On Friday, July 31, 2020, we held the first-ever regular meeting of Nagasaki University and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) as the first installment of this year’s Global Cooperation Seminar series
The regular meetings started this year as a means to deepen mutual collaboration in accordance with a comprehensive partnership agreement concluded between Nagasaki University and JICA in December 2019.
Around 50 members from throughout the university joined the meeting, and JICA sent representatives from its Tokyo head office, the JICA Kyushu Desk (Kitakyushu City), and the JICA Nagasaki Desk (Nagasaki City).
Professor Tsunenori Aoki of the Office for Global Relations moderated the meeting with Coaching Fellow Kimiyo Yamaura providing administrative assistance. Over two and a half hours, both sides gave several presentations and exchanged a wide range of opinions.
The meeting was divided into four sessions.
In the first session entitled “JICA’s Response to COVID-19 and Future Outlook,” a representative from the JICA head office explained the Agency’s measures to combat the spread of COVID-19
The second session, “Progress report on Collaborative Projects,” began with a report from the JICA head office on the international training programs for regional medicine and bridge technology for the 57 JICA-funded international students currently studying in Nagasaki University’s master’s and doctoral programs.
Next, Graduate School of Engineering Professor Akihide Tada gave a progress report on the overseas project on which he serves as a technical expert. This was followed by presentations by Graduate School of Engineering Associate Professor Takafumi Nishikawa, Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences Professor Emeritus Atsushi Ishimatsu, Institute of Tropical Medicine Professor Jiro Yasuda, and Graduate School of Tropical Medicine and Global Health Professor Yasuhiko Kamiya.
A representative from the JICA head office reported on the activities of the Infectious Disease Response Team of the Japan Disaster Relief Team (JDR), including the fact that our faculty members have been cooperating with international infectious disease crises as expert committee members and dispatched experts.
In the third session entitled “In Preparation for Future of Collaboration,” staff from the JICA Kyushu and JICA Nagasaki Desks introduced a menu of potential collaborative projects with Nagasaki University, which afforded everyone in attendance with an invaluable opportunity to consider new kinds of collaboration in the future.
The fourth session, which was entitled “Implementation Framework,” featured an explanation of the training framework by Miki Masuda, the Director of the Internationalization Planning Division of the Research Promotion and International Affairs Department, followed by confirmation of the contact point at the university for collaborative projects with JICA.
This meeting served to visualize the collaborative projects between Nagasaki University and JICA to date and created opportunities for cross-disciplinary knowledge co-creation and the search for new kinds of collaboration with JICA.
The next meeting is scheduled for six months from now, and we will continue to promote global developments and collaboration on a university-wide basis.
Project Details：
〇Project for Building Capacity for Can Tho University to be an Excellent Institution of Education, Scientific Research, and Technology Transfer:
https://www.jica.go.jp/project/vietnam/039/
〇The Project for Establishment of Laboratory Surveillance System for Viral Diseases of Public Health Concern:
http://www.tm.nagasaki-u.ac.jp/emerging/satreps/index.html
〇Project for Enhancement of Engineering Higher Education in Myanmar:
https://www.jica.go.jp/project/myanmar/007/index.html
