Peking University, November 20, 2025: Professor Sir Jim McDonald GBE was conferred the Chinese Government Friendship Award at a ceremony held at the PKU Yingjie Overseas Exchange Center on November 10. The award recognizes his decades of pivotal contributions as a bridge between the United Kingdom and China.

As the former President of the Royal Academy of Engineering and Principal of the University of Strathclyde, Sir Jim has been instrumental in building substantive frameworks for cooperation. In 2020, he championed the establishment of the UK-China Joint Steering Committee on Engineering Cooperation. He also served as an International Economic Advisor to Shandong Province, guiding its economic development. These contributions were crowned by his 2023 election as a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, a distinction that has significantly reinforced his influential role in advancing Sino-British collaboration in science, technology, and education.

The ceremony was attended by PKU President Gong Qihuang and Shi Mainan, Deputy Director General of the Department of Service for Foreign Experts of the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. Both highlighted Sir Jim’s long-standing dedication. President Gong praised him as “a crucial bridge in Sino-British higher education collaboration” and reaffirmed PKU’s dedication to expanding collaboration with the University of Strathclyde in core areas in solving global challenges.

In his address, Sir Jim expressed deep gratitude and pledged to deepen UK-China cooperation in sci-tech innovation and youth talent development by helping build an open, inclusive, and sustainable global research ecosystem.

Prior to the ceremony, Sir Jim delivered an academic report titled “Sustainable Development and Future Energy Innovation”. Grounded in his hands-on research, he provided a compelling analysis of cutting-edge developments in the green energy sector from both the UK and the international stage.

Written by: Han Yuge
Edited by: Sean Tan, Chen Shizhuo
Source: PKU News (Chinese)