Universitas Gadjah Mada together with the Bandung Institute of Technology, Bogor Agricultural Institute, University of Warwick, Coventry University, and the University of Nottingham collaborated to form the United Kingdom-Indonesia Consortium for Interdisciplinary Sciences (UKICIS).
This consortium aims to build global resilience against the pandemic. Representatives from the six universities signed a memorandum of understanding at the Indonesia-UK Interdisciplinary Sciences Forum on Thursday (25/2).
“UKICIS was established last August 2020. I am so proud to be a part of UKICIS founders,” the UGM Chancellor Prof. Ir. Panut Mulyono explained.
UKICIS has a role in responding and overcoming crucial issues faced by the UK, Indonesia, and worldwide, including the current Covid-19 pandemic. A forum attended by UKICIS councils and the Indonesian Embassy in the UK extensively discussed international and critical issues, as in today, a pandemic update regarding a new variant of Covid-19 and its vaccine programs.
Several experts from Indonesia and the UK jointly developed good practices and challenges through three theme aspects. Those are, first, public awareness of mutations and variants of the COVID-19 virus, secondly, strengthening track and trace policies to prevent more severe transmission of new virus variants, and lastly, the efficacy of vaccines against new virus variants.
One of the experts who attended the forum was UGM professor of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences, Prof. Kuwat Triyana. Other UGM representatives and the Chancellor had supported this effort by signing an understanding memorandum and launching the UKICIS website. Furthermore, it was also considered an effort to strengthen collaboration between Indonesia and the UK since both parties have built a pretty solid partnership since a long time ago. This collaboration agreement is later transformed into real beneficial actions and contributions.
“UKICIS establishment will generate a better collaboration between both parties. At the same time, the Indonesian diaspora network, or community who work in universities in the UK, will give their total support for this good intention even more,” the Chancellor added.
