President Se-Jung Oh of Seoul National University (left) and President Kiyohiro Houkin of Hokkaido University (right)

Hokkaido University (HU) and its strategic international partner Seoul National University, Korea (SNU) held the 25th joint symposium for two days on 10 and 11 November 2022, on the SNU’s Gwanak Campus. After two years online arrangement due to the spread of COVID-19, this year’s symposium was held in hybrid with encouraged on-site participation, and marked its 25th anniversary to let everyone recall the long-lasting and continuous partnership of two universities and expect possibilities in the next quarter century to come.

Attendees for the welcome reception

The theme of this year’s symposium was set as Towards a Sustainable Future: A Regional Focus.  From HU, President Kiyohiro Houkin and Executive Vice President Atsushi Yokota visited SNU together with academics and students from the Faculties of Science, Agriculture, Engineering, and Information Science and Technology, Field Science Centre for Northern Biosphere, Graduate School of Law, Institute for the Advancement of Higher Education, etc. Participants reunited with their counterparts in SNU, while there were online attendees from both universities via Zoom. As the host university for this year, SNU’s President Se-Jung Oh, Dean Theresa Seung Ah Cho and Associate Dean Bernhard Egger of International Affairs, and Vice President Haecheon Choi of Research proceeded the symposium. Plenary session included special talks to stimulate early career researchers and students: What Can Nano Do for You? by Distinguished Professor Taeghwan Hyeon of SNU, Director of the Centre for Nanoparticle Research, Korean Institute for Basic Science (IBS); and Universal Organocatalysts for a Better World by Hokkaido University Professor* Benjamin List of the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD), HU. Also, Specially-appointed Professor Masanori Yoshino of the Institute for the Promotion of Business-Regional Collaboration, HU presented his Introduction to HU’s Regional Collaborative Research Initiative on Felicity Decline to propose SNU a possible expanded collaboration with stakeholders outside the campuses.  Although Professor List’s talk was delivered as recording, Specially-appointed Assistant Professor Nobuya Tsuji of his research team answered to questions from audiences.

*The title of Hokkaido University Professor has been awarded to three distinguished professors of Hokkaido University, including Professor Benjamin List.

Distinguished Professor Taeghwan Hyeon of Seoul National University

Hokkaido University Professor Benjamin List of the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD), Hokkaido University

Specially-appointed Assistant Professor Nobuya Tsuji of the Institute for Chemical Reaction Design and Discovery (ICReDD), Hokkaido University

Specially-appointed Professor Masanori Yoshino of the Institute for the Promotion of Business-Regional Collaboration, Hokkaido University

Upon the symposium, the HU delegates visited SNU’s smart campus in Siheung, had a presidential meeting to discuss the 26th round of the symposium at HU next year, and a site visit including a VR theatre in the Central Library and the Gwanak Arboretum. Following the event, two universities dispatched their technical staff to each other; two staff members from the Sapporo Research Forest of Field Science Centre for Northern Biosphere and the Institute of Low Temperature Science, HU and two from the Academic Forest, SNU, visited their workplaces and exchanged tips and opinions on academic and student support and organising outreach events. The 26th HU-SNU Joint Symposium will be held on 26 and 27 October 2023 at HU.                        

Presidential meeting

Staff Exchange

Text and photos provided by Institute for International Collaboration