The “National Doctoral Education Leading Program Student Conference” was held at Hokkaido University on June 20 and 21, 2015. Vigorous discussions were exchanged among 112 students from 27 leading programs around the country, including foreign students from 27 countries, 10 renowned guests from domestic and foreign industries, governmental departments and academic institutions. We had also more than 170 members of program management team, supporting faculty and staff as attendance. The second day of the conference was devoted to a workshop on six major issues faced by modern society, such as depletion of agricultural resources and excessive consumption of paper. All discussions were conducted in English. Group debates were so lively that they continued right up to the conclusion of the entire conference.

It was the third time that such a student conference was held. We set up the executive committee (Chair: Yu Toguchi) by 40 graduate students from our program and other program named the “Fostering Global Leaders in Veterinary Science toward Contributing to ‘One Health’”, then had been preparing for eight months until the conference. Preparation for the event took 8 months of planning. I believe the experience of this successful event and the problem-solving skills we cultivated during preparation period will become useful tools for us in future research or internship.

Photo:Dr. Mamoru Mori, Chief Executive Director, “Miraikan”, delivering a special lecture.

Workshop in discussion under the theme of “Doctors, Be Ambitious! – Idea Generating Workshop Striving to Solve Issues Faced by Modern Society”

Report: Chiharu Kura, Program Pilot Student, the first year in doctor’s program (at the time of report submission), Graduate School of Chemical Sciences and Engineering