The IROAST International Advisory Board Committee Meeting was held in the United Kingdom and Germany

During the week of March 5, 2023, Director Kazuki Takashima and his staff visited the University of Birmingham (UK) and Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (Germany) to conduct International Advisory Board Committee meetings for the International Research Organization for Advanced Science and Technology (IROAST).

Before the International Advisory Board Committee meetings at the two universities, he visited JSPS London. He received the latest information on academic research and higher education in the UK from Director Naoto Kobayashi and Deputy Director Koji Yasuhara and exchanged opinions on promoting international joint research with the UK.

At the University of Birmingham, they met with Professor Paul Bowen (Professor, School of Metallurgy and Materials/Visiting Professor at IROAST), who was appointed as a member of the International Advisory Board. After Director Takashima’s presentation on the efforts and achievements of IROAST, we exchanged opinions with Prof. Bowen, who praised IROAST for its top-level achievements at the university despite its limited number of researchers, and its success in building an international collaborative research network. However, he expressed concern about losing opportunities for face-to-face international exchange owing to the recent COVID-19 outbreak and hoped that IROAST would provide young researchers with opportunities for international collaborative research through online and face-to-face exchanges in the future.

At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, they visited Prof. Martin Dienwiebel (Heisenberg-Professor, Applied Nanotribology/ visiting Professor at IROAST), who was also appointed as a member of the International Advisory Board. Prof. Dienwiebel proposed to deepen our collaboration by organizing a joint workshop. After this meeting, a seminar was held to introduce Director Takashima’s research, during which, researchers and students from the department participated enthusiastically with many questions.

In FY2022, we exchanged opinions with four members of the International Advisory Board. From FY2023, based on their suggestions and recommendations, we will work to launch new research support programs and work towards becoming a research organization that will lead the internationalization of the University based on the strengths of IROAST.

At JSPS London

　
At the University of Birmingham

　　　
At Karlsruhe Institute of Technology