Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

ReportMeeting Report of the 8th Educational Symposium on Radiationand Health by Young Scientists (ESRAH2021) and the 4th Workshop
on Radiation Research and Its Related Issue:
Summary of Lectures, Presentations, and Troubleshooting When
Running International Online Symposium
Ryo Nakayama1, 2, Yoshiaki Sato3, Kazuki Hasegawa3, Kai Takebayashi1, 2, Hikari Sato3,
Eka Djatnika Nugraha3, 4, Yoshie Yachi5, Ryosuke Seino5, Tomoya Yamashita5, Hiroaki Mori5,
Chutima Kranrod6, Hiroyuki Date5 and Masahiro Hosoda3, 6*
Department of Bioscience and Laboratory Medicine, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences,66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan2
Department of Risk Analysis and Biodosimetry, Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine (IREM), Hirosaki University,
66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan3
Department of Radiation Science, Hirosaki University Graduate School of Health Sciences, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan
4
Centre for Technology of Radiation Safety and Metrology (PTKMR), National Nuclear Energy Agency (BATAN) JI.
Lebak Bulus Raya No. 49, Jakarta, 12440, Indonesia
5
Faculty of Health Sciences, Hokkaido University, Kita-12, Nishi-5, Kita-ku, Sapporo, Hokkaido 060-0812, Japan
6
Institute of Radiation Emergency Medicine, Hirosaki University, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan
1

Received 4 March 2022; revised 2 May 2022; accepted 11 May 2022

The 8th Educational Symposium on Radiation and Health by Young Scientists (ESRAH2021) andthe 4th Workshop on Radiation Research and Its Related Issue 2021 Joint Symposium was held offsite on November 12-14, 2021. This symposium has provided an opportunity for young researchersand students to be exposed to cutting-edge research and engage in lively discussions. However,
due to the restrictions of COVID-19, it has been held online for the 2nd year running. In spite ofthis situation, a total of about 60 participants attended and listened to lectures by established,leading researchers and poster presentations by young researchers. In this report, we summarize
the lectures and oral sessions at this joint symposium, and share our troubleshooting experiences
when running an online symposium.
Key words: radiation, online symposium, Microsoft Teams, troubleshooting

1. Background of this symposium*Masahiro Hosoda: Department of Radiation Science, Hirosaki University Graduate
School of Health Sciences, 66-1 Hon-cho, Hirosaki, Aomori 036-8564, Japan
E-mail: m_hosoda@hirosaki-u.ac.jp
https://doi.org/10.51083/radiatenvironmed.11.2_66
Copyright © 2022 by Hirosaki University. All rights reserved.

Over the last few decades, Japan has experienced several
radiation accidents including the Tokai-mura JCO accident
in 1999 and the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power
Plant (F-1 NPP) accident in 20111-6). Although the mostimportant lesson of these accidents is that we are neverfully prepared for radiation accidents, another important

Ryo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

67Fig. 1. Key dates of this symposium for the organizing committee and participants.

lesson that human resources with sufficient knowledge
about nuclear disasters and radiation emergency medicine
are inadequate. Therefore, it is important that young
researchers and students have opportunities to get theknowledge and information of experts through sharing ofexperiences in radiation science. Given these challenges
in radiation emergency medicine, since 2008, Hirosaki
University and Hokkaido University jointly have held aseminar on radiation effects to educate young scientists
including undergraduate and graduate students. Since
2014, symposiums titled as “Educational Symposium on
Radiation and Health by Young Scientists (ESRAH)” havebeen held following the F-1 NPP accident7-10). In addition
to ESRAH, Hirosaki University and four universitiesin Thailand have held workshop focused on medical
treatment, protection, and detection in relation to radiation
effects on the environment, protection detection andemergency medicine since 2018. In 2021, we organizers
had to hold these symposiums entirely online due to thecoronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic. Many
online symposiums have come to be held, and various
online tools have been developed that allow researchers
to communicate and share knowledge and informationeven under the restrictions for face-to-face meetings dueto the pandemic. We also held an online symposium in
202011), and the 2021 symposium had to be held online aswell. Although online tools should be simple and easy
to use, symposium organizers have encountered many
problems that were unique to online, and organize has
been difficult. In this report, we summarized the lecturesand presentations and describe our experiences inrunning an online symposium and workshop in the hopethat other organizers can use the online tools more easily
for future symposiums.
2. Registration & meeting method
The symposium was held entirely online using the

Fig. 2. Announcement posted on the Radiation Emergency
Research Institute Facebook account.

Microsoft video meeting platform called “Microsoft
Teams”. Microsoft Teams offers many functions suchas open chat, video calls, and contents sharing, allowing
users to meet from anywhere12). In addition, we selected
Microsoft Forms, an online survey platform to register
participation since it can create surveys and output
aggregate answers as an xlsx file easily.
Organizers and participants proceeded with the timeschedule shown in Figure 1. In addition, symposium
announcements and calls for papers were made public
via the Facebook account of one cohost institute. Thisaccount has already connected many researchers all over68

Ryo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

Fig. 3. Actual platform for the meeting channel. The name enclosed in the white frame is the name that will
actually be displayed during the meeting. If the users belong to an organization, they cannot change this namethemselves. The top yellow frame allows the user to turn the microphone and video on and off. The top red frame isthe hands-up mark and chat function, whereby users can ask questions or appeal to the presenter or the chair.

Table 1. List of Educational lecture
No. Title

Presenter

Affiliation

CountryI

Radiation exposure in Interventional Radiology

Dr. Antonio Basile

University of Catania

Italy

II

Radon-risk mapping and protection in Cameroon

Dr. Saïdou

University of Yaoundé

Cameroon

III

Current Status of ASEAN Biodosimetry

Dr. Wanwisa Sudprasert

Kasetsart University

ThailandIV

Bio- and environmental monitoring of radioisotopes under
the shadow of COVID-19?

Dr. Tibor Kovács

University of Pannonia

Hungary

the world, it is a proven effective publicity tool. Figure 2
is the actual poster the organizing committee put on
Facebook. To apply to attend the symposium, participants
only needed to fill in a short application form (name,affiliation, e-mail address) in Microsoft Forms. Insteadof making a symposium homepage, we sent participantsa link to OneDrive, which is an Internet-based storage
platform provided by Microsoft, where we provided thesymposium information (timetable, abstract format, andprogram). Microsoft Teams has several ways to invite
participants to the meeting channel with a link, a quick
response code and a pass code. We invited participants by
the link to the meeting channel because currently guests
cannot join a meeting group using the pass code andquick response code.
Microsoft Teams has options to divide persons in
the meeting group into, for example, organizers andparticipants. In addition, it has a function giving somepermissions, such as the level of security for each division(organizer, participant, etc.). For instance, organizers canupload and download files, while participants can see
files, but not download them. Figure 3 shows the actual
platform when someone enters the meeting channel.
The registered name is displayed so others can see it.
All members in meeting channel can communicate withthe camera and microphone and share their screen. To
avoid disrupting the presentation and communication
time lag, participants turn off their microphone andcamera during the presentation. Microsoft Teams also

has an option which limits the permission to turn on
their microphone by themselves. Although we used thisoption for the previous symposium11), it was a tiresometask for us to turn on the individual microphone every
time a participant asked a question. Therefore, we did not
use this option this time. Microsoft Teams has chat andhands-up functions. During presentations, participants
put questions and comments on chat or push the handsup mark, and the chairperson of the session selects fromthem.
3. Summary of contents of the educational lectures
The educational lectures are listed in Table 1. Foureminent researchers were invited from Italy, Cameroon,
Thailand, and Hungary to give lectures on the latest
research in the fields of radiology, environmental radiation
measurement, and biological response to radiation.
These lectures were very useful for young researchers,
especially the research in the fields of radiology in actual
medical practice may have helped to remove the fear andanxiety of radiation exposure from many participants
such as nurses, radiologist, and other medical staffs.
Lecture I: Radiation Exposure in Interventional Radiology
Dr. Antonio Basile from University of Catania, Italy, gave
a lecture titled “Radiation Exposure in Interventional
Radiology”. To properly manage radiation effects inradiation protection for interventional radiology (IR),Ryo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

effective dose (Sv) which combines the radiation
weighting factor considering the radiation type andenergy, and the tissue weighting factor considering thesensitivity of each tissue are required. In addition, effectsof ionizing radiations can be divided into genetic damage
and somatic damage, and the fundamental principles
of radiation protection (justification, optimization, andlimitation) are also important. Since most of the radiation
to the operator in IR is radiation scattered by the patient,
reducing the dose for the patient is closely related toreducing it for the operators. The determinants of dosein an angiographic examination room depend on habitusof the patient (patient body thickness), type of procedure(femoral vs radial approach), collimation (decreased
diffusion from the beam edge by using a collimation
filter), and magnification (reduction of field of view
exponentially increases both the dose for patient andoperators). For these determinants, optimizations (as low
as reasonably achievable – ALARA; obtaining sufficient
image quality to carry out the diagnostic / therapeutic
procedure with the lowest possible dose delivered before,
during and after the procedure) cannot be separated fromproper operator training and the use of simple precautions
allows significant reduction of the dose.
Lecture II: Radon-risk Mapping and Protection in Cameroon
Educational Lecture II entitled “Radon-risk Mapping andProtection in Cameroon” was given by Dr. Saïdou fromYaoundé University, Cameroon. He is one of the worldʼsleading experts in radon-thoron measurements and he has
been conducting indoor radon and thoron measurements
in Cameroon. This lecture introduced the status of radon
and thoron measurements in Cameroon and gave somefuture study prospects. Indoor radon measurements
have been focused on mining and ore bearing areas inCameroon and on radon measurements in soil and about
2,500 and 300 data measurements have been obtained,
respectively. The corresponding arithmetic means ofradon, thoron, and thoron progeny in residential dwellings
two months after radon exposure were determined to be
103, 107 and 6.8 Bq m-3, respectively. The arithmetic mean
for the national scale of radon is well above the world
average value of 40 Bq m-3 given by UNSCEAR, and theaverage concentrations of 222Rn in all the indoor surveyed
dwellings exceeded 100, 200 and 300 Bq m-3 in 49, 9 and
2% of all indoor dwellings, respectively. These results
pointed out the importance of putting in place radon
regulations and setting a national radon action plan in
Cameroon. Further studies on better radon-risk mappingand identification of radon-prone areas in Cameroon are
underway, and will be extended to other Central Africancountries in the future. In addition, the measurements of
222
Rn, 220Rn, and 220Rn progeny confirmed the importanceof considering thoron in the inhalation dosimetry of Rn

69

to avoid biasing in epidemiological studies. However,the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) Basic
Safety Standards (BSS) have considered only radon, but
not thoron in the radon regulations. Dr. Saïdouʼs worksuggested that there is an urgent need to regulate thoron
exposure at the international level, and a thoron reference
level or a combined radon-thoron reference level should
be defined. This presentation provided some interesting
discussion points for participants.
Lecture III: Current Status of ASEAN Biodosimetry
Dr. Wanwisa Sudprasert from Kasetsart University,
Thailand, gave a presentation titled “Current Status of
ASEAN Biodosimetry”.
The Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN)
Network of Regulatory Bodies on Atomic Energy(ASEANTOM) was established in 2013 with the supportof the IAEA to strengthen cooperation among ASEAN
countries and to enhance nuclear safety, security andsafeguards by complementing existing mechanisms
at the national, regional and international levels. Dr.
Sudprasert introduced the efforts made and challenges
faced in building cooperation among ASEAN countries on
biodosimetry through ASEANTOM.
Nowadays, emergency exposure accidents such as
occur with the wider use of nuclear reactors for electrical
power generation, terrorism, and medical accidents are
becoming of greater concern. Biodosimetry estimates
the radiation dose from the biological response toexposure and plays an important role in selecting
appropriate treatment for patients in the event ofsuch accidents. Therefore, biodosimetry is one of thethemes and issues that is focused on in ASEANTOM.
From 2013 to 2017, ASEANTOM member countries
organized several technical conferences, seminars, andworkshops in Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia,
and the Philippines. These activities were aimed atdeveloping human resources who have knowledge ofthe basic principles of biodosimetry and how to apply
them, and who have experience in practical training ofothers in the so-called gold standard evaluation methods.
Unfortunately, since 2017, several activities such as interlaboratory comparison exercises have not been conducted
due to various circumstances, including the lack of aclear host or key operator to lead each activity, and thelack of government funding. Thus, the activities of eachcountry separately are currently the main business of
ASEANTOM, not international cooperation between
the member countries. One example of activities thatare undertaken is the submission of papers to the IAEA
Coordinated Research Projects. In addition, members in
Thailand prepared a textbook on radiation biodosimetry,
held seminars for undergraduates to disseminate correctknowledge about biodosimetry, and conducted research

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Table 2. List of Workshop Lectures
No. Title

Presenter

Affiliation

Country1

Accelerated Propeller FSE-DWI with Locally Low Rand
Regularized Reconstruction

Dr. Uten Yarach

Chiang Mai University

Thailand2

Limited-data Computed Tomography (CT) reconstruction using
iterative reconstruction algorithms for a reduced radiation dose

Dr. Manasavee Lohvithee

Chulalongkorn University

Thailand3

Service-learning Experiences of Nursing Students who participatedin Health Consultations in X Town, Fukushima Prefecture with
Prolonged Evacuation

Mr. Naoya In

Hirosaki University

Japan

4

Motor problems and atypical sensory processing profiles inpreschoolers with developmental coordination disorder

Dr. Misaki Mikami

Hirosaki University

Japan

5

Effect of Low-Dose Radiation on Binding Affinity of Vanillic Acid
to Human Serum Albumin: Preliminary study

Ms. Ohnmar Myint

Khon Kaen University

Thailand6

Effects of Quercetin on adipogenesis by studying the metabolic
profiles by NMR

Mrs. Aye Thindar Moe
Moe

Chiang Mai University

Thailand7

Cadmium-exposed cell-derived extracellular vesicles disrupt
osteoblast differentiation and osteoclast functions

Dr. Wataru Miyazaki

Hirosaki University

Japan

8

Cell killing effect of 60 MeV protons at Ultra-high dose rate.

Mr. Yota Hiroyama

Hirosaki University

Japan

9

Assessment of Freshwater Reservoir Sediment Accumulation Rateusing Natural Radionuclide

Dr. Supitcha Chanyotha

Chulalongkorn University

Thailand10

Fiber optically coupled radioluminescence detectors: Developments
toward reference-class radiotherapy dosimetry

Dr. Siritorn Buranurak

Khon Kaen University

Thailand11

Comparative properties of lead-free X-ray shielding natural rubber
latex (NRL) gloves containing nano-Bi2O3 fillers: radiation andsulfur curing systems

Mr. Arkarapol Thumwong

Kasetsart University

Thailand

12

Sophistication for Environmental Radiation Monitoring using
Majority-Logic

Mr. Ryohei Yamada

Hirosaki University

Japan

to develop dose-response curves for individual dosimetry
methods.
These activities make great sense in developing young
skilled professionals as the numbers of experienced
workers continue to decline, and for making biodosimetrya more reliable dosimetry technique by sharing
information with many countries. Biodosimetry is themost important means of looking at the biologicalresponse of exposed patients, and its estimation methods
are constantly being updated. Dr. Sudprasert encouraged
the young persons attending the symposium to takethe initiative in participating in this kind of activity.
She also expressed the strong hope that international
ASEANTOM activities will restart after the pandemic is
over.
Lecture IV : Bio- and Environmental Monitoring o f
Radioisotopes under the Shadow of COVID-19?
The session by Dr. Tibor Kovács from University ofPannonia, Hungary was entitled “Bio- and Environmental
Monitoring of Radioisotopes under the Shadow of
COVID-19?” and given on the second day of ESRAH. He
presented an interdisciplinary study on the migration
characteristics of natural and artificial radionuclides
in several different environmental compartments andvarious plants and animals. The research was conductedin collaboration with international research partners inJapan, Kazakhstan, Morocco, Vietnam, and elsewhere,
and it covered multiple climates, a variety of vegetables
and animals such as seafood and saprophytes, anda variety of transuranic elements. This research isintended to provide resources for the developmentof newer and better modeling sof tware that canaccurately estimate uptake pathway doses. The transfer
coefficients currently used in dosimetry models dependon lifestyle, such as occupation, time spent indoors, diet,agriculture, and animal husbandry. There are many
uncertainties including limited information on climatesand underestimation of combination of factors suchas animals, plant, and radionuclide. These old transfer
coefficients required to be reviewed or updated to correctsuch uncertainties and reflect measurement technologies
and computer modeling.
4. Summary of workshop lectures
Multiple topics were presented by young scientists fromThailand and Japan (Table 2). This year, presentations
covered not only radiation research, but also humanhealth and medical research. The presenters (Table 2,
Nos. 1, 2) who studied magnetic resonance imaging (MRI)
and computed tomography (CT) images introduced aRyo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

better imaging method than the conventional one. One
imaging method of MRI called “Propeller FSE-DWI1” hasbeen a method of choice in particular for Cholesteatoma
although there are some problems such as prolonged
scan time, low signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and phasevariations among the blades. Presenter 1 showed that the
locally low rank (LLR) technique that does not require
phase calibration, can be used to recover a complete
image without using explicit prior knowledge of the phase
information, making it better than standard reconstruction
methods. This technique should be capable of increasing
the diagnostic performance at MRI tumors near an air/tissue interface. In addition, one direction of the researchin the field of medical imaging is to reduce the radiationdose while maintaining the quality of images. Presenter 2
suggested that using iterative reconstruction algorithms
provides better performance against noise and limited
projections compared with conventional algorithms.
The results of this research will help to reduce theradiation dose and preserve the quality of images. In
the studies related with human health (Table 2, Nos.
3, 4), speakers introduced service-learning experiencesof nursing students in Fukushima Prefecture and thedevelopmental coordination disorder (DCD) in children.
Research in human health provided new findings ofinterest to workshop participants, although not connected
to radiation topics. A study (Table 2, No. 5) focusing on
low dose radiation (LDR) introduced the effect of LDR
on human serum albumin (HSA) profile. HSA is the mostabundant plasma protein and plays an important role intransportation of a variety of compounds13). Presenter 5
showed that LDR enhances binding affinity between HSA
and vanillic acid, which shows an anti-oxidant and an antiinflammatory effect13). This finding showed a benefit of
LDR. A study about FLASH radiotherapy, which is a hot
topic in the field of radiotherapy, was presented (Table
2, No. 8). The presenter showed the biological effect ofproton FLASH irradiation in a mammalian cell line. Twopresenters (Table 2, Nos. 6, 7) who study in vitro biology
described the effects of quercetin and cadmium (Cd) on
mammalian cell lines. Quercetin is the most common
flavanol and found in fruits. Here, it was presented thatquercetin enhances the adipogenesis process, acting as
an effective agent to mitigate obesity. Cd is a toxic heavy
metal that causes bone diseases, although the mechanism
is still unclear. Extracellular vesicles (EVs) have been
determined to have efficiency for diagnosis and treatment
of several diseases14). The presenter 7 showed that thetransport of cytotoxic factors by EVs including exosomes
is involved in suppression of osteoblast differentiation by
Cd, providing researchers with better understanding of
the role of EVs in bone diseases.
Presenter 10 (Table 2, No. 10) focused on radiotherapy
dosimetry in which she introduced an in-house developed

71

Fig. 4. The percentage of posters presented in three research
categories.

fiber detector system based on two fibers opticallycoupled luminescence phosphors (radioluminescence
detectors). The presenter discussed the potential useof these detectors for reference-class dosimetry inradiotherapy. Presenter 9 (Table 2, No. 9) evaluatedsediment accumulation rates (SARs) and demonstrated
that the relationship between the ages and massaccumulation rates (MARs) of sediments reflected
the impact of human activities on land use and thedevelopment of the area around a water reservoir
over its lifespan. The study findings showed that theoriginal assumption of the land use and development
had been underestimated. In presentation 11 (Table 2,
No. 11), the obtained data demonstrated that natural
rubber latex gloves containing nano-Bi2O3 fillers werea novel radiation shielding material. The nano-Bi2O3
content led to increases in the X-ray attenuation, tensile
modulus at 500% elongation, and density. In the study
on countermeasures for false alarms of a dust monitor(Table 2, No. 12), development of a new algorithm whichmakes it possible to operate the monitor with fewer false
alarms was described. These studies provided importantdevelopments and data for all radiation users.
This workshop session provided an opportunity foryoung researchers and graduate students to present theirown research findings. The discussion and exchange ofviews on their findings seemed to provide a new stimulus
for future research development.
5. Summary of poster presentations
Seventeen people from four countries, Japan, Thailand,
Cameroon, and Indonesia, made poster presentations. The
percentages of posters for the three research categories
are shown in Figure 4. Radiation biology research
represented the biggest percentage of posters, and theresearch was related to the effects of radiation in vivo.
We provided a poster channel within Microsoft
Teams and posters were uploaded there. We prepared3-minute video presentation to provide young researcher

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Ryo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

participants with an understanding of how to prepare
good poster explanations. At ESRAH2020, we havechanneled each presenter to allow time for discussion;
however, there were some problems such as the timeand effort required to move between each channel, andthe differences of the level of activity of discussion ineach channel were observed. Therefore, for the actual
poster session at ESARH2021, presenters introduced
their poster with the 3-minute poster introduction video
and the presentation videos and the posters were posted
on Microsoft Teams. The detailed video explanations of
the posters gave participants a better understanding of
the poster contents. Moreover, the Q & A session washeld in chat or by contacting the presenter separately.
This initiative has also improved problems such as noiseor poor audio through microphones. The poster session
was very meaningful in terms of sharing information,
developing research ideas, and strengthening personal
networks among young researchers.
6. Problems encountered in the online symposium
At ESRAH2021, we shared the files such as program,
abstract format, and other announcements using
OneDrive instead of the conference website, which
made the conference run more smoothly than last year.
However, there were some problems in this symposium.
As organizers we encountered various unforeseen
circumstances and problems we were unprepared for,especially when it was the actual time for three of thefour lecture sessions. In this section, first we discuss thebiggest problem encountered at the time of the lectures:
Internet connections. Then we describe some problems
we encountered before the actual symposium andworkshop: arrangement and organization issues.
The biggest problem: Internet connections
The online Lecture I by Dr. Basile was delayed by about
an hour due to connection trouble. However, we were able
to proceed smoothly due to the flexible choice of holding
a poster session first. This was made possible by theclose cooperation between the chairs and the organizing
committee. Before the start of this lecture, the chairs
were informed of the connection trouble the speaker was
having and the chairs shared the countermeasures to betaken when the presenter could not log in. Then, we wereable to respond flexibly.
Until COVID-19 disappears or becomes commonplace
like a cold, international conferences are going to beheld online. Since the people involved in conference
operations may not be in the same place as in this case,
it is important to make an environment wherein people
can communicate at any time. On the other hand, such a
malfunction can be prevented by performing a connection

check before the symposium starts. It is necessary to
open a session room allowing testing of connections by
the day before the actual conference start, and for theattendants (especially the presenters) to test actively andconfirm that there is no problem with their connections.
Attendants and organizers were looking forward tohearing Lecture II by Dr. Saïdou on his latest researchbut unfortunately, he was unable to give his presentation
himself. He could not share his presentation file on
Microsoft Teams due to a poor Internet connection. So, we
contacted Dr. Wanwisa Sudprasert scheduled for Lecture
III, and swapped the order of presentation with Dr.
Saïdou, thereby avoiding a major delay in the first dayʼs
meeting. In spite of such supports, Dr. Saïdou could notshare again the next day. Therefore, we first contacted
Dr. Tibor, the final presenter of the Educational Lecture,and swapped the order of presentation as we did the day
before. Fortunately, one of his collaborators was enrolled
at Hirosaki University and we were able to overcome
this difficulty by asking the collaborator to carry out thepresentation on Dr. Saïdouʼs behalf.
We were able to deal with this problem appropriately
by communicating wit h t he administration andchairpersons. If there are multiple chairpersons at theonline meeting, it is best to be in the same location as
much as possible so that they can work together anddeal with any problems. By the day of the conference,
conducting it may proceed more smoothly if the main
participants can access the URL for attending theconference and perform a connection test.
Contacting participants
It is necessary to contact the presenters to ensure thesmooth running of the online symposium. If organizers do
not receive the necessary presentation files from lecturers
by the deadline, they have to contact the lecturers. Thisis a very important step needed to prepare the program
and timetable, and avoid network trouble on the day.
However, it was not easy to contact speakers from outside
the university, especially from abroad because this
symposium was organized and run mainly by graduate
students with little experience in such matters. This
caused problems such as presenters misunderstanding thetime of their presentations due to lack of communicationand confirmation. In this symposium, by changing theorder of presentation through contacting other presenters
we were able to overcome this problem. The best way
to avoid this problem is for the organizers to make surethat all participants can be contacted by e-mail or phone,and to keep in close contact with them until the dayof the presentation. We realized that it is necessary to
prepare alternative contingency plans. When symposiums
are held locally with face-to-face contact, schedules canbe change more easily. We found this difficulty when

Ryo Nakayama et al./ Radiation Environment and Medicine 2022 Vol.11, No.2 66–74

participants were attending online at locations physically
far away from each other.
The setting of a registered e-mail address
Some participants were unable to attend the meeting
via the link which we sent. This is a critical issue thatwas caused by the participants having registered witha different address to the one they normally used forMicrosoft Teams. If a Teams user has not signed outof the account normally used, the provided link is sent
automatically to the account normally used, not the
symposium group address, even if the later address was
registered by the organizers. Participants needed to signout of the account normally used, and sign in with theaddress registered for the symposium. If this procedure
was not followed, participants were unable to access themeeting channel through the link sent according to thesymposium registration. This problem was solved byasking participants to re-register with the e-mail address
which they normally used for Microsoft Teams.
Furthermore, it is necessary to ask all participants totest that they are able to attend via the sent link once
before the symposium starts. However, participants
who are familiar with Microsoft Teams did not performthe pre-testing even if the organizers specifically asked
them to do so. How to getting this pre-testing done byexperienced Teams users is a future challenge.
Changing the display name of participants
The registered names of the participants must be in
English in order to be recognizable to all. However,the display name (Fig. 3) is tied to the e-mail address
registered with the organization at which the symposium
organization is affiliated, and once registered, the display
name cannot be changed without permission from thisorganization. The corresponding organization in thissociety is Hirosaki University. For this reason, participants
whose original name spelling is not in English must ask
their organization to correct their registration spellingat least three days before the symposium starts. This isbecause it takes about three days for changes to takeeffect. To solve this problem, we should set the closing
deadline that allows sufficient time for e-mail address andname confirmation after registration, and figure out if
participants are already registered with the organization(The corresponding organization in this society is
Hirosaki University).
7. Conclusions
In this report, we discussed the methods and problemsof running an online international symposium. We saw
clearly that online meeting is an innovative system thatallows people from all over the world to share knowledge

73

and information without the burden of traveling to acommon site. On the other hand, the online system alsobrought its special problems to holding the conference.
The present symposium and workshop were run by
students, and their experiences in such work are limited.
We have written this report in the hope of providing
useful information for eliminating obstacles to holding
symposiums using online conference tools in the future.
Acknowledgements
We would like thank the graduate students of Hirosaki
University and Hokkaido University who cooperated in
the organization of ESRAH2021.
Authors Contribution
Conceptualization: [Masahiro Hosoda, Hiroyuki Date],
Writing the draft: [Ryo Nakayama, Yoshiaki Satoand Kazuki Hasegawa, Kai Takebayashi, Hikari Sato,Eka Djatnika Nugraha, Yoshie Yachi, Ryosuke Seino,
Tomoya Yamashita, Hiroaki Mori, Chutima Kranrod],
Methodology: [Ryo Nakayama, Yoshiaki Sato, Kazuki
Hasegawa], Supervision: [Masahiro Hosoda].
Funding
This international symposium was supported by Strategic
Theme 3: “International Education and Research Projectbased for Safety & Security on Radiation Medicine”,
Hirosaki University, Japan.
Conflict of Interest Disclosure
The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
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