Professor Christopher Goldring joins XJTLU as new VPAA

Professor Christopher Goldring officially joined Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) as Vice-President of Academic Affairs (VPAA) on 1 November.

However, Professor Goldring's connection with the University began long before XJTLU even existed. While he was still a PhD student, Professor Goldring spent five months studying and working at Xi’an Medical University, China. The institution later merged with Xi’an Jiaotong University, one of XJTLU’s parent institutions, and became the Xi’an Jiaotong University Health Science Center.

Professor Christopher Goldring

Professor Goldring subsequently spent 27 years at the University of Liverpool (UoL), XJTLU’s other parent university, in various roles from lecturing to leadership. His most recent role was Deputy Executive Dean of the Institute for Systems, Molecular, and Integrative Biology.

During his time at UoL, Professor Goldring witnessed the formation and growth of XJTLU from the beginning. He also taught many XJTLU 2+2 students, who spend their first two years at XJTLU and finish their final two years at UoL.

His engagement with XJTLU has deepened since. In 2023, he came to Suzhou to establish the XJTLU-UoL Joint Centre for Pharmacology and Therapeutics.

“Over the years, I have taken an ever-increasing role in looking after the students, and then helping establish the joint centre, and looking for opportunities that may arise both for Liverpool and XJTLU,” he says.

Health is wealth

Professor Goldring says Suzhou, with its thriving biosciences sector, is an exciting place to be. According to the Jiangsu Provincial Tax Service, in 2025 the output value of Suzhou’s biomedicine and health cluster exceeded 250 billion RMB. As of 2026, Suzhou Industrial Park, where XJTLU is located, has attracted more than 2,000 biomedicine-related companies.

“Many aspects of the human experience are related to our health,” he explains. “If we as universities can work responsibly and ethically with outside industrial sponsors and partners in a shared endeavour, we are likely to get to the point of developing solutions, or at least ameliorations, to some of the biggest health crises that we have.”

He sums up what he hopes to bring to the role in four words: Quality, Scouseness, Translation, and Internationalisation.

Quality of education is more important than ever. “Competition is always intense amongst such international, independent universities within a big society like China,” he says. “So, it is about making sure that the quality of our teaching is maintained in an environment where everything is changing.”

“Scouseness”, he explains, relates to what he brings from Liverpool – Scouse is the dialect and accent associated with the city – to strengthen the connection between the two universities and bring together researchers and students from both institutions.

Professor Goldring describes translation as a question of how we translate great research into impact in society at large, for human benefit.

The final word, internationalisation, is “about making sure we are as international in our outlook as possible. I will be looking to help recruit more academics from more countries around the world; to carry on recruiting more students from around the world; and to engage with research partnerships and collaborations worldwide.”

Asked what excites him most about joining XJTLU, he says: “The chance to help shape the next 10 years of our institution.” XJTLU, now 20 years old, has come a long way, he says. “The University is fully grown up and making its way in the world.”

By Patricia Pieterse
Edited by Vionna Fiducia Theja