ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal Paid Official Visits in China

ITU Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal held meetings at Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University as part of his visit to China and attended the 19th Pujiang Innovation Forum.

The first stop of Rector Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal’s visit to China on 11–13 September 2026 was Fudan University, one of China’s most prestigious research universities and ranked among the world’s top 50 in international university rankings.

During the meeting, the parties discussed innovative areas of collaboration that would bring together ITU’s academic experience and research capabilities with Fudan University’s strengths. Prof. Dr. Mandal noted that one of the key topics highlighted in the discussions was AI-enabled materials science and technologies. He stated that they talked about sharing knowledge and experience between the work carried out at ITU and similar research at Fudan University, developing new initiatives that would bring researchers together, and exploring opportunities to work jointly across different research areas. He added that they also discussed establishing a joint thematic academic unit that would combine the academic capabilities of Fudan University and ITU with the capacity of industry. He emphasized that they exchanged views on a structure that would help transform knowledge generated in basic science into technology, and technology into engineering solutions.

Our Rector also visited Fudan University’s historic sites and received information about the university’s heritage and academic legacy. In addition, he met with Turkish researchers at Fudan University who are pursuing graduate studies and conducting postdoctoral research.

The second stop of his visit to China was Shanghai Jiao Tong University, one of the country’s long-established research universities and ranked among the world’s top 50. Here, our Rector met with academic representatives focusing on research and education. The meeting addressed the steps needed to put into practice the areas agreed upon in the Memorandum of Understanding signed last July. The aim was to advance the framework established by the MoU into a stronger model of collaboration that brings together education, research, technology development, and highly qualified human capital.

Prof. Dr. Mandal emphasized that ITU’s engineering and technology development expertise can be brought together with Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s research capacity in the fields of “AI-Assisted Materials Science” and “Materials Technologies for AI Systems.”

The meeting also covered initiatives that would bring together researchers from both universities in these fields, as well as new research topics that could be jointly developed in aviation and space technologies. They discussed strengthening the exchange of knowledge and human capital between the two universities through models ranging from joint degree programs and student exchanges to short-term summer and winter schools. Another point of focus was establishing joint project calls that would bring together teams from both universities around shared objectives.

Click to read Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s news about the meeting: https://news.sjtu.edu.cn/jdyw/20260915/225923.html

As part of his visit to China, Prof. Dr. Mandal also attended the 19th Pujiang Innovation Forum held in Shanghai. During the opening program, he took part alongside Yin Hejun, Minister of Science and Technology of the People’s Republic of China, and Dr. Bonginkosi Blade Nzimande, Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation of South Africa, this year’s Country of Honor at the Forum. In his opening address, he focused on the question: “How do we turn the ideas we co-create into implementation, and implementation into impact?” He highlighted the importance of transforming the relationships among universities, research institutions, and industry into long-term collaboration models focused on shared challenges. He pointed to ITU’s permanent research platforms developed together with its partners in China as examples of this approach: international joint laboratories in areas ranging from smart structures and control systems to flexible electronics, maritime decarbonization, carbon neutrality, and smart small space systems.

Our Rector also attended the second day of the Forum, where different dimensions of the transformation taking place in science and technology were discussed. As part of the Science and Technology Policy Thematic Forum, he joined the roundtable titled “Pursuing the Integrated Development of Education, Science and Technology and Talent: Practices and Reforms.” At the “Innovation Culture Forum,” he delivered a keynote address titled “Innovating the Future – Building a Responsible and Impact-Oriented Future.”

During his visit to China, Prof. Dr. Hasan Mandal also met with Turkish students, including ITU students, and ITU alumni. He conducted an extensive interview with Zhou Shaodan from the Shanghai Institute for Science of Science (SISS).