Diversity
and Super Global Training Program
for Female and Young Faculty

On July 30th of 2020, the Kick-off Meeting was held from 10:00 to 12:00 for the 2nd Trainees of “Diversity and Super Global Training Program for Female and Young Faculty (SENTAN-Q )”. After having been selected for funding under MEXT’s 2019 Initiative for Realizing Diversity in the Research Environment, the program launched with an aim of identifying and nurturing female and young faculty members, who have shown outstanding academic performances to be attractive and competitive in the world’s academic research.

The Kick-off Meeting was held for raising the awareness of objectives and contents of SENTAN-Q among attendees including those who are interested in the program before the 2nd trainees start their curriculum from the beginning of August. With the outbreak of novel coronavirus epidemic, the meeting was conducted online using ZOOM meeting application and was attended by more than 40 people from both outside and inside the university.

President Chiharu Kubo opened the proceedings with a congratulatory address to the trainees and his expectation to their future success. He also expressed his gratitude for the guests outside the university. Greetings were then extended to the trainees by Mr. Fumihiro Arizono, Office of Human Resources Development for Science and Technology, Human Resources Policy Division, Science and Technology Policy Bureau, MEXT. He congratulated the trainees and expressed his expectation for the high-quality program making the most of online meeting application. Then Dr. Yasuko Yamamura, Program Officer of Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) expressed her congratulation to the trainees with great expectation for the ripple effect which the SENTAN-Q program may have among other universities.

The attendees watched the video message delivered by Professor Sandra A. Brown, who is the Vice Chancellor for Research of UC San Diego (UCSD). In the message, she emphasized the importance of continuing and moving forward the ongoing research even during these difficult times.

After the congratulatory addresses by three guests, presentations were delivered by two of the trainees, both of whom are assistant professors to introduce their research and outline what they hope to achieve throughout the program. The final part of the event consisted of briefings of the program by the program organizer Mr. Toshiya Naito (executive Vice President and secretary general of KU), program coordinator Professor Kaoru Tamada (Vice President of KU) and Professor Eriko Jotaki (Office for the Promotion of Gender Equality of KU).

SENTAN-Q will run for 6 years, with 6 generations of trainees. Throughout the program, trainees are expected to acquire research and educational skills that meet the highest global standards and contribute to the university becoming the global hub of world top-class research and education.

Release : August 18 0:00, 2020