In mid-March of 2018, Hong Kong Polytechnic University hosted the International Symposium on the Protection of Eurasia Cultural Heritage. The Symposium was supported by Eurasia Pacific Uninet (EPU), a network founded in 2000. Its members are leading universities from Austria, the Russian Federation, China, the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, the Republic of Korea, Mongolia, India, Taiwan, as well as Central Asian states.

The goals of Eurasia-Pacific Uninet are to develop multifaceted international scientific and academic cooperation, to conduct joint research projects and conferences and to promote interdisciplinary scientific exchange between its member institutions. With its headquarters in Vienna, the network is strongly supported by the Austrian Federal Ministry for Science and Research (BMWF) and the Austrian Agency for International Cooperation in Education and Research (OeAD-GmbH).

As a member of EPU since 2004, Novosibirsk State University has been participating in student and faculty exchange programmes with Austrian Universities, in EPU scientific conferences and joint project sessions in Beijing (2008), Shanghai (2009, 2012), Nanking (2010), Seoul (2015) and Vienna (2015). In September 2017, the NSU Institute for Humanities hosted the first international conference “Protection of Cultural Heritage in Times of Migration”, organized in cooperation with Vienna University and Confucius Institute.

Deputy Director of the Institute for Humanities Professor Sergei Filippov, Head of the Oriental Department Professor Elena Voytishek and a number of researchers from Russia, Austria, China, Hong Kong and Macao focused on protection of Eurasian cultural heritage. They also analyzed existing approaches to cultural, historical, social and political studies in Eastern and Western scientific communities, particularly in times of post-colonial awareness. The decoration of the event was the exhibition of etchings and printings by Barbara Salaun (Austria) devoted to the reconstruction of Yuanmingyuan park in Beijing destroyed during the Opium Wars in the 19th century.

The conference organizers, Dean of the Humanities Department of Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Professor Chu Hunglam, Director of Confucius Institute in Hong Kong, Professor Jia Jinhua and Director of Confucius Institute in Vienna, Professor Richard Trappl , discussed prospects of cooperation between NSU and EPU member universities in Vienna and Hong Kong. The international collaboration will embrace joint conferences, workshops, exhibitions, faculty and student exchange, as well as development of joint curricula and double-degree programmes.

Photos by prof. Chu Hunglam and prof. Alfred Gerstl