Hokkaido University delegates visited the University of Melbourne

Vice-Chancellor Duncan Maskell of the University of Melbourne (left) and President Kiyohiro Houkin of Hokkaido University (right)

With its strategic international partner, The University of Melbourne, Australia (UoM), Hokkaido University (HU) has deepened its interuniversity partnership through the Virtual Conference on Healthy Ageing in March 2022, a visit from the UoM Vice-Chancellor and delegates to HU in following June, and the establishment of a matching fund to co-support joint research workshops.  Expecting to further develop this bond as a strategic research partnership, HU delegates visited UoM between 20 and 22 November: President Kiyohiro Houkin; Executive Vice President Atsushi Yokota; Executive Vice President Takao Masuda; Specially-appointed Professor Hiroshi Kida of the Institute for Vaccine Research and Development (IVReD) / Head of the International Institute for Zoonosis Control; his fellow Assistant Professor Toshiki Sekiya of Zoonosis Control; Dean Hiroshi Amitsuka of the Faculty of Science; Director Hirofumi Kato of the Centre for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, and Global Station for Indigenous Studies and Cultural Diversity in the Global Institution for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE); Director Taro Yamauchi of the Centre for Environmental and Health Sciences; Director Hiroaki Motomura of the International Affairs Department; and University Research Administrator Taena Uemura of the Institute for International Collaboration.

Welcome dinner at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence

On the 20^th, delegates reunited with the UoM leaderships and on the following day, they renewed a Memorandum of Understanding on interuniversity partnership and Student Exchange Agreement, and concluded a Research Partnership Agreement on Hokkaido-Melbourne Joint Research Workshops Fund.  They also had a meeting on interdisciplinary research collaboration with UoM’s Pro Vice-Chancellor Mark Hargreaves of Research Partnerships and Infrastructure, Inaugural Director Aaron Corn of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and a Deputy Director Ben Neville of Melbourne Climate Futures, to introduce the current state of each university and seek for possible collaboration seeds in the near future. The following luncheon meeting hosted by Deputy Vice-Chancellor James McCluskey of Research invited the UoM awardees of the aforementioned Fund this year.

Meeting on Interdisciplinary Research Collaboration

Delegates attended site visits and meetings with academics in the Peter Doherty Institute for Infection and Immunity, Bio21 Institute, Melbourne Connect, Melbourne Centre for Cities, Melbourne Climate Futures, Faculties of Science, Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, and Veterinary and Agricultural Sciences, Schools of Biosciences, and Ecosystem and Forest Sciences, etc. The 2023 round of the Workshops Fund by HU and UoM is being opened for applications, and further academic endeavours cultivated through interuniversity partnership are expected.

Deputy Vice-Chancellor James McCluskey (left) and Pro Vice-Chancellor Justin Zobel (right) of the University of Melbourne

The respective Deans of Science of Hokkaido University (left) and of the University of Melbourne (right)

Melbourne Connect Visit

Text and photos provided by Institute for International Collaboration