Insights from International Students
Rural Environment Management

G.L.E.P. Perera
Sri Lanka

Join us to explore the wonder in science

I am a doctoral student who received my master's degree from Okayama University. My existence in thisbeautiful country gave me many chances of exciting academic and social adventures. Attending this university
to achieve my aspirations was the best move I've ever made in my life. My study focuses on sedimentmanagement, specifically by using microbial fuel cells to control phosphorus release from sediment ineutrophic lakes while producing bio-electricity. Prediction of greenhouse gas emissions from organic fertilizers
in agricultural soil, effects of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems, carbon sequestration, and the role ofcleaning crops in soil nutrient management are just examples of fascinating interdisciplinary approaches in ourlaboratory under Prof. Maeda's guidance. Our laboratory hosts international collaborative research platforms
to broaden up the insight of soil management strategies and provides advance technological appliances to beefficient with resources.
I can guarantee you that being a part of our laboratory family, where you can experience a wide range ofcultures, faiths, and languages, will motivate you to value diversity and inclusivity throughout your studies. Puton wings to your ambition of becoming a researcher if you are a prospective applicant still considering a wellknown university to pursue your further education. We eagerly await your arrival in the land of Sakura.

Environmental Ecology

Spend a meaningful research life in Okayama

Okayama City is absolutely a nice place for your study life, not only the nice sight, simple folk, but the mostimportantly, there are only few natural disasters. If you come to Okayama area, whether it is from the quality ofeducation, the strength of teachers, to the college comprehensive strength, I believe that Okayama University
is your best choice. I am here to conduct research on high value-added crops in impoverished areas of China.
While understanding how local farmers improve their lives through planting and promoting their successfulexperience. Thanks to excellent professors and perfect research conditions, I can do my investigation withouta hitch. In our Resource Management Course, two professors are always there to help and support you. We
are looking forward for you to join us.

RuoYu Liu
China

Environmental Ecology

ABI YASI
China

Human Ecology

SeptianRahardiantoro
Indonesia

Enjoying Research in Okayama University

My hometown is Inner Mongolia, which is in the northwestern part of China. It has vast grasslands, but also
plagued by grassland degradation and desertification. It’s been revealed that these problems are mainly
caused by overgrazing, climate change etc. Therefore, I chose this course to keep my research on thesustainable development of grassland ecosystem.
In this course, we focus on the reasonable allocation and use of regional resources, to aim to create asustainable development society. This course objectively explains food, rural and agricultural issues based on
various data and discusses the causes of those issues based on economic theory.
During the research in our course, my favorite part is field survey. In this part, while gathering data, I can also
get a large amount of knowledge I've never seen or heard from local farmer or herder.
In addition, we have great supervisor here who helps me open up my vision and let me understand the fun ofdata analysis.
As society develops, it is essential to ensure the sustainable use of resources in the future through appropriate
resource management, and the research of sustainable development will play an important role in the future.
In my case, keep research on the sustainable development of grassland ecosystem is the best way tocontribute to SDGs.

Environmental statistics for better life
Hello, my name is Septian Rahardiantoro. I have been a lecturer of the Department of Statistics Bogor
Agricultural University, which is currently known as IPB University, Indonesia. Now, I am a sophomore student
in the doctoral program at Environmental Science Division, Department of Human Ecology, The Graduate
School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University Japan. My research area is environmental
statistics under the supervision of Prof. SAKAMOTO Wataru. The reason why I chose this program is because
I wanted to apply statistical science to the environmental field, which later could be useful for analyzing
environmental problems in Indonesia, and amazingly Okayama University offers it. In this program, I wasintroduced to various issues regarding environmental problems that Japan has experienced along with varioussolutions. I also gained knowledge on how to develop myself so that I could provide innovations in useful
research in the environmental field.
My research topic relates to the development of models that can be applied to environmental data. With
excellent discussion and guidance from my supervisor, I believe my research will do well.

Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University81

Sustainable Society Studies

Dang Chi Anh
Vietnam

I am currently studying for a PhD in Urban Transport major at Okayama University. Okayama University is thelargest university in the prefecture, the campus is located near the city center. From the dormitory in TsushimaCampus, you can go to the central station, shopping, dining, and entertainment areas by a bicycle in justseveral minutes. Thanks to the location in the Chugoku region, Okayama Prefecture is a place with a warm
climate, little rain and almost no natural disasters. Okayama is well-known for the story of Momotaro andmany delicious fruits such as peaches and Muscat grapes. There are more than 30,000 foreigners living inOkayama and the local government attaches great importance to supporting foreigners in their lives. The City
Council of Foreigners, which I am one of the members, often makes recommendations to make the city morelivable place for foreigners.
Currently, I am researching on Ride Sharing and its impact on urban transport. In the future, Self-driving car
and Ride Sharing expected to bring many conveniences to human life and have a great impact on the city’sappearance.

Material and Energy Science

Huang Haizhi
China

Bangladesh

Syria

82

Glycobiology for better future in our life

Our course ‘‘Biofunctional Chemistry’’ is consists of three major field, such as organic chemistry, biochemistry,and microbiology. I belong to the laboratory of functional glycobiochemistry. In my PhD thesis I have purified
peanuts allergen Ara h 1.
I have analyzed the N-terminal amino acid sequences and identified new subunit which is 54 kDa Ara h 1.
I have analyzed the structural features of N-glycan linked to Ara h 1. I have also learned molecular biology
such as gene cloning for the expression of a gene encoding β-xylosidase. If you join this course, you will geta broad range of knowledge related to agricultural chemistry.
I choose this course because my aim was to study the field of glycobiological science in a well facilitatedlaboratory. Since joining the research group, I can easily access to new technologies which enable me toachieve my goal. I hope I will get more knowledge about glycobiology by the end of my PhD thesis. In thefuture when I come back to my country, I want to find a job as a researcher in the field of pharmaceuticalcompany and food production company.
Moreover, it is important for human being the relationship between plants, animal, bacteria, and theirenvironment. The benefit of studying in my course is able to explain the phenomena by the analysis of
micromolecules to macromolecules such as carbohydrate, protein, and DNA .

Plant Stress ScienceAreej SAKKOUR

Aim high with my research life in Okayama

I was born in a small city in China. I had a strong interest in science since I was a child. My dream was to bea scientist when I was in middle school. After graduating from university with a bachelor degree, in order togain a higher quality in research, I thought studying abroad and getting a master’s degree was essential. After
careful investigation and several communications with professors, I thought Okayama University would besuitable for my research. And after more than two years of studying, I can say that what I got from my learning
experience in Okayama University is not just a profession, but also diversification and a higher vision of mylife.
My course is mainly about Ceramic Materials and my major research is developing a reliable method toimmobilize high-level radioactive waste from nuclear power plants by using glass-based materials. As for whyI chose this course, it is because I think this material is a key technology for solving environmental problems
and achieving sustainable development for human beings.
Even though I don’t know when I can achieve my childhood dream of becoming a scientist, there is no doubtthat my dream has taken me one step further because I chose to study at Okayama University.

Biofunctional Chemistry

Md.
Asaduzzaman

The most liveable city to research and live in Japan

Heterosis analysis of barley

I belong to the Genome Diversity group in IPSR. We are interested in evaluating and preserving barleygenetic resources and the application of genome diversity. My research aims to uncover the genetic
mechanism of heterosis in barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) to utilize this advantage to increase biomass
production and minimize carbon dioxide in our environment. My work involves phenotypic evaluation, whichenabled me to gain experience with the plant in the field. In addition to skills in Molecular Biology, DataAnalysis, and Population Genetics, I got due to the support of our laboratory experts. Where I come from, werely on cereal crops as the primary food resource. All that encouraged me to become a barley breeder. I tooka step to accomplish my Ph.D. in IPSR because it has a high reputation as a representative gene bank of thebarley secondary diversity center of East-Asia. Also, it contributes to valuable scientific output. Not to mention
the privilege of working with well-known scientists guided by Prof. Sato. Over the last decades, meetingthe demand of population nutrition necessity has become significantly at risk due to the climate changes
threatening the future of food security. Therefore, unlocking plant genetic potentials will benefit our generationand the planet's future. To live in Japan as a MEXT Student benefit my experience in language, culture, andmaking memories. So far, it has been the highlight of my life.

Genetic Diversity in African Melon

Plant Science

Imoh Odirichi
Nnennaya
Nigeria

I study the genetic variations embedded amongst melon varieties especially from Africa, since it’s been
revealed that Cucumis melo is very much genetically diverse. Africa is said to be one of the centers of origin
for Cucumis melo species and this has sparked up series of questions that needs to be resolved. Hencethe reason this study is necessary to assist in bridging the gap of knowledge about the evolution of melon
varieties.
I chose this field of study because I realized there is so much mystery yet to be discovered in plants generally
and melon with all its different traits/ characteristics avails me the opportunity to learn and try to discover things
for my self.
The use of phylogenetics helps in discovering issues related to the evolutionary history of plants and with thisinformation, scientists make better decision on how best to conduct breeding activities. This is very beneficial
to the world at large because when scientists are able to make profitable decisions about plants, the local
farmers are able to reproduce these new findings in more convenient ways with better outputs. These benefits
also apply with melon varieties and with more research, useful discoveries will be made.

Gate to Okayama University

Animal Science

Le Nu Anh Thu
Vietnam

It has been a long and memorable path that led me to this gate. It began from the first time I visited Japan via ashort term-exchange program in Kyoto University. I had unforgettable impressions about the Japanese people
and culture as well as advanced education in Japan. That was the reason to bring me back to this country topursue the Master and PhD program.
Indeed, I have accumulated valuable experiences throughout my two years of master studying in Kyoto
University. However, I decided to move to Okayama University to pursue the PhD program. I was fortunate that I
not only gained the useful expertise and skills in this course, but also had a better opportunity to get to know thegreat friends. The Animal Genetics Laboratory has a good international flavor with many students from abroad.
We had mutual interests in research and of course, the friendship was also enhanced by the many occasions
for organizing parties that we were able to join. Moreover, the atmosphere in the land of sunshine made me feelcompletely comfortable and peaceful. I was fascinated by its natural beauty such as cycling on KIBI road full offragrant flowers, enjoying the delightful scenery surrounded by rich nature and cute animals, or picking the local
specialty fruits with affordable prices. Yes, my stay at Okayama University was a memorable experience formyself and especially for contribution in my future studying and career.

Number of International Students by Countr y and Admission Status
Country/Region
Afghanistan
Bangladesh
Cambodia
China
India
Indonesia
Iran
Iraq
Korea
Asia
Laos
Malaysia
Myanmar
Nepal
Pakistan
Sri Lanka
Syria
TaiwanThailand
Vietnam
Egypt
Ethiopia
Kenya
AfricaMoroccoNigeria
UgandaBrazilLatin America
Trinidad and Tobago
Belgium
FranceEurope
Germany
Spain
CIS
RussiaFiji
Papua New Guinea
Oceania
SolomonTonga
Vanuatu
Total

Regular Students11415161
3531233867045561916428022200001142222573

Research Students
5114011000001010110600101101000002011168

Special Audit Students
00020000000000000010000000000
60000000
9Total Number (2016-2020 Fiscal Year )Special Research Students
Total
016042170203041550102030308070701040606171199060402922030302011119190691001060203030335685

Graduate School of Environmental and Life Science, Okayama University83