Visit from Osaka University delegates

It was a great day, with the main objective being to promote cooperation in the fields of education and academic research. Meeting with the Finance Department enabled discussions around acquiring research funds and long-term funding strategies, as well as much more.

Edinburgh is the most popular university destination for Japanese students in Scotland and the eighth most popular UK university. 147 Japanese students enrolled at Edinburgh in 2017/18, and Edinburgh has student exchange agreements with 18 Japanese universities.

The University works closely with colleagues from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) to ensure that our staff have access to funding opportunities to support collaborative activity both in Japan and with Japanese colleagues.

Image

Notable Projects 

• In 2018, we joined the Japan-UK Research and Education Network for Knowledge and Economy Initiatives (RENKEI), a network of universities in the UK and Japan aiming to further knowledge exchange and research collaboration between institutions and individuals. The main research themes are Climate Change and Health. In November 2018, colleagues will attend the RENKEI conference in Tokyo where the priorities for collaboration over the period 2018-2022 will be announced. Following the conference, Edinburgh is leading on the delivery of a researcher networking event with Newcastle and Kyoto around the theme of climate change.  

• Japanese philanthropist Dr Haruhisa Handa established the Handa Chair of Japanese-Chinese Relations at the University of Edinburgh in 2010. His philanthropy and humanitarian work was recognised by the university when he was rewarded with an honorary degree in 2015.

• National Museum of Ethnology (Minpaku): In May 2010 an institutional agreement was signed in Edinburgh with the National Museum of Ethnology, a comprehensive research museum with approximately 60 academic researchers specialising in ethnology and related fields.

• Tsukuba University: Following a UK-Japan high level partnering initiative led by the British Council in 2009, the University of Edinburgh was matched with Tsukuba University, one of Japan’s leading comprehensive universities, where a range of collaborative activity was already taking place. The institutional agreement with Tsukuba was officially signed in April 2010 and collaborative activity is now on-going in medicine, informatics, physics and geosciences.

• Nagoya University: In September 2014, President Hamaguchi and VP Mary Bownes signed an agreement on the back of a visit from Jon Turner to Nagoya University in January 2014, working on a consultancy project in association with the British Council Japan, exploring options for integrating transferable skills training into doctoral education and doctoral training. The consultancy work included running a 3 day workshop for doctoral students in Nagoya and a roundtable discussion with academic staff.

• RIKEN GSC: In November 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific Cooperation between RIKEN Genomic Sciences Research Complex (GSC) and the University of Edinburgh was agreed. The Memorandum was signed as an extension of existing collaboration between the Computational Systems Biology Group (University of Edinburgh) and RIKEN GSC.

• SBGN: In February 2006, a Memorandum of Understanding on Scientific Cooperation between the Systems Biology Institute (Tokyo) and the University of Edinburgh was signed to collaborate in the development of drug discovery and disease treatment approaches.

• Osaka University: An Understanding of Academic Exchange was signed in 2014 between the Teaching and Learning Support Centre of Osaka University at the Institute for Academic Development at the University of Edinburgh

• Kyoto University: The University has an MOU with Kyoto University where research bodies at both universities will collaborate in the field of regenerative medicine.