Kyushu University Holds Kyudai Now Forum in Jakarta
Kyushu University “Kyudai Now” Forum in Indonesia was held on January 18th (Wed) 2023 at the Ayana Hotel, Jakarta, Indonesia. The purpose of this event was to introduce the latest research currently being conducted by Kyushu University’s faculties from various fields, including medicine, engineering, agriculture, design, and social sciences. A total of seven faculty members from Kyushu University presented their own research in front of approximately 50 participants. This forum was also streamed on YouTube for about 30 online participants. Vice President of Kyushu University, Prof. Shuji Shimizu and the Ambassador of Japan to the Republic of Indonesia, Mr. Kenji Kanasugi, delivered opening remarks.
At the session one: “Medicine, Design, Social Sciences, and Agriculture,” Assoc. Professor Tomohiko Moriyama presented on “Telemedicine between Indonesia and Japan,” followed by the presentations by Assist. Prof. Masaaki Iwamoto on “Architectural design and architectural history research in Southeast Asia,” Assoc. Prof. Hiroko Kinoshita on “Islam and transnational network in contemporary Indonesia,” and Assoc. Prof. Kuniyoshi Shimizu on “How should we utilize natural resources based on scientific evidence?”
At the session two: “Renewable Energy,” Prof. Takeshi Shinoda shared his research entitled “Our contribution to energy, resources toward carbon neutral society,” followed by the presentations by Prof. Masamichi Nishihara, “Hydrogen energy research in Kyushu University to realize carbon neutral society,” and Prof. Yasuhiro Yamada “Science and technology to explore subsurface.”
At the session three: Assoc. Prof. Fumihiko Yokota introduced “Kyushu University and Institute for Asian and Oceanian Studies (Q-AOS).” Assist. Prof. Gde Pandhe Wisnu Suyantara made tremendous efforts and contributions to facilitate this forum.
After this forum, a networking party was held at the same venue, including almost 100 participants from Kyushu University Indonesian and Japanese Alumni, Fukuoka Prefecture’s Association members who live in Indonesia, government, private companies, National Research and Innovation Agency (BRIN) and various universities, such as the University of Indonesia, Bandung Institute of Technology, Gadjah Mada University, Padjadjaran University, IPB University, and Hasanuddin University.
These events created new networks among Indonesian and Japanese university faculties, Kyushu University alumni, government, and private companies. With these two events as a catalyst, an official registration of the Kyushu University Indonesian Alumni Association is currently underway. Vice-President Shuji Shimizu mentioned that it is important to continue to promote win-win-win collaboration among academia, government, and the private sector as well as collaboration with Kyushu University alumni for innovative research that will solve social issues on a global scale.
On January 19th (Thursday), the last day of our visit to Indonesia, we visited the office of Marubeni Indonesia, which has a partnership and cooperation agreement with Kyushu University for new value creation. Presentations were given by President Shinji Kasai, as well as the heads of the power and energy divisions and the circular economy division, followed by a lively exchange of opinions. Through this face-to-face exchange of opinions, the importance of future industry-academia collaborative research in the fields of renewable energy and circular economy between Indonesia and Japan became clearer.
In the afternoon of the same day, we visited the University of Indonesia, where we introduced the two universities to each other and exchanged opinions on future collaboration and cooperation with Prof. Abdul Haris, the vice-president of the university, and 17 deans of departments.
After that, we had a campus tour and visited the Faculty of Public Health. Active discussions with Prof. Mondastri Sudaryo, the Dean of the Faculty, were made on important issues in the field of public health in Indonesia and Japan. We found that Dr. Indri Susilowati, an associate professor at the same department, graduated with a Ph.D. from Kyushu University’s Faculty of Design, and it was agreed to promote a joint research with her new Kyushu University alumni network.
With this kind of on-site visit by a group of Kyushu University faculty members that transcends departments, collaboration and cooperation in new research activities between Kyushu University and Indonesia began. We hope to continue holding country-specific events in the future to promote this.