The 8th Summer Research Program in Tsukuba 2017 was held

Our annual summer event, The Summer Research Program in Tsukuba 2017 was held from July 18 to 31 in collaboration between the Life and Environmental Sciences and Medical Sciences Departments. It was the 8th annual meeting. Forty participants came from 8 different countries, including Brazil, Indonesia, Taiwan, Thailand, Malaysia, UK, USA and Vietnam. Six high school students also joined the program from Japan. All participants worked in a research laboratory of their choice and learned cutting-edge scientific skills and techniques for their research.

There were science seminars conducted by Professor Masashi Yanagisawa (Faculty of Medicine) and Professor Hiroshi Ezura (Faculty of Environmental Sciences) in addition to Japanese cultural and language introduction done by Professor Masaki Ono (Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences). These provided opportunities to get to know the forefront of science, technology and Japanese culture. The weekend activities were thrilling; hiking to Mt. Tukusba, traditional rice cake pounding, noodle catching and wearing yukata. Each participant successfully completed the program by presenting their research accomplishment on the final day. Lin Lih-Tsern from National Taiwan University received a most prestigious Young Scientist Award for her presentation. Best presentation awards were given to Fadhian Akbar and Ayumi Venessa Ueno from University of Indonesia and State University of Campinas, respectively. Matus Vojtek from University of Edinburgh and Jiang Feng-Yu from National Taiwan University received the Best Discussion Award.