Chinese and Australian higher education institutions are collaborating on programs as part of a flagship research cooperation project between the two countries, Li Yingxue reports.

The University of Sydney was recently awarded A$940,000 ($655,682) in federal government funds to build a joint research center in conjunction with Tianjin University named the Centre for Energy Informatics and Demand Response Technologies.

This is part of the Australia-China Science and Research Fund Joint Research Centres, which is a flagship cooperation project between Australia and China.

In each three-year round of funding, the project finances no more than six research centers.

Speaking about the program, Duncan Ivison, deputy vice-chancellor for research at the University of Sydney, says: "China is a research powerhouse and is responsible for 20 percent of global academic research output.

"Our research partnerships and collaborations with Chinese institutions produce over 1,000 joint scientific articles each year, dedicated to solving scientific research problems worldwide."

Besides the University of Sydney and Tianjin University, the center has multiple partners including the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology University and Energy Australia along with Tsinghua University and the State Grid Corporation of China.