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Events

04 Dec 2009 Pre Departure Seminar and Alumni Evening　

Pre Departure Seminar and Alumni Evening
(Invitation / Report)

A Pre-Departure Seminar for our most recently awarded Short-Term Programme fellows was held on 04/12/2009. The seminar began with opening remarks from the Director of JSPS London Prof. Yuko Furukawa. An introduction to the work of JSPS London was then given by Mr. Takeshi Sekiguchi, Deputy Director of JSPS London, followed by a presentation for Professor Hugo Dobson from the University of Sheffield on his research experiences in Japan. His talk gave lots of useful information on working practises in a Japanese research environment as well as daily life in Japan. Also, Dr. Dorothy Wang and Mr. Neil Cantwell gave presentations about further funding opportunities available from their respective organizations to do research work in Japan.

1.	Opening Remarks Prof. Yuko Furukawa, Director, JSPS London
2.	Self-introduction from each awardee
3.	JSPS Activities Mr. Takeshi Sekiguchi, Deputy Director, JSPS London
4.	Experiences as a JSPS Fellow Prof. Hugo Dobson, Vice Chair, UK-JSPS Alumni Association
5.	The Royal Society: UK-Japan Collaborative Programmes Dr. Dorothy Wang, Scheme Manager, Grants, The Royal Society
6.	The Japan Foundation: Funding Opportunities for Research Visits to Japan Mr. Neil Cantwell, Programme Officer, The Japan Foundation
7.	Questions and Discussion

Guest Speaker: Professor Hugo Dobson, University of Sheffield

Guest Speaker: Dr. Dorothy Wang, The Royal Society

Guest Speaker: Mr. Neil Cantwell, The Japan Foundation

After the pre-departure seminar, UK-JSPS Alumni Association held an alumni evening to exchange information in an informal setting. Dr. Martyn Kingsbury, UK-JSPS Alumni Chair gave an opening speech and an introduction to the aims of the Alumni Association for the benefit of the newest JSPS Fellows.

The UK-JSPS Alumni Association: / An Introduction by Dr. Martyn Kingsbury

An award ceremony also took place for those granted a Furusato Award in fiscal year 2009. This award is exclusive to UK-JSPS alumni members to fund a short research visit to Japan in order to create and maintain their links with the Japanese academic community. The Furusato Awardees for Fiscal Year 2009 were:

FY2009 FURUSATO AWARDEES

1st Call (March):

1. Dr. John Brazier Department of Pharmacy, University of Reading
Visiting: Department of Bioorganic and Synthetic Chemistry, Kyushu University

2. Dr. Angus Davison School of Biology, University of Nottingham
Visiting: Department of Biology, Tohoku University

3. Dr. Steven Hayward Department of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia
Visiting: Institute of Molecular and Cellular Biosciences, Tokyo University

4. Professor Peter Sammonds Department of Earth Sciences, University College London
Visiting: Fracture and Reliability Research Institute, Tohoku University

2nd Call (September):

1. Professor Terence John Dennis Department of Physics, Queen Mary, University of London
Visiting: Department of Chemistry, Nagoya University

2. Miss Jennifer Noble Department of Physics, University of Strathclyde
Visiting: Graduate School of Science, Tokyo University

3. Dr. Christopher Royall School of Chemistry, University of Bristol
Visiting: Institute of Industrial Science, Tokyo University

4. Professor Andrew Quantock School of Optometry and Vision Sciences, University of Cardiff
Visiting: Department of Ophthalmology, Tohoku University

Receiving their awards:

Furusato Awardee: Dr. Steven Hayward, University of East Anglia

Furusato Awardee: Professor Peter Sammonds, University College London

Furusato Awardee: Professor Andrew Quantock, Cardiff University

Finally, JSPS London would like to wish all of our new Fellows a successful research trip to Japan.