One of the best ways to support international relations is by connecting individuals across nations whether through visits or joint activities. In the current international context, when many relations between nations are increasingly problematic, I was reminded of the value of cross-national work through a design competition – designing a coin.

I’m far from an expert in design. However, I was asked to join a panel of judges for the 2025 UK-China Youth Coin Design Competition. Other judges had seriously impressive credentials in design with affiliations with the Department of Coins and Medals of the British Museum, London’s Royal College of Art, Oxford’s Ashmolean Museum, and the American Numismatic Society headquartered in New York. So I felt confident in our selections. I’ll include a photo of the members attending in person.

This competition engaged youth from the UK and China in the design of a metal coin for 2025 around the theme of ‘our water’. The idea was to involve young design students in creating the design for a coin that could contribute to public awareness and work in protecting water resources in two great cities, London and Shanghai. Can design students in China and the UK help ‘raise global awareness of urban rivers’ as a critical resource for the life and cultural heritage of these cities? Competitors were asked to incorporate elements of Shanghai and London’s urban rivers, and to use symbols that represent the cultural and ecological value of these urban waterways. Along with other aesthetic features, the designs needed to be suitable for minting.

The competition was part of a special exhibition COINect, which is one of a series of London events in a program ‘Our Water’. This world ‘cultural dialogue’ took place in London in June 2025 at the former location of The Royal Mint, near Tower Bridge. Colleagues from the University of Southern California-Shanghai Jung Tung University’s (USC-SJTU) Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry and London’s Brunel University’s Brunel Design School co-organised the event. There was also support from the Shanghai Mint Museum.

As judges, we met with competitors at the event to discuss the designs, key features of the leading entries, how AI was used or not used in a variety of ways, and answered their questions. Overall, the competition and our discussion reinforced my sense of the importance of supporting international relations at the ground level, such as by bringing these students and their designs together around a common goal.

My thanks and appreciation to the organisers at Brunel University and Shanghai Jung Tung University for their vision and success in creating this competition. It worked.