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

The 8th International Roundtable Meeting（November 10 on online）

Issue ９January to December, 2020

MESSAGE from DEAN
Welcome to the 9th issue of UGSAS-GU News-On Tuesday, November 10, the United Graduate School of Agricultural Science (UGSAS; doctoral degree) hosted online roundtable meeting, "The 8thIC-GU12 Roundtable 2020" with the participation of the member schools of"International Consortium of Universities in South and Southeast Asia for
the Doctoral Education in Agricultural
Science and Biotechnology" (IC-GU 12;
comprising 20 universities from 9countries in South and SoutheastAsia).
Since the first roundtable meeting in
2012, the meetings have been held
once every year. Representatives from the IC-GU 12 member schools exchange opinions over a wide range of issues such as status and challenges in
the fields of education and research activities.
The main theme of "The 8th IC-GU12 Roundtable 2020" was "Proposals in
School Education and Responses to COVID-19." The participants discussedchanges they are experiencing after and before the outbreak of the novel
coronavirus, and future responses by member universities. Approximately 40
professors, researchers, etc. from 15 universities shared their thoughts about
the current status of individual nations, possible measures against the infections, etc. The meeting offered valuable opportunities for the participants toconsider their educational goals, initiatives and strategies in the future.

letter. I have taken over Prof. Senge to become the Dean of UGSAS (United Graduate
School of Agricultural Science, Gifu University).
I would like to express my deepest appreciation for the support and cooperation by thealumni, colleagues and friends and their continued assistance will be highly appreciate.
Well, the influence of COVID-19 that throws
the world into confusion is not negligible andrather severe in our school. E.g., some of students expected to enroll in this year had topostpone their entrance to the next year. The
overseas researches have been completely
stopped and so not a few students are afraidthat their conferment of degree might delay.
Even such a situation, 16 sister schools joined
to the roundtable of IC-GU12 held via teleconference system in November and educationand international collaboration under COVID19 were actively discussed. We concludedmore intensive educational collaboration isavailable via a teleconference system that we

UGSAS-GU＆BWEL Joint Poster Session on Agricultural and Basin Water Environmental Sciences

seldom used spontaneously before COVID-19.

（November 10 on online）

taking root. In addition, we are happy to tellAfter the meeting, anonline poster session
started (co-hosted bythe Gifu University
Rearing Program forBasin Water Environmental Leaders(BWEL)). Twenty students made presentations in three sessions for approximately 40 IC-GU 12
teaching staff and Gifu University alumni. Five students were given the bestposter prize.

that our application for the government fund ofPoster Presentation Award
Muhammad Arifin: D2
Cicih Sugianti: D2
Haoliang Cai: D2
Shiamita Kusuma Dewi : BWEL

Wenjiao Li: BWEL

The roundtable of this year reminded us ourinternational collaboration has been steadilyscholarship is accepted and then we continuously offer the chance of MEXT scholarship tothe students of IC-GU12 Universities. In thisissue, we will introduce such unique activities
to everyone who is active in Japan and overseas. I would be pleased if you give any valuable comments on the new development in our
New Normal.

Ken HIRAMATSU, PhDDean

The 5th International Conference on Climate Change(ICCC) （September 24 on online）
On Thursday, September 24, 2020, the United Graduate School of Agricultural Science (UGSAS) hosted The 5th ICCC 2020: "Lessons Learn from Covid-19
Pandemic for Climate Change
Adaption and Mitigation Strategies." This conference was jointly conducted online (via Zoom)
with the following co-hosting
universities and organizations;
・Universitas Sebelas Maret(Indonesia)
・Udayana University (Indonesia)
・Waterpedia (The Netherlands)
・Indonesia Expert Network for
Climate Change and Forestry (APIKI/Indonesia)
・The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC /Germany)
On behalf of UGSAS, Gifu University, Professor Ken Hiramatsu, UGSAS Deanand Assistant Professor Takashi Tanaka attended the conference. ProfessorHiramatsu gave an opening address and Assistant Professor Tanaka delivereda keynote speech titled, "Changes in Food Distribution & Responses in theMidst of Ongoing COVID-19 Pandemic." In the conference, in addition to eight
keynote speakers, approximately 190 people made presentations at theonline parallel sessions where participants actively engaged in discussions intheir respective fields of research.
From its founding, ICCC members keep on monitoring the impacts of climatechange on human life and the environment, pursuing ways to reduce and mitigate these impacts. In the 5th ICCC conference, participants discussed climate change issues from various viewpoints such as the environment, agriculture, laws, society, economy and culture. They also shared their thoughts
about possible impacts on climate change by the outbreak of the novel coronavirus.
The activities of ICCC have been compiled into the form of research papers,and 117 papers have been submitted for publications so far. Of them, 92 papers are to be published by IOP*, 7 papers by Journal of Sains Tanah, 5 papers by Indonesian Journal of Geography, 2 papers by Indonesian Journal ofBiotechnology, 6 papers by Agrivita Journal and 5 papers by RAS** soon. It is
our hope that ICCC successful achievements could further accelerate the advancement of climate change research by scholars and engineers in the future.
IOP*: Institute of Physics
RAS**: Reviews in Agricultural Science, an online journal started by UGSAS in2013.

Completion CeremonyMarch 13 & September 18
The number of students who received
the doctoral diploma from March toDec. 2020 are as follows;
March: 12 students（5 intel. Students included)
June.: 1 student（1）Sep.: 16 students（15）Entrance Ceremony
April 12 & October 4
UGSAS welcomed new students atthe ceremony, and the number ofstudents enrolled are as follows;
April: 16 students （2 intel. Students included)Oct.:

2 students (2)Gifu Univ.

ShizuokaUniv.

AWARD 2020
Naganawa, H., Naumova, E.Yu., Denikina, N.N., Kondratov, I.G., Dzyuba, E.V. and Iwasawa, A.
(2019). Genetic analysis of mitochondrial cytochrome oxidase I (COI) supports two aquatic faunas ofOlkhon Island (Lake Baikal) and Mongolian Gobi steppe region have a common origin.The International
Conference "Freshwater Ecosystems ― Key Problems" [Celebrating Limnology in Siberia: Commemorating the 90th Anniversary of the Limnological Institute in Irkutsk, Russia], held by the International Union for Quaternary Research, the International Association for Great Lakes Research, the Russian Ecological Society, the Russian Geographical Society, and the Japanese Society of Limnology. The Premium Award of the Best Presentation and Selected Paper.