With the support of the Sakura Science Program, School of Applied Biological Science held The International Autumn School from October 14th to November 3rd, 2021 with about 90 participants from students and faculty members from 4 universities in 4 countries and our university. Namely National University of San Marcos (Peru), University Sultan Zainal Abidin (Malaysia), National Chiayi University (Taiwan), University of San Carlos (The Philippines).

It has been an event every year since 2008, but last year the plan was postponed due to the new coronavirus infection, and it was feared that it would be canceled again this year(2021) too, but we have decided to hold the 13th as an online event for the first time.

On October 15th, the “International Symposium on the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)” was held to announce efforts and issues to achieve the SDGs in each country.

An orientation was held on the first day, October 14th. We introduced ourselves to our host faculty members and faculty members from participating universities, and held a study abroad information session. It was organized to provide admission and scholarship information for interested students.

One representative of each of the national and privately funded international students who are already studying at our university gave a presentation, explained the location of Hiroshima and the living environment, and actively interacted with the participants during the question and answer session.

An international symposium was held on the second day. Five faculty members from participating universities and one faculty member from our university announced their efforts to achieve the SDGs in each country, how they contributed, and what issues they faced. We deepened the discussion through a question and answer session.

International Symposium

Online program work was held on October 22nd (Friday). Conducted "Genetics and Biotechnology of Economical Marine Resources" with San Marcos National University in Peru. We discussed the use of genetic method to understand the biology of commercially important marine resources in Japan and Peru.

Online program work was held on November 3rd (Wednesday). Conducted "Identification of crustacean species inhabiting the Seto Inland Sea and Bungo Channel" with National Chiayi University in Taiwan. We used the online conference system Zoom to simultaneously observe the crustacean caught during the research voyage on the training ship Toyoshio Maru, and observed and identified them using the pictorial books prepared by both parties in advance. Crustacean biology specialists were assigned to both universities to teach students at both universities at the same time. 

In the two program works, we were able to deepen international exchange of students centered on science, not only to improve motivation for studying abroad, but also to contribute to the development of joint research with the addition of faculty members.

Although it was held online this year, we welcomed more participants and shared a fruitful time, and successfully completed the Autumn School 2021.