From left to right: Elizabeth MacRae (CARES’ Chief Operating Officer), Dr Vibhuti Patel, Prof Grant Stewart, Lord Chris Smith, Prof Epaminondas Mastorakos (CARES’ Director of Industrial Relations), Prof Jean Abraham and Prof Henriëtte Hendriks (CARES’ Director of Education and Skills).
CARES was honoured to welcome Lord Chris Smith, Chancellor of the University of Cambridge, to our offices and lab for the first time. He was joined by Prof Jean Abraham (Professor of Precision Breast Cancer Medicine and an Honorary Consultant in Medical Oncology, Cambridge), Prof Grant Stewart (Professor of Surgical Oncology at the University of Cambridge), and Dr Vibhuti Patel (Head of Development – Southeast Asia & Australasia, Development and Alumni Relations), who were in Singapore attending a Global Cambridge event.
The visit provided a valuable opportunity to showcase CARES’ role within Singapore’s research ecosystem, particularly under the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme, where CARES connects experts in Cambridge with those in Singapore to work on global problems. The delegation commended CREATE as a highly effective model for attracting talent, fostering collaboration, and advancing impactful research.
CARES broadly presented our four major research programmes: Centre for Lifelong Learning
and Individualised Cognition (CLIC), Health-driven design for cities (HD4), Hydrogen and Ammonia Combustion Singapore (HYCOMBS) and Sustainable Manufacture of Molecules and Materials in Singapore (SM3). The presentations were tailored to the delegation’s diverse backgrounds, providing accessible insights into both the scientific foundations and real-world relevance of the work.
The CLIC showcase was joined by Prof Annabel Shen-Hsing Chen (Principal Investigator and Director) and Prof Victoria Leong (Principal Investigator and Deputy Director). Delegates also participated in tasks used in CLIC’s participant studies, gaining first-hand experience of the methodologies and sparking lively discussion around the applications and impact of the work in Singapore.
Top left: Prof Henriëtte Hendriks presenting an overview of CLIC. Top right and bottom left: Lord Chris Smith and Prof Jean Abraham trying out a game for Structure Learning used in CLIC’s participant studies. Bottom right: Prof Annabel Chen interacting with the delegates.
The delegation was exposed to the full breadth of CARES’ research which spans from human health and cognition to decarbonisation and sustainable chemical manufacturing. Prof Epaminondas Mastorakos provided a high-level overview of HYCOMBS, which was complemented by informal poster presentations over lunch showcasing ongoing work in HYCOMBS as well as SM3, and HD4.
Poster presentations from SM3 (left), HYCOMBS (middle) and HD4 (right) during lunch.
Lord Chris Smith also visited the CARES lab to view a demonstration of the combustion rig, offering a closer look at the experimental capabilities used in the HYCOMBS project.
Lord Chris Smith visits the CARES lab.
This visit marks an important moment for CARES, reinforcing our role as the University of Cambridge’s research platform in Singapore and positioning us as a key player in the UK-SG research landscape.
CLIC, HD4, HYCOMBS and SM3 are supported by the National Research Foundation, Prime Minister’s Office, Singapore under its Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise (CREATE) programme.
