News（NEWS）
(Aug. 25) Student Symposium Community-oriented tourism in Mitarai, Seto Inland Sea was held
Taoyaka Program and Kure city government held a student symposium on August 25th as a conclusive presentation of the Onsite Training conducted in Mitarai district, Yutaka-machi, Kure-city between August 17th and 25th. There was also a panel discussion session in the symposium and around 80 people attended the symposium.
Participants of the Onsite Training are graduate students from 4 institutions in India (IIT Delhi, IIT Bombay, BITS Pilani, and IIM Ahmedabad), The University of Texas at Austin, and Doshisha University as well as Taoyaka Program students. The entire group consist of 33 participants from total 6 institutions. Participants were divided into groups with multinational group members and worked together to make suggestions of tourism development in depopulating Mitarai district while staying there. At the conclusive presentation, students made a wide range of suggestions such as collecting tourists’ information using free wifi and smartphone apps or repurposing town people’s daily activities into tourist activities.
Panel discussion was themed as “Community Planning in Beautiful with Nature, Culture and History”. Professor Fujiwara, the moderator of the symposium, Professor Nakagoshi, Professor Cheer and Professor Emeritus Pangtora, they talked about natural environment of Seto Inrand, a global trend of tourism development of islands, sustainable tourism and economy. Also, Mr. Kazuo Omori, Manager of Planning Division of Kure city, Ms. Kayo Shimomura, Manager of Tourism Promotion Division of Kure city, Assistant Professor Rie Usui and 3 students joined the talks and they discussed the sustainable tourism business in islands. In their opinion, viewing the tourism policy from a point of view, which enhanced the satisfaction of local people is needed and it would attract tourists more. Also, they discussed the importance of the approach considered broad-area economic zones. Additionally, they discussed the scientific technology required to Hiroshima University, such as autonomous driving or digital preservation of cultural properties and social contribution.
At the closing remarks, Mr. Shinhara, the Mayer of Kure city mentioned that he draws on opinion from multinationals and experts to future town development and hope to Hiroshima University.
 Student Symposium |
 Panel Discussion |
 Group Work |
Taoyaka Program Opening Ceremony
We would like to extend a warm welcome to 5 students admitted to TAOYAKA program, April 5, 2019. Congratulations.
As of April 5, we have 51 students in our program from 17 countries.
We wish everyone all the best and the successful semester!
Taoyaka Program Opening Ceremony Spring 2019
Completion Ceremony was held on March 23rd
Taoyaka Program completion ceremony was carried out on March 23rd and 6 students were celebrated by faculty members, staff, their junior students, their family on their accomplishment and their completion of the program.
Professor Miyatani, program director, encouraged the graduating students to take an active role in the society as a global leader from now on and extended respect to them for the efforts and hard work they put in the program.
We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Prof. Kazuo Tomozawa will appear on “NHK High School Lectures ~Geography ” on Friday, November 30th.
(This program will be in Japanese)
[Air Date&Time] Friday, November 30th 2018 2:40PM-3:00PM
[Station] NHK E-television
[Program] “NHK High School Lectures ~Geography” (NHK高校講座 地理)
the program’s website (Japanese Only)
Completion ceremony was held on September 20th
Taoyaka Program completion ceremony was carried out on September 20th and 2 students of the second graduating class were celebrated by faculty members and staffs, and their family and friends on their accomplishment and their completion of the program.
Professor Miyatani, program director, encouraged the graduating students to take an active role in the society as a global leader from now on and extended respect to them for the efforts and hard work they put in the program.
We wish them all the best in their future endeavors.
Career Exploration and Advising Session was held on February 27, 2018.
The program invited Dr. David Eaton, one of professional mentor from University of Texas, and held a career exploration and advising session on February 27, 2018.
The session began with a brief introduction by Dr. Eaton’s on his career path and academic background. Then, after all participated students’ brief introduction of their academic backgrounds, the two of TAOYAKA program students had an opportunity to present their current research and received specific and valuable advice from the Professor. The presenters also had a chance to receive feedback from other participants from their field of expert point of view.
At the end of session, Dr. Eaton provide some comments to all participants. That is, before the graduation, students are recommended to:
1) attend many professional meetings and develop academic networking, 2) have your scientific papers whenever you have a possible chance to meet professionals in your fields, and 3) find grant sources for your research fund and fundraising skills. As for his recommendation #3, Dr. Eaton offered TAOYAKA students to attend his class called, “Fundraising for Nonprofit and Public Sectors” which will be held every summer.
The Session was successfully finished and all participants had a chance to receive constructive feedback and advice for their future career.
Cooperative Educational Program between University (TAOYAKA Program) and High School
Students from the one of the Super Global High Schools from Kagoshima, 鹿児島県立甲南高等学校, came to Hiroshima University to share their research and receive advice from the TAOYAKA Students!
First, the students listened to the lecture from Dr. Nguyen Thi Anh Hong, Assistant Professor, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC). Then after the lunch break, all 14 high school students were divided into 3 groups and each student had an opportunity to present his/her research on “demographic issues in Japan” to the TAOYAKA program students and received feedback. It was also a great opportunity for the TAOYAKA students to share their expertise to these young and future scholars. In fact, we were amazed by the students’ level of English and research skills at their age. There are active discussions during the session and students developed a wonderful networking between the high school and the University.
The details are as follows.
■ Date: Thursday, February 8, 2018; 9:00-15:00
■ Venue： 2F, Daigaku Kaikan Free Space/ TAOYAKA classroom
■ Moderator: Dr. Makoto Chikaraishi, Associate Professor, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation (IDEC)
■ Program：
| Time | Activities |
| 9:00-9:10 | Opening Ceremony |
| 9:10-10:20 | Session 1: Ice Breaking/ Introduction – High school students asked TAOYAKA students about their countries, school life, etc. and give a presentation |
| 10:30-11:40 | Session 2: Lecture by Dr. NGUYEN THI ANH HONG, Assistant Professor, Graduate School for International Development and Cooperation |
| 11:40-12:40 | Lunch Break/ visit the exhibition about India in Hiroshima University |
| 12:40-14:45 | Session 3: Student presentation and discussions TAOYAKA students gave feedback to each high school student. |
| 14:50-15:00 | Closing Ceremony |
TAOYAKA Newsletter <Flexibility, Endurability, and Peace> Vol.8 （Winter 2017）has been published.
Please click here for the PDF version (1MB).
Two Taoyaka students received the awards at HIRAKU 3 minutes competition!
“HIRAKU 3MT Competition 2017” was successfully held on Saturday, November 25, 2017 at Higashi Hiroshima Arts& Culture Hall (Kurara). 36 doctorate students from 10 universities showcased their research in front of 260 people as public audience, with a single presentation slide in limited three minutes.
4 Taoyaka students joined the competition and 2 students received the awards. Congratulations!
Novi Syaftika（D5, Graduate school of Engineering, Technical creation course)
Title: Fueling your car with garbage and wastewater: possible?
Winner, People’s Choice – Gold (English Section), Sponsor awards (Springer Nature Award)
“I have an interest in public speaking so when I heard about this competition, it instantly attracted my attention. My motivation was mainly training myself to improve my presentation skill. Presenting about PhD research in 3 minutes was very challenging. We have to be able to deliver the message in an attractive way to the audience who come from different background, also who are non-native and native English speakers in a very short time. I revised the slide and the script several times, and the last hardest part is to memorize the script and conquer the nervous feeling. I was lucky that some friends helped me practicing and improving my performance. It was an honor to represent Taoyaka and Hiroshima University. Receiving 3 awards at once was unbelievable! However, conquering fear, gaining experience, and expanding network are the achievements that I believe obtained by all contestants. It gave me the motivation to keep learning and improving myself. It was the most unforgettable 3 minutes in my life! Thank you for all the support!”
Zenitani Hiroshi（D4, Graduate school of Engineering, Technical creation course）
Title: Organic solar PV plays an active part at the disadvantaged area in the world !?
Sponsor awards (JSW Awards)
“It was not easy to condense my research into only 3 minutes speech. But preparation itself gave me an opportunity to reconsider the meaning and the importance of my own research. The contents of my speech had been made clearly by asking myself “What do I really want to convey to the audience?”
This time I dared to make my speech cover not only my research regarding photovoltaics but also the rich experience of TAOYAKA onsite team project. I really hope that the audience understood through my speech even just a little about the people and their quality of life in disadvantaged areas.”
Tunchai Mattana, one of the first graduates of TAOYAKA program won the award of “Cosmos Editor’s Choice” at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Semi-Final 2017
Tunchai Mattana, the winner of the Global Challenge Award at the Three Minutes Competition for Future Doctors 2016, made three-minute presentation on her research at the Asia-Pacific 3MT Semi-Final held on September 29, 2017, as a representative of Hiroshima University. She competed with 54 representatives from universities across the APAC region and won the award of “Cosmos Editor’s Choice”! Her presentation video will be shortly publicized in the website of the Cosmos, the science magazine.
She said, “I got really nervous as it was such a huge competition in a huge auditorium, but it was a learning opportunity. I’ve got new network built among young researchers, which will be my asset.”
