Kyushu University: APRU Carbon Neutral Society Action Month opens new doors for early career researchers

In collaboration with APRU (The Association of Pacific Rim Universities), Kyushu University hosted a five-week webinar series titled “A Carbon Neutral Society – Action Month” from 13 May to 10 June 2022. With the aim of preserving the global environment and realizing a carbon-neutral society, a diverse group of experts and researchers from a variety of research fields got together to exchange ideas, explore potential cross-disciplinary approaches, and develop solutions collaboratively.

The webinar series included an introductory lecture, several keynote lectures, Q&A sessions and panel discussions on the topics of “Alternative Energy,” “Low Carbon Negative Emission,” “Circular Economy” and “Social Innovation” with 21 renowned experts from Australia, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, Thailand and The United States.

One of the highlights of this webinar series was the interactive activities targeting specifically early career researchers (ECRs) from various disciplines as a first step to support ECRs in expanding their professional networks across disciplines, across research institutions, across borders, and allowing them to develop new collaborative ideas for the next phase of interdisciplinary collaboration.

This webinar series attracted high interest from experts, ECRs and postgraduate students totaling approximately 300 participants, and received great feedback from participating ECRs. It serves as a pilot for a longer-term program that will focus on interdisciplinary collaboration between early-career researchers from diverse fields devoted to various aspects of global environmental preservation and the realization of a sustainable, carbon-neutral society.