INTERVIEW: MIKI MINAMINO, IFSCC CHAIR OFEDUCATION COMMITTEE
When the IFSCC Praesidium needed a new member who could take on the role of
Education Chair, Miki Minamino seemed an obvious choice. For one thing, the Praesidium
is comprised of members representing a balance from the different zones, but also as
somebody running her own company (BelleVienus, which manufactures for the Japanesemarket) while also teaching cosmetology at Mukogawa Women’s University, Miki wasparticularly well qualified to know what the role required.

Miki Minamino, IFSCC Chair of Education

Why is education so important to you?
I really enjoy the teaching side and get a lot out of it. My students in Japan are pharmacy
students and they don’t generally know how cosmetics are made. Cosmetics are suchemotional products and my students are always amazed. I give them the information tounderstand and choose the right products for themselves but at the same time I learn agreat deal from them about current trends among young consumers.
Why is education so important for the IFSCC?
Education is of the utmost importance. We have 47 member countries, many of which aresmall and developing. Helping to advance the level of science in these countries to makethem more equivalent with some of the others makes education one of the most important
things for the IFSCC. We have the awards but many of them are really for leading
scientists. For the whole Federation to advance it is really important to provide adequate
education.

How does the IFSCC education programme work?
We have four key areas:International Speakers Programme

Education Day

Education Workshop (at conference)Ecaterina Merica Cosmetic Education ProgrammeInternational Speakers Programme (ISP)
This involves the IFSCC sending a speaker to a local event, covering the speaker’s travel
costs. This used to be available only for smaller member societies of less than 300
members but the opportunity was opened up to all member societies in 2013; in fact the US
already took advantage of this and had and IFSCC ISP speaker at an event last year.
While we are trying to develop smaller societies, other societies are paying the same to bemembers of the Federation so it was decided that larger societies should also be given theopportunity to request speakers.
As part of our ISP programme this year we funded Professor Robert Lochhead’sattendance at the Dutch Society’s one-day intensive course on polymers in cosmetics inJanuary, and Dr Alain Khaiat’s involvement at the 12th Biannual Asian Societies of
Cosmetic Scientists Conference in Cairns, Australia in April. In October 2015 we plan tosend a speaker to Russia as part of this programme.
To take advantage of the ISP a society needs to apply to have a speaker on a particular
topic [request forms available here] and we will source appropriate speakers for thesuccessful applications.
Education Day
We often hold the Education Day alongside the spring (mid-year) meeting of thePraesidium, sometimes in a fairly small country while sometimes the location is chosen witha particular objective in mind; for example, checking out facilities for a future IFSCC
Conference or Congress.
In 2012 we went to Guangzhou (China) invited by the Hong Kong Society, at which point
we decided to make sense of our involvement with societies by committing to three years’support, if required. This year we held our spring meeting alongside the 12th Biannual
ASCS Conference in Australia. We didn’t organise an Education Day but we did provide
three speakers for the ASCS event (Jürgen Lademann, Martha Tate and ClaudieWillemin).

Education Workshops (at Conference)
We often provide speakers for pre-conference workshops but our assistance was not
requested for Switzerland this year. We helped out with Brazil in 2013 and Thailand in2011.
Ecaterina Merica Cosmetic Education ProgrammeThis exciting programme was developed in 2009 to help bring science education toeconomically challenged societies. We cover all expenses for two full days and twospeakers. We didn’t actually receive any requests for the programme this year but we have
had requests from two countries in zone 3 for 2016: Peru and Uruguay.
How do you select speakers for the different programmes?
Our budget is quite tight at the moment but we want to carry on with these importanteducation programmes. As the biggest cost is travel, it makes sense to try and find suitablespeakers from within the same zone as the country applying. For example, the Praesidium
will hold its spring meeting in Korea next year and they have a one day conference theywould like us to be involved with. They are looking for two speakers so it is likely that wewill invite and support speakers from Japan.
It does take a lot of time to organise speakers and all that goes along with this. It would begood to build a panel of speakers, but again this is not without complications. We haveused several speakers on a number of occasions; Judi Beerling and Dr Luigi Rigano havebeen very popular speakers and of course the late Dr Johann Wiechers, who did so muchfor the Federation. We certainly want to get others involved.
You are in your third and final year on the Praesidium. What happens next?
I am very happy to help whoever takes over from me as Chair of Education. I’ve worked
very hard to reform and make improvements to the previous system and the person taking
over from me will first need to understand the philosophy of the current system.
I feel proud of what we’ve done with education. Doing something for somebody else is very
rewarding; I had a lot to contribute but I’ve also learnt a lot. I’m also proud to have been an
IFSCC Praesidium member, representing my country.
News Date: 22/08/2015 11:00