Vietnam is a Newton Fund partner country. Newton Fund Vietnam was launched in 2015.
Vietnam’s development over the past 30 years has been remarkable. Economic and political reforms under Đổi Mới, launched in 1986, have spurred rapid economic growth, transforming what was then one of the world’s poorest nations into a lower middle-income country.
Between 2002 and 2018, GDP per capita increased by 2.7 times, reaching over US$2,700 in 2019, and more than 45 million people were lifted out of poverty. Poverty rates declined sharply from over 70 percent to below 6 percent. The vast majority of Vietnam’s remaining poor – 86 percent –are ethnic minorities. [Source: World Bank]
Priorities for Vietnam
Communicating in a disaster
From 2005 to 2014, Vietnam was hit by 649 natural disasters destroying almost half a million homes and causing 10,000 casualties annually. Although the country has devoted efforts to reducing the impact of floods, landslides, tornados and droughts, technical and scientific solutions are still a...
Local funding partners
Each Newton Fund partnership is unique. UK and international partners work together to devise and deliver Newton Fund programmes.
Funding opportunities
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Associate Professor Van Pham Dang Tri – Vice Dean, College of Environment and Natural Resources, Can Tho University:
The greatest dream in my research career is to turn my research into reality to help people have a better life.
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Caption: Associate Professor Van Pham Dang Tri – Vice Dean, College of Environment and Natural Resources, Can Tho University
Van Pham Dang Tri talking in office, interspersed with footage of him working in the field, carrying out research on a boat.
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Associate Professor Le Thi Luyen – Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, VNU:
As a university lecturer my greatest dream is to provide the next generation with professional capacity but also high research capability so that they can improve public health services.
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Caption: Associate Professor Le Thi Luyen – Senior Lecturer, School of Medicine and Pharmacy, VNU
Le Thi Luyen talking in office, interspersed with footage of her teaching and talking to students in a laboratory.
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Ms Le Thi Ho Vi, PhD student, University of Nottingham:
My greatest dream is to build a team of scientists and architects to carry out research for the benefit of the community.
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Caption: Ms Le Thi Ho Vi, PhD student, University of Nottingham
Le Thi Ho Vi talking in office, interspersed with footage of her working with others.
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Van Pham Dang Tri:
I was born and raised in the Mekong Delta, a vast labyrinth of rivers and swamps. During the historic flood in 2000 I had the opportunity to collaborate with international experts to survey floods in Dong Thap and An Giang provinces. During this, I saw so clearly the challenges and difficulties that local residents in the flood zone had to cope with.
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Caption: Project – “The resilience and sustainability of the Mekong Delta to changes in water and sediment fluxes (Rameses)”
Van Pham Dang Tri talking in office, interspersed with footage of people swimming and playing in the Mekong Delta, as well as footage of Van Pham Dang Tri working with others in an office and by the river.
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Van Pham Dang Tri:
Under the project a detailed mathematical model will be developed based on geomorphological data collected. Using the mathematical model factors leading to landform changes will be identified and analyzed. This will help local authorities gain a more objective and broader view of the current situation and difficulties in the region.
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Van Pham Dang Tri talking in office, working with colleagues in the office and on a boat.
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Van Pham Dang Tri:
Participating in this project, we have the opportunity to work with the world's leading experts. Through Newton Fund we have a broader and larger funding resource for our research. Our research requires a large amount of money, especially for field trips. Through the fund we have the opportunity to conduct the research at a more holistic level and gather a better database to investigate problems.
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Van Pham Dang Tri talking in office, reading a Newton Fund brochure, and carrying out research on a boat.
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Le Thi Luyen
Vietnam is in the top 30 countries in the world affected by tuberculosis and among the countries with the highest ratio of patients with multi drug resistance in the world. As a trained specialist in tuberculosis, I understand the suffering of tuberculosis patients, especially the severely affected and those with recurring symptoms. I also understand the burden on the doctors who specialize in tuberculosis.
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Caption: Project – “Understanding pharmacokinetic-pharmacodynamic determinants of outcome to inform dose optimisation for treatment failure and relapse non-MDR pulmonary tuberculosis patients”
Le Thi Luyen talking and working in an office and laboratory. Tuberculosis patients receiving medical treatment.
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Le Thi Luyen
This is the motivation for me to implement the project, which is a collaboration between the School of Medicine and Pharmacy (Vietnam National University Hanoi) and the Liverpool school of Tropical Medicine. Thanks to the project, I have the opportunity to build a network of researchers working together to develop analytical pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics studies as well as clinical studies.
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Le Thi Luyen and colleagues working in the laboratory. A pile of Newton Fund publications lay forgotten on a table.
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Le Thi Luyen
With the efforts of the Vietnam and the UK research teams we believe that this study, if successful, will achieve a more effective TB treatment regimens. This research is still ongoing. Initial analysis of the results have shown that bacteria in recurrent patients has a much higher drug resistance than those that are isolated from new TB patients.
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Le Thi Luyen talking and working in an office and laboratory. Tuberculosis patients receiving medical treatment.
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Le Thi Luyen
What I appreciate most from this Newton fund project is the opportunity it brings to young researchers to work with UK scientists and to be involved in and learned from world class research
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Le Thi Luyen talking and working in an office and laboratory.
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Le Thi Ho Vi
As a lecturer and an architect I am proud of and passionate about my work. I admire beautiful and modern facilities so I always want to contribute to building similar ones. With the increase of severe climate change and the emergence of new trends in smart city building, more attention should be paid to environmental architecture to ensure future development needs are met.
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Caption: Project – “Investigating the influence of design parameters on the indoor environmental quality of primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam”.
Le Thi Ho Vi talking in an office. Footage of famous architecture in London, including Big Ben and the London Eye. Pigeons eating birdseed in a park.
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Le Thi Ho Vi
My research project is called “Investigating the influence of design parameters on the indoor Environmental Quality of primary schools in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam”. During my studying and researching, I received scholarships from the 911 Programme, the University of Nottingham and the Newton Fund. So far, what I am most proud of as the mother of a little son is that my research will help develop guidance to improve the environment in schools while contributing to reduce the energy spent to cool buildings.
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Le Thi Ho Vi looks wistfully out of a window while she sits on the bus. The blur of an unknown street rushes by in the background. Le Thi Ho Vi admires a large town square with impressive fountains at its centre. Footage of the University of Nottingham grounds. Le Thi Ho Vi sits at a desk and flips idly through a book she has pulled from the shelf in front of her. On the same shelf, a photo of a child, presumably her own, looks on. Le Thi Ho Vi talks to the camera. Footage of a grassy square next to a grand-looking building.
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Le Thi Ho Vi
The prestige of the Newton Fund helped attract more attention and more collaboration opportunities to my project. Nottingham is a peaceful city suitable for study and research The University of Nottingham is an outstanding example of a sustainable design with many labs, libraries, housing etc. that are certified by LEED and BREEAM. The results of my nearly finished research have been presented at international conferences in Los Angeles, Bologna and Edinburgh.
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Le Thi Ho Vi works with colleagues. Footage of Nottingham.
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Van Pham Dang Tri
In my dream, the Mekong Delta will be a prosperous and sustainably developed region regardless of climate changes or other future changes to water resource.
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Van Pham Dang Tri talking in office, working with colleagues in the office and on a boat.
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Le Thi Luyen
Through this large-scale medical research project I hope to help medical students and young researchers acquire world class skills in both clinical and laboratory research.
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Le Thi Luyen and colleagues working in the laboratory. Le Thi Luyen reading a Newton Fund publication.
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Le Thi Ho Vi
With this and other studies in the future, I look forward to assisting architects as well as policymakers in creating beautiful, sustainable and healthy living environments.
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Le Thi Ho Vi working with colleagues and talking.
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Music
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Caption: The Newton Programme Vietnam is the first formal research and innovation partnership programme between the UK and Vietnamese governments, aiming to support Vietnam’s economic and social development.
Contact the Vietnam team
If you are interested in learning more about the UK-Vietnam partnership, please get in touch with our local team.
Funding opportunities
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