President Houkin’s visit to University College Dublin

Hokkaido University and University College Dublin (UCD) have strengthened its inter-university partnership for a decade, based on joint appointment of academics and research and educational collaborations at the Global Institute for Collaborative Research and Education (GI-CoRE), Institute for Vaccine Research and Development (IVReD) and HU Public Policy School.   The collaborations with the UCD School of Veterinary Medicine, National Virus Reference Laboratory, and Centre for Experimental Pathogen Host Research constantly produce co-papers on infectious diseases and promote early career and doctoral researchers exchange.  The Shamrock Programme with the UCD Centre for Japanese Studies accepted HU students in Public Policy by 2019.  The two key fields of collaborations formed the solid foundation of partnership and have got budgeted twice by the EU’s Erasmus+ programme.

Commemorating the 10^th anniversary of the partnership of the two universities, on 20-21 February 2024, President Kiyohiro Houkin and his colleagues travelled to UCD: Professor Kazunori Iwabuchi, Advisor to the President (International Affairs) from the Research Faculty of Agriculture, Distinguished Professor Yasuhiko Suzuki from the International Institute for Zoonosis Control, Professor Mikine Yamazaki, Advisor to the President (Public Relations) from the Faculty of Public Policy, Director Eri Hata of the International Affairs Department, and Senior Academic Specialist (International) Taena Uemura from the Institute for International Collaboration.  The HU delegates were welcomed by familiar and fresh faces of the counterpart departments and discussed potential collaboration expansion and expectations on doctoral student and early career researcher cultivation and common research interest pursuit as One Health, and Gender and Public Policy.  The visit also included meetings with the School of Agriculture and Food Science, College of Social Sciences and Law, UCD Energy Institute and Earth Institute, and Institute of Food & Health, to seek for future collaboration possibilities.

A meeting on Veterinary Medicine

UCD campus

With Prof Frank Monahan, Head of Schl. of Agriculture and Food Science and A/Prof Helen Sheridan

With Prof Hall in front of NVRL

At the signing ceremony for the Memorandum of Understanding for Institutional and Academic Cooperation between UCD and HU, Presidents Orla Feely and Houkin renewed the MoU in front of the HU visitors, Professor Dolores O’Riordan, Vice President for Global Engagement, Director Shauna Hughes of Global Relations, Partnerships and Mobility, and also Professor William Hall from the School of Medicine, Professor Stepehen Gordon from the School of Veterinary Medicine, and Associate Professor Naonori Kodate from the School of Social Policy, Social Work and Social Justice, who are jointly appointed to HU and key academics to have deepen the inter-university bond of friendship.  The delegates completed their two-day stay in Ireland with a casual meeting with H.E. Mr Norio Maruyama, Ambassador of Japan to Ireland, which confirmed potential of the bilateral relations of the two countries.  In May 2024, HU will welcome academics from UCD in Hokkaido.

Presidents Feely and Houkin

With H.E. Mr Maruyama, Japanese Ambassador to Ireland

(Text and photos provided by the Institute for International Collaboration)