Kobe University

Kobe University Global-Link Forum held in Taipei

December 9, 2015

On 3-4 December 2015 the “Kobe University Global-Link Forum (KUGL) in Taipei” was held at National Taiwan University.

The Kobe University Global-Link Forum aims to promote our education and research activities and increase the presence of Kobe University overseas by forming stronger links with the International Alumni Association Network and overseas academic associations. This was the sixth KUGL Forum. Experts from Japan and Taiwan presented their individual insights and debated topics under the Forum theme of “Re-realizing the Relationship with Taiwan and Japan: Cooperation in Science, Technology and Innovation.”

The morning session of the first day began with opening remarks from Kobe University Executive Vice President INOUE Noriyuki, followed by congratulatory addresses from Guan-chau Huang (Deputy Education Counsellor in the Department of International and Cross-strait Education, Ministry of Education), HAMADA Takashi (Secretary-General of the Taipei Office, Japan Interchange Association), and David Chang (President of the Kobe University Alumni Association in Taiwan). The session continued with keynote speeches from Kobe University President TAKEDA Hiroshi and Ching-Ray Chang, the Executive Vice President for Administrative Affairs at National Taiwan University, introducing the international education and research activities at both universities.

In the afternoon, with Lin Huang (Director of the Kobe University China Office) acting as commentator, six researchers from the humanities and social sciences spoke on the theme of “New Orientations in the Humanities and Social Sciences in East Asia”. The humanities session featured presentations from OGATA Yasushi (Director of the Centre for Asian Studies, Kobe University) on “Historical Consciousness and the China Model”, and Chun-chieh Huang (National Chair Professor and Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University) on “Why Speak of “East AsianConfucianisms”?”. The social sciences session comprised four presentations: OZAKI Hiroyuki (Professor of the Graduate School of Business Administration, Kobe University) spoke on “Innovation Made by Technological Entrepreneurs in Japan: Challenge of KOBE’s Interdisciplinary Education”, Chien-Fu Jeff Lin (Associate Dean of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Humanities and Social Sciences, National Taiwan University) spoke on “The cooperation of industries between Taiwan and Japan”, HORIE Shinya (Project Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Economics, Kobe University) spoke on “Sustainable Strategies for Recovery from Natural Disasters”, and Julie C.L. SUN (Director of the Biotechnology Industry Study Center, Taiwan Institute of Economic Research) spoke on “Taiwan Agricultural Technology Foresight 2025”. Each session included time for discussions, and the participants listened with interest to debates between the commentator and speakers.

On the morning of the second day five researchers presented on the topic of “Advanced Research of Emerging and Reemerging Diseases in Asia” with the session led by TAKADA Satoshi (Dean of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University). Their presentation topics were as follows: HOTTA Hak (Professor and Endowed Chair of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University) on “International Collaborative Research on Infectious Diseases: GRID(MEXT), SATREPS(JST/JICA), A*STAR (Singapore), JSPS program”, KAMEOKA Masanori (Associate Professor of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University) on “Characterization of Southeast Asian type of HIV”, SHIRAWAKA Toshiro (Professor of the Graduate School of Health Sciences, Kobe University) on “Development of the novel oral vaccine platformutilizing bifidobacteria”, Shin-Han Tsai (Dean of the College of Public Healthand Nutrition, Taipei Medical University) on “Telemedicine and Emergency Air Medical Services”, and Pei-Jer Chen (Professor of the Hospital Hepatitis Research Center, National Taiwan University) on “Novel immunotherapy to Cure Chronic HBV Infection by Using a Convenient Immunocompetent Mouse Model”.

The afternoon session was held with the theme of “Advanced Membrane Technology Contributions to Resolving Energy and Environmental Issues”, and five researchers presented on current research in membrane engineering, and how membrane technology could contribute to solving environmental problems. The session started with a keynote speech on “Development of Innovative Membranes for Water Treatment and CO2 Separation” from MATSUYAMA Hideto (Director of the Center for Membrane and Film Technology, Kobe University). This was followed by reports from Da-Ming Wang (Professor and Chairman of the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University) on “Morphology Control of Polymeric Membranes: Roles of Polymer Chain Entanglement”, KAMIO Eiji (Assistant Professor of the Graduate School of Engineering, Kobe University) on “Tough Ion Gel Membranes Containing Amino Acid Ionic Liquid as a CO2 Carrier”, Kuo-Lun Tung (Proessor of the Department of Chemical Engineering, National Taiwan University) on “Development of Novel Aerogel Membranes to Resolve the Carbon Abundance and Water Scarcity Issues”, and Kueir-Rarn Lee (Director of the Center for Membrane Technology, Chung Yuan University) on “Polymeric membrane microstructure characterization by positron annihilation spectroscopy”.

The large audience included researchers and graduate students. The participants listened with interest to the presentations, and actively debated the topics during the discussion time at the end of each session.

The 2-day Forum ended with closing remarks from President TAKEDA Hiroshi. The forum was a success, with many inspiring and thought-provoking presentations.

After the Forum, the Kobe University Alumni Networking event in Taipei took place, and was attended by over 110 people, including former alumni, members of Kobe University, and members of National Taiwan University. During the panel discussion, three former alumni reported on their activities in business and academia after graduating from Kobe University. Yeachi Chen spoke on “The Collaboration Between Taiwan and Japan in Mobile Innovation”, Jeng Ju Chuan presented a “Comparison between northern and southern Taiwanese cuisine”, and Ren-Jye Liu introduced “The frontier of Taiwanese manufacturing innovation”. There was also an introduction to the international exchange activities of Kobe city from Uematsu Kenji, Managing Director of the Kobe International Center for Cooperation and Communication.

Many alumni from around Taiwan as well as Taipei attended this networking event and met with members of Kobe University. They spent an enjoyable time reminiscing about their time asexchange students in Kobe University, and meeting with their former professors.

We are planning to hold next year’s KUGL Forum in Indonesia.

(International Affairs Planning Division)