Professor Ulf Andersson selected for Cheney Fellowship

Following an extensive and rigorous internal selection process, Professor Ulf Andersson has been successful in being designated a Cheney Fellow (2024/2025).

Prof. Andersson will be hosted by Dr. Ziko Konwar, Departmental Director of Internationalization (International Business Department), and the research team comprises of Dr. Konwar, Prof. Yingqi Wei and Professor Frank McDonald (LUBS), Dr. Christopher Hassall (Faculty of Biological Sciences) and Prof. George Holmes (School of Earth and Environment).

Professor Ulf Andersson is the first Cheney Fellow to be hosted in LUBS. He will come to Leeds under a visiting academic arrangement during a 2-year period, and develop research funded by the Cheney Fellowship and co-funded by Faculty IRC Fund. The research, which will address the role of global strategy of multinational enterprises (MNEs) in biodiversity loss (e.g., linkages between bioprospecting, rate of species/habitat extinction and MNE global innovation) will tackle a grand challenge question, utilizing inter-disciplinary research expertise and breaking disciplinary silos to create new knowledge. It also dovetails with LUBS’s research strategy that emphasizes on interdisciplinary research contributions to social and environmental sustainability.

The Cheney Fellowship Scheme enables world-leading researchers to spend a period of time at Leeds, building novel collaborations with University academics and exploring new ideas. Over the past ten years, the programme has established fruitful and high-impact research partnerships in areas such as water security, molecular biology, medicine and materials science. The programme has been made possible through a $4 million gift from Bacteriology and Biochemistry graduate Peter Cheney and his wife Susan.