KYUSHU UNIVERSITY Office for the Promotion of Gender Equality, Kyushu University

On 24 March 2023, International Symposium for “Completion of the Project of Overseas Survey Analysis on Research Activity of Women Researchers for their Empowerment 2021-2022” was held in a hybrid format and was live streamed from Shiiki Hall of Kyushu University (KU). The purpose of this symposium was to summarize and present the research finding in public obtained through the research project to advance the careers of women in academic of STEMM. The project itself launched in collaboration with Tokyo Institute of Technology (Tokyo Tech) in 2021 under the funding of MEXT’s Initiative for the Implementation of the Diversity Research Environment (Category: Survey Analysis). 

The symposium was also joined with mid-term report meeting of “Diversity and Super Global Training Program for Female and Young Faculty (SENTAN-Q)”. The moderator was Assoc. Prof. Hisako Nomura, who was the one of the graduates from 1st generation of the SENTAN-Q. In total, we had 246 participants from different countries including 143 online participants. 

Opening Remarks
President Tatsuro Ishibashi, KU and President Kazuya Masu, Tokyo Tech delivered the welcome address to extend gratitude for the guests. The congratulatory messages were extended to Ms. Takako Oka, Science and Technology Policy Bureau of MEXT and Dr. Yasuko Yamamura, Program Officer of Japan Science and Technology (JST). 

Session 1: Project Report on “Overseas Survey Analysis on Research Activity of Women Researchers for their Empowerment 2021-2022”
In the session 1, attending guests from overseas institutions delivered the greetings. First, Prof. Sandra Brown, former Vice Chancellor for Research of UC San Diego made a brief presentation and explained how UC San Diego has been implementing the initiatives for promoting gender equity issues. Then, Dr. phil. Ulrike Brands-Proharam Gonzalez, Equal Opportunities Officer of RWTH Aachen University gave her message to explain the current situation surrounding women researchers and hoped this project became a great success. After the guests greetings, Senior Vice President Kaoru Tamada, KU and Management Professor Junko Nomura, Tokyo Tech reported the completion of the overseas survey project. Based on the result of data analysis, they emphasized the importance of top leadership management for getting engaged in DEI related activities to change the department climate. 

Session 2: Mid-Term Report of SENTAN-Q
First, Prof. Tamada made a brief introduction of SENTAN-Q program. Then video messages were delivered by Dr. Machi Dilworth, as selection committee member of SENTAN-Q (Former Vice President of OIST) and Prof. Sean Garrick, as overseas lecturer of STEP2 (Vice Chancellor of University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign). They both congratulated the success of trainees’ outstanding achievements and wished for the future development of SENTAN-Q. Also, presentations were made by 3 trainees to introduce their achievements and future goals in their academic careers; Prof. Mai Bando as 1st trainee, Assoc. Prof. Shinri Ohta as 2nd trainee and Assist. Prof. Gu Yujie as 4th trainee. 

Session 3: Panel Discussion
Panel discussion was held as part of the symposium titled “How to create a university environment where all the stakeholders can achieve their potentials”. President Ishibashi, President Masu, Prof. Brown and Dr. phil. Ulrike Brands joined the discussion as panelists while Prof. Tamada and Prof. Nomura lead the discussion as moderators. In this session, panelists were provided with two main topics; ①The importance of top leadership towards realizing DEI and ②Comments on DEI initiatives at other universities. Along with these topics, panelists introduced some good practices taken at their universities and actively exchanged their view on realizing DEI environment. During the discussion, Prof. Brown mentioned that no one has a concrete answer to question concerning DEI. She also emphasized the importance of listening carefully to everyone’s voice and keeping discussion alive about DEI values. 

Closing Remarks
The symposium drew to a successful close with closing remarks by Prof. Isao Satoh, Provost and Executive Vice President for Institute Strategy, Tokyo Tech. 

The symposium provided the valuable opportunity for all participants from different universities including overseas guests to share their thoughts and valuable insights on DEI promotion. 

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