Kyoto University Research Administration Office (KURA) and Springer Nature hosted an online roundtable discussion titled “Academic challenges and opportunities for early career researchers approaching SDGs” on March 24, 2021 (URAs in charge: Dr. KUWATA Osamu, Dr. SONOBE Taro, and Ms. OYAMADA Aya).

This event was held as a part of the [間: AI DA] program at KURA which aims to establish win-win “close relationships” (“aida-gara” in Japanese) through dialogues with various external research supporting organizations and institutions that share the value of challenging and interdisciplinary research activities and are proactive in nurturing the next generation of early career researchers (ECRs).

From Kyoto University, Vice President Yasuyuki Kono (Vice-President for International Strategy / Professor of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies) participated in the event as an advisor, Dr. Mario Lopez (Associate Professor of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies) acted as a moderator and each of the following four ECRs gave a presentation (in the order of appearance):

• Julie Ann Delos Reyes (Program-Specific Researcher of the Center for Southeast Asian Studies) 
• Hart Nadav Feuer (Program-Specific Senior Lecturer of the Graduate School of Agriculture)
• Takaya Ogawa (Program-Specific Assistant Professor of the Graduate School of Energy Science)
• Hisashi Endo (Assistant Professor for Institute of the Chemical Research)

From Springer Nature, Dr. Philip Campbell (Editor-in-Chief of Springer Nature) joined the event as a discussant and Dr. Antoine Bouquet (Managing Director of Springer Nature Japan) as another advisor.

The event was attended by 215 people on-line from over 20 countries, mainly from Japan and Southeast Asia. A recorded video made available for registrants on YouTube after the event has been viewed more than 500 times. To support ECRs at Kyoto University, [間: AI DA] program will continue to facilitate dialogues with various external organizations engaging in research promotion and continue to foster “close relationships” (“aida-gara”).

Click here for the event information

Screenshot of the panelists and organizers upon the completion of the event （the first upper row from left：Ms. Oyamada, Dr. Lopez, Vice President Kono, Dr. Endo; the second row from left：Ms. Yuko Tanabe (Springer Nature), Dr. Feuer, Dr. Ogawa, Dr. Ayako Miyazaki (Springer Nature); the third row from left: Dr. Campbell, Dr. Bouquet, Dr. Reyes, Dr. Kuwata; the fourth row: Dr. Sonobe）