Fourth Yearly School on February 27th-28th, 2025
On February 27, 2025, the IRTG PIs, Doctoral and Associated Researchers together attended the fourth Yearly School for two days in Osaka, Japan. This last Yearly School for the 2nd cohort consisted of project presentations, an invited talk and some cultural activities around Osaka.
The Yearly School was kicked off by our IRTG director Prof. Dr. Kyle G. Webber and new co-director Prof. Dr. Koichi Hayashi who welcomed everyone. Almost all FAU PIs and doctoral researchers travelled to Japan for this Yearly School.
After a touching memorial session in honour of and for late Professor Masaaki Haneda from Project L, the doctoral researchers competed for the best presentation in parallel sessions. While having a wonderful view over Osaka, the PhD students presented their results and successes in the individual projects from A-L and confidently answered all questions posed by the plenary. Similar to the previous Yearly Schools, prizes were awarded to three doctoral researchers for their efforts in the categories „Best Communication“, „Best Effort“ and „Highest Impact“ during the Joint Dinner, after watching a traditional Noh dance performance by Mr. Maeda. This was a valuable experience for the participants, who could experience a small insight into the deeply attached traditions of Japan.
On the second day, Noh performer Mr. Noboru Maeda from SOKEN Corporation gave an opening lecture on air affects and aerodynamics, followed by presentations by the teams of the interdisciplinary collaborative projects. After some final remarks, we had the opportunity to visit Osaka Castle to promote cultural exchange. Such an exchange represents the respective culture to other IGK2495 participants and helps opening communications and strengthening friendships between FAU and NITech members as well as promoting intercultural awareness and understanding.
Back in Nagoya at the NITech campus, Tutorials and Hands-on-Workshops on various topics for the doctoral students took place and an interesting workshop on Gender Diversity/Equity was held by Prof. Mayumi Saegusa from Nagoya University as final program. This part of the qualification programme aims at exposing participants to new ideas, methods, and materials in a compact, yet engaging way whilst being a theoretical and practical training.
This years‘ Yearly School was wonderfully planned by our partner university in Nagoya and we are looking forward to further encounters and experiences together! The next Kick-Off-Meeting will be held in Germany as of 2026.
