ILCAA Overseas Academic Research Forum held at TUFS

July 9, 2018

On Saturday the 16th of June (2018), the 2018 Overseas Academic Research Forum was held at the Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa (ILCAA). The Overseas Academic Research Forum is a forum for further development of overseas fieldwork for all related parties (representatives, research workers, administrative staff) of the scientific research grants-in-aid for foundation research (overseas academic research). The forum is also a place for academic exchange open to all researchers, and plans to develop and expand an international researcher’s network. This forum was planned and run by the TUFS ILCAA Overseas Scientific Research Coordination Team with the goal of supporting a wide range of overseas research activities.

The forum started with an open workshop in the morning titled “Endangered Biological and Cultural Diversity and its Conservation in the Context of Field Science”, and concluded with a region-based field science meeting and a general meeting in the afternoon.

At the open workshop, discussions were held on various topics within field science such as on the approach of the Nagoya Protocol concerning overseas genetic resources defined in the Convention on Biological Diversity, and international efforts towards protecting cultural heritage sites in warzones.
At the region-based field science meeting, participants were split into seven different meetings based on the regions they research, and exchanged information and opinions through the leader/lecturer of each group.
At the general meeting, a lecture and question and answer session was held by head of Research Aid Division I of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), through which questions and opinions concerning the introduction of a new grant-in-aid system were exchanged between researchers planning to do overseas research and JSPS.
In addition to these events, a poster exhibition titled “Overseas Academic Research Festa” was held during the lunch break to promote interdisciplinary interaction concerning overseas academic research. 15 posters were presented, and sparked some lively discussions.

The forum was a success with 72 researchers attending the open workshop, and 89 and 65 researchers attending the region-based and general meetings respectively.

For more details on this forum, click on the link below (Japanese only).
http://www.aa.tufs.ac.jp/~gisr/forum/2018/index.html