The NAIST Thailand Office was established in the Faculty of Engineering at Kasetsart University in March 2017 and has since played a significant role in the recruitment of foreign students, the organization of internships, and the development of partnerships with other Asian universities for the purposes of education and research collaboration.
Its fifth anniversary is being celebrated this year, and on September 6, 2022, a symposium in the theme “Towards the Post-Pandamic New Normal” was conducted to share educational and research cooperation as well as student, professor, and staff exchanges with Thai partner universities.
To kick off the symposium, Dr Masako Shimamoto, NAIST’s global engagement officer, gave the opening remarks, while Prof Jun Ohta, executive director/vice president for research and international affairs at NAIST, gave a remembrance speech in honour of Prof Putchong Uthayopas. Assoc Prof Dr Peerayuth Charnsethikul, dean of the Faculty of Engineering, and Mr Takeshi Uchida, first secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Thailand, also gave their welcome remarks to the attendees.
The first session consisted of information about NAIST’s various research collaborations with universities in Thailand, including Chulalongkorn University, Chiang Mai University, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and Mahidol University.
This was followed by a session on KU-NAIST collaboration in the area of information science, with topics ranging from advanced robotics to software engineering. It was chaired by Prof. Kenichi Matsumoto of NAIST.
The third session, led by NAIST’s Prof Hiroshi Takagi, provided the attendees with updates on joint research work performed by NAIST and Thai universities in the field of biological science.
Subsequently, a session on collaboration in the area of materials science was chaired by NAIST’s Prof. Jun Ohta. He emphasized the strong collaboration in materials science between NAIST and KU. After this, Dr. Nattakarn Wuthibenjaphonchai, a NAIST alumnus working as an image sensor development engineer at Sony Corporation, described the transition from academic to corporate R&D.
In the final session, led by Dr. Masako Shimamoto, a presentation of new initiatives to expand the collaboration with NAIST was given by Prof Kenichi Matsumoto, director of the NAIST Thailand Office. He announced the establishment of the NAIST Thai Virtual Office.
Throughout this symposium several Thai professors, lecturers and PhD students mentioned in their presentations how beneficial and stimulating their research work at NAIST in Japan has been. In conclusion, Dr. Teerapong Buaboocha of Chulalongkorn University’s Department of Biochemistry gave the closing remarks.
Nara Institute of Science and Technology (NAIST) is a Japanese university located in Kansai Science City, near Osaka and Kyoto. Founded in 1991, NAIST consists of graduate schools in three areas: information science, biological science, and materials science. NAIST is extremely active in international exchange and research.