UK universities are increasingly collaborating with Chinese partners on research into artificial intelligence amid a recognition that ¡°pressing global challenges¡± cannot be solved without the Eastern powerhouse.

A quarter (24 per cent) of the UK¡¯s artificial intelligence research collaborations are with China, up from 18 per cent in 2018, researchers at the British Council have found.

Despite some ¡°well-documented challenges¡± in academia, a new report, entitled The Chinese Research Landscape, says there is a growing recognition of the need for Chinese involvement, but a lack of knowledge and expertise within the UK on China¡¯s research landscape makes responsible engagement more difficult.

Collaboration with Chinese universities played an increasingly substantial role across four of the UK¡¯s five critical technologies ¨C AI, engineering biology, future telecommunications and semiconductors ¨C but not quantum technologies.

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The British Council said these trends could reverse in the coming years to reflect the?¡°current evolving geopolitical relationship¡±, with the re-election of Donald Trump?further complicating the global research landscape?in ways that will impact both the UK and China.

If the UK plans on being a world leader in AI, research collaboration with China may be integral, according to the report.

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Despite the two countries becoming ¡°increasingly entwined¡±, researchers found that AI is also an?area of strategic competition between the UK and China,?along with semiconductors and quantum technologies.

¡°Given the strength of UK-China collaborative research, and China¡¯s research power generally, if strategic competition reconfigures collaborative relationships away from China across a variety of topics, there may be a trade-off in research?quality,¡± the authors write.

Areas of mutual interest include clean energy, environmental resilience and global health and pandemics.

Over the past decade?there has been a strategic narrowing of China¡¯s priorities, according to the report, with its current five-year plan introducing a focus on new-generation AI, quantum information and integrated circuits, among others.

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But the British Council said China¡¯s ability to make progress in fields such these will be tied to overcoming ¡°bottlenecks¡± in science and technology, such as the supply of semiconductors?that are crucial for AI.

Maddalaine Ansell, director of education at the British Council, said: ¡°The global reputation of UK universities for research and innovation attracts other countries to work with the UK.

¡°As international collaboration improves the quality and impact of research, this in turn helps us to maintain our reputation. China has increasingly become a key partner for UK research and it is important that we continue to collaborate with the world¡¯s second largest funder of research.¡±

AI is currently the ninth greatest individual topic for UK-China collaboration.

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Between 2019 and 2024, the report found that total UK-China research collaboration was most heavily concentrated in engineering ¨C responsible for 45,510 publications over this period.

This was followed by 30,590 publications in computer science, and was more than 14 times the number of joint publications in economics, econometrics and finance.

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patrick.jack@timeshighereducation.com