On 22 June 2022, a delegation consisting of a pro-vice chancellor and others from the University of Melbourne (an L-INSIGHT overseas partner institution) visited L-INSIGHT. Four L-INSIGHT fellows, together with Kyoto University’s Norihiro Tokitoh (Professor and Executive Vice-President for Research and Evaluation) and Akihiko Akamatsu (Unit Leader and Program Manager), engaged in discussions with and got to further know members of the delegation.

The following individuals from the University of Melbourne participated: Pro-Vice Chancellor Justin Zobel, Deputy Dean (Research) Ampalavanapillai Nirmalathas (Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology), Professor in Epigenetics Andrew Pask (Faculty of Science), Associate Dean (International) Tim Lynch, Professor Dan Hill (Director, Melbourne School of Design, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning), Mark Gregory, Maria Roitman, and Mika Shimoda. After opening remarks by Unit Leader Akamatsu, Associate Professor（Program-specific） Asa Nakano introduced L-INSIGHT’s activities, focusing on programs created with overseas universities. Four L-INSIGHT fellows then introduced their research and reported on their academic exchange with the University of Melbourne: Assistant Professor Tomohiro Tanaka (Hydrology), Assistant Professor Masanori Isobe (Psychiatry), Assistant Professor Kosuke Shiraishi (Applied Microbiology), and Research Fellow Shun Hongo (Conservation Science).

A lively overall discussion was then moderated by Executive Vice-President Tokitoh. Fellows acquired information on the latest research trends related to their research in Australia and University of Melbourne researchers in their fields. They also pointed out that support is needed for early career researchers when their international collaborative research is just getting off the ground. One suggestion was to have early career researchers from Australia and Japan stay in each other’s research labs for short periods. During such opportunities, doctoral students and post-doctoral researchers could participate in discussions. It was noted that this would not only energize early career researchers’ research areas and help spark their interest in different fields and social issues, but also have positive effects educationally. Pro-Vice Chancellor Zobel expressed willingness to consider establishing a cooperative research system with Kyoto University, while Executive Vice-President Tokitoh mentioned that the small time difference between Australia and Japan is advantageous.

Plans are being made to have L-INSIGHT fellows visit Australia for new experiences and discussions. Starting with academic exchange between early career researchers from the two universities, L-INSIGHT will support the Australia-Japan collaboration-based new endeavors of early career researchers.

※Mask temporarily removed for photography.

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