sustainability, while Dieckmann’s expertise lies in biomaterials and the circular economy. Both have experience of working with Indian institutes and researchers.
“Imperial Global India will be a two-way knowledge bridge to share our experiences and expertise in tackling grand challenge problems and propelling industry forward for common good,” says Gupta. “We want to bring together all our different partnerships with institutions around the world to try and collectively tackle these major problems that the world faces."
Imperial is the magazine for the Imperial community. It delivers expert comment, insight and context from – and on – Imperial's engineers, mathematicians, scientists, medics, coders and leaders, as well as stories about student life and alumni experiences.
This story was published originally in Imperial 58/Summer 2025.
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