UGSAS-GU NEWSLETTERThe United Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Gifu University

Issue 12January to December 2023

International Roundtable Meeting 2023
Nov.8

UGSAS-GU hosted the IC-GU12
Roundtable Meeting 2023 for themember universities of the South
Asia Consortiumfor Doctoral Education in Agricultural Sciences on
November
8.
There were 16 in-person
participants, including
eight liaison faculty members from the partner universities
for the first time in four years, and 13 online participants.
After the opening speech by Professor Hiramatsu, Dean ofUGSAS, King Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang was introduced as a new member of IC-GU12. Associate Professor Chairat Techavuthiporn presented the overview of KMITL, and the new membership of KMITL was approved by unanimous applause. The meeting also discussed the future of the double degree program with themember universities. A lively discussion continued between
the liaison members even after the meeting, which was avery useful opportunity to further strengthen the consortium in the future.

International Joint Lecture Series 2023 on
Agricultural Science and Biotechnology
Nov.8
After the roundtable meeting, the Joint Lecture Series
2023 was held on the theme of post-harvest engineering.
We invited Dr. Chairat Techavuthiporn from King
Mongkut's Institute of Technology, Ladkrabang, Dr.
Pongphen Jitareerat from King Mongkut's University ofTechnology, Thonburi, Dr. Khandra Fahmy from Andalas
University, and Dr. Ma Gang from Shizuoka University andasked them to give lectures on their latest research. The
audience mainly from the universities of IC-GU12, 42 inperson and 27 online, listened to their lectures carefullyand eagerly, andenthusiastic
discussions with students
followedeach lecture. This
lecture series must
be a special opportunity for students
to get in touchwith the latest research and to gain
insight into theirown research.

MESSAGE from DEAN
First of all, the term of my Deanship was scheduled to end in March
2024, but President Dr. Yoshidahas decided to extend it until
March 2026. I would like to ask foryour cooperation for the time being.
In 2023, we were able to returnsome of the IC-GU12 roundtables
to face-to-face meetings, and forthe first time in several years, wewelcomed many guests from overseas. We believe that exchanges
with excellent researchers nevertheless domestic or international
are one of the most useful ways toimprove our research capabilities,
and we believe that one of theroles of the United Graduate Schoolof Agricultural Science is to promote international exchanges inparticular. In this sense, IC-GU12
has played a significant role, and I
think it is fair to say that the cooperative and collaborative relationship with IC-GU12 member universities is a proud asset of our graduate school. I would like to express
my sincere gratitude to everyone
involved. In 2023, we discussed
educational collaboration with theUniversity of Lille in France andVytautas Magnus University in Lithuania, which will strengthen ourrelationship with Europe in addition
to the South and Southeast Asia
region we have been involved in.
The goal of our graduate school is
to enhance research capabilities,
and to contribute to education andsociety based on research capabilities. With international joint research and international joint education as a foothold, we will strive
to make our graduate school aninternational center of agriculturalresearch.

Ken Hiramatsu, Ph. D

UGSAS-GU & BWEL Joint Poster Presentation
Nov. 8Poster presentation

Award Winners"UGSAS-GU & BWEL Joint Poster Presentation on Agricultural andBasin Water Environmental Sciences 2023" was held jointly withthe university's Basin Water Environmental Leadership Development Program. This year's session was conducted in person, and18 students gave enthusiastic
presentations to the audience
including IC-GU12 liaison faculty●AWARD WINNERS●
members who visited for theRoundtable 2023. Five presentaBest Presentation Award
tions, including two best presenKOUAME KOFFI PACOME: D3tations, were awarded. The award
DANG THI KIM LIEN: D3
winners expressed their appreciation for the precious opportunity
Presentation Awardof in-person presentation, which
was difficult to have during theNATASSIA CLARA SITA: D3
Covid-19 pandemic, and for their
WANG CONGXIAO: D2
colleagues who share their hardSU HAONING: BWEL
ships in their daily research.

MEXT Scholarship
AY2024 to AY2026
The "UGSAS Fostering Leadership
Program in Agricultural Scienceand Biotechnology" has been selected as a special program togive priority for MEXT Scholarship. We will admit a few students from member universities
of IC-GU12 in our Master andDoctoral course each year fromAY 2024 to 2026. We will wait foryour nomination of outstandingstudents who are pursuing master’s or doctoral degree.

The 9th International Conference on Climate Change
Sep.27UGSAS-GU cohosted the 9th International Conference on Climate Change 2023 with Universitas Sebelas Maret (Indonesia)
and Asian Institute of Technology (Thailand). This year's conference was held at Universitas Sebelas Maret, with the themeof "Linking Climate Change
and Environmental Security"
as a hybrid of in-person andonline sessions.
FromUGSAS-GU,Prof.
Ken
Hiramatsu, Dean, gave an
opening address, and Assoc.
Prof. Takashi Tanaka gave apresentation. 164 participants attended in personand 121 participated online.

COMPLETION CEREMONYENTRANCE CEREMONYMarch 13 & September 15
Numbers of students received diploma this year:
March: 10 (4 international students included)
June: 1 （1）September: 5 (4）April 8 & October 13
Numbers of new students in 2023:
April: 22（8 international students included)
October: ８ (7）INTERNATIONAL EXCHANGE IN 2023
2023 was the year of restarting vigorous exchanges between UGSAS-GU and our partner universities. We will seek for further educational cooperation with each other.

Vytautas Magnus University
The delegation with Vice President Prof. Kanbara, Dean Prof. Hiramatsu, Vice Dean Prof.
Nakano, Vice Dean Prof. Yabe, Prof. Onishi and Prof. Imaizumi visited Vytautas Magnus
University (VMU) in Lithuania to strengthen the cooperation between the two universities.
This visit was part of the exchange between Gifu Prefecture and Lithuania, and Gifu University and VMU, which has been deepened because Chiune Sugihara, who is known forissuing visas to Jewish people in Lithuania during World War II, was born in Gifu. Bothparties confirmed that VMU and Gifu University will advance the joint degree (Cotutelle)
and future cooperation.
MarchKing Mongkut's Institute of Technology Ladkrabang
UGSAS-GU welcomed a visit of 6 members from KMITL including
Dr. Pattraphorn Patthararangsarith, Dean of the Department ofAgricultural Education, and our alumni Assoc. Prof. Chairat
Tachavuthiporn. We confirmed to sign the Memorandum of Understanding between the School of Industrial Education andTechnology and UGSAS-GU.
June 7

Mariano Marcos State University
9 members including President Dr. Shirley C. Agrupis, our alumni, and our guest professor Dr. Aquino visited Gifu University.
They had discussions with UGSAS and the United Graduate
School of Drug Discovery and Medical Information Sciences, andrenewed the Memorandum of Understanding between the twouniversities.
July 20

Thuyloi University-Our alumnae Dr. Quan, Dr. Tuan and Dr. Phuong gave special
lectures at UGSAS coordinated by the former Dean, Dr. Senge.
August 7
August 7-UGSAS-GU welcomed Vice President Dr. Viet in November, VicePresident Dr. Thai and Dr. Nga, who served as our liaison formany years, in December. We had discussions about educational
cooperation.
November 16 and December 5

Special Lecture on Agriculture Ⅲ
We invited two guest lecturers to give our students a broader perspective.
●Dr. Noor Soffalina Sofian Seng（National University of Malaysia, UKM)

May 16●Dr. Komariah (Sebelas Maret University, UNS)

May 24【AWARD WINNERS 2023】●Ke Tian, Masato Yayota (2023). Dietary grains and condensed tannin interact on goat rumen and blood OBCFA: variations in ruminal precursors made the difference. The 131st Annual Meeting of JSAS. English Presentation Award.
●Reina F. Osuka, Masamichi Nagae, Yasuhiko Kizuka (2023). Recognition of Glycoprotein Substrates by Glycosyltransferase GnT-V. Glyco26, Glyco26 Poster Awards.