【Date & time held】　　　　  December 4 (Monday), 2023   9:30 – 11:00

【Event method】　　　　　　Online (Zoom)

【Number of participants】　22

【Presenters】
　Dr. IMAI Hiroyuki     Joint Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Yamaguchi University
　Dr. INAGAKI Mai     Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, Tokushima University
　Dr. INOUE Sayako   Geodynamics Research Center, Ehime University
 

On December 4, 2023, the HIRAKU-Global Program held its first ever International Trip Seminar. 
This event, which was open to all the HIRAKU-Global Researchers (HGRs), provided them with the opportunity to share their personal experiences in relation to their international research trips in an open and frank manner.

Given each HGR is actively pursuing international research exchanges, this seminar offered the chance for them to discuss various points. These include: how they first established contact with their overseas researcher counterparts, how was an agreement reached upon for the research exchange, how did they find the whole research exchange experience, how was the daily life experience, etc. The main overarching goal was to inform and inspire their peers for their own international trips.

For the first seminar, Dr. IMAI from the 1st Cohort of HGRs presented upon his trip to Australia, Dr. INAGAKI from the 2nd Cohort presented upon her trips to Canada and Sweden, and Dr. INOUE from the 3rd Cohort presented upon her trip to France. After each presentation, lively discussions were held regarding the HGRs' experiences.

At the conclusion of the seminar, the HGRs indicated that this seminar was a valuable experience. It was highlighted that usually there is no opportunity to discuss with each other so freely about the good (and perhaps the not so good) things regarding international trips. The HGRs also said that they are already looking forward to future iterations of the International Trip Seminar.

The feedback we received at the conclusion of the seminar can be viewed below (partial extracts).

• I can understand what kind of conversations and negotiations are necessary to decide an international collaboration from their experiences.
• I expect to extract both good and bad points of the present HG project system from today's three presentations/discussion for future improvement of the system.
• In this seminar, I am glad to hear about how to contact overseas research institutions. That was what I wanted to know most about my own trip.
• The presentation topics prepared by the HG office were really clear, so it helped me understand the purpose of this seminar and the cohorts' presentation. At the 2nd event, I would also like to hear about their struggles in establishing contact with international researchers and most importantly things to build a connection with researchers (such as Inoue-sensei shared with us today).
• I liked hearing how they got contact and agreement on their visit. It’s a little surprising that everyone can get off their normal duty for months so it'll be interesting how they can manage those things.
• 他の先生方がどのようにして海外滞在にいたったのかという経緯を知ることができて大変参考になりました
• It was insightful to gain an understanding not only of their research, but also of their day-to-day experiences in the locations they visited. For future seminar, it would be appreciated if I could ask about their food experiences during the stay, including whether they grew tired of the local food and if they prepared their own meals.