Hannah Kenway is a student from The University of Queensland (UQ), Australia. She participated in the International Summer School hosted by the School of Advanced Manufacturing, Sun Yat-sen University in Shenzhen in July 2025.

From July 7 to 11, I had the privilege of representing UQ and the School of Mechanical Engineering at the 2025 International Summer School, School of Advanced Manufacturing, Sun Yat-sen University(SYSU) in Shenzhen – known as “China’s Artificial Silicon Valley”. UQ has a developing relationship with SYSU, and it was an honour to be one of just six Queensland students invited to attend.

The program focused on advanced manufacturing, with a series of insightful and engaging lectures, seminars and workshops. We explored a range of emerging topics such as Artificial Intelligence in Engineering Applications, Advancements of   Plasma-based Ultraprecision Machining, and Applications of AI in Advanced Manufacturing. One session challenged us to consider  how first-person filmed YouTube videos can serve as a rich and inexpensive dataset to train robots. This is a simple idea with powerful implications. Another lecturer asked us “Why do we trust human taxi drivers” and “What would it take for us to trust a self-driving car”. One of the most rewarding parts of my experience was realising how much I’ve learned throughout my degree. During a round table discussion, I felt confident engaging with complex concepts - a reassuring reminder, especially with graduation approaching, that I am ready for the next step in my career.

At the end of the week, we worked in small teams to pitch a project based on what we had learned. My team developed a concept for a novel electric scooter storage system designed to reduce the environmental and spatial  impact  of  parked  scooters  while  also  protecting  them from weather damage.  It was a great opportunity to  bring  novel  engineering  research  ideas  into  a  real-world context, and I was proud of what our group produced.

The SYSU campus itself was stunning – it looked like a movie set. One afternoon, we toured the facilities by bus, passing students zipping around on electric scooters and spotting an automated street-cleaning robot. The level of infrastructure in China was incredible. In Shenzhen, most cars are electric, and I didn’t touch my credit card once – everything was paid using QR Codes. A particularly memorable moment came after I accidentally left my shopping bag on a train. I thought it was gone for good, but we were able to find it in just a few minutes the next day. Everyone we interacted with was incredibly helpful and kind.