July 2025
JSPS London-funded Seminar will be held in UCD, in collaboration with TCD/Carnew Community Centre, Co. Wicklow this autumn. In advance of this visit, the delegation from Japan met with H.E. Mr Damien Cole (Ambassador of Ireland to Japan) at the Ireland House.
Interdisciplinary research collaboration between UCD and Chiba University traces back to the signing of MoU in November 2016, when Prof. Wenwei Yu (Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University) and Prof. Sayuri Suwa (Graduate School of Nursing, Chiba University) came and visited UCD on the ISCA-Japan funding, as part of the 60th Anniversary of Ireland-Japan diplomatic relations. (Dr Naonori Kodate appointed as Adjunct Research Professor, Center for Frontier Medical Engineering, Chiba University, Japan).
Since then, Assoc. Prof. Kodate co-led several spin-off research projects with Chiba University (CU) colleagues. One of these collaborative projects is about Caring Communities (led by Prof. Mina Ishimaru, Graduate School of Nursing, CU), involving researchers, medical professionals and older people in Montreal, Canada and Higashi-Chiba, Japan. (Chiba University - University of Montreal – UCD joint project on ‘Caring Communities’ officially launched with Public Seminar in Canada)
To further strengthen research capacity and partnership, Prof. Ishimaru and Assoc. Prof. Kodate teamed up with Dr Catherine Elliott O’Dare (School of Social Work and Social Policy at Trinity College Dublin), and successfully secured research funding from the JSPS London (Japan Society of the Promotion of Science, Japanese equivalent of Taighde Éireann – Research Ireland) this year. A two-day seminar and site visit will take place on the 28th and the 29th of October at UCD and the (opens in a new window)Carnew Community Centre, County Wicklow.
The purpose of the funding scheme is partly to nurture and support early-career researchers in Japan and the UK/Ireland-based research institutes. This time, two early-career researchers (both scholars in Nursing) will visit Ireland from Chiba University and Gunma University – both national universities located in the Greater Tokyo area.
Prior to the Japanese delegation’s visit, H.E. Mr Damien Cole (Ambassador of Irleand to Japan) invited them to the newly opened Ireland House, Yotsuya, Tokyo. The extended research group of Prof. Ishimaru together with Community Leader (Wa-Wa-Wa-no-kai), Ms Sanae Murai, attended the meeting and exchanged views and research findings regarding long-term care, ageing policy, and caring communities in Japan and Ireland.
Ambassador Cole’s warm welcome and tour of the brand-new building and facilities of Ireland House made a great impression on the delegation, and they all look forward to their visit this autumn, continuing to build the two countries’ partnership through research and education.
(Left to right: Dr Kodate, Mrs Murai, Prof. Ishimaru, Dr Hotta, Dr Sato)
Our deepest gratitude to Ambassador Cole and the staff at the Irish Embassy in Japan.
For those interested in taking part in the seminar event on the 28th of October, please contact: Dr Naonori Kodate ((opens in a new window)naonori.kodate@ucd.ie)