A Joint Japan-ASEAN Online Workshop“The current situation and challenges concerning the development of research environments for advanced research equipment between Japan and ASEAN countries” was held on 24th February 2023, as an official satellite event as part of the activities commemorating the 50th Year of ASEAN-Japan Friendship and Cooperation, with approximately 240 participants, mostly policy makers and researchers from Japan and ASEAN countries.

The workshop was co-organized by Ministry of Education Culture Sports Science and Technology of Japan (MEXT), the JST Asia and Pacific Research Center (APRC), the Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation of Thailand（MHESI）and the ASEAN Secretariat.

At the beginning of the workshop, H.E. Satvinder Singh, Deputy Secretary-General of ASEAN for ASEAN Economic Community, ASEAN Secretariat and Takayuki Aso, Deputy Director-General of the Science and Technology Bureau, MEXT welcomed the workshop participants and gave opening remarks.

As the Keynote Speeches, Dr. Zurina Moktar, Head of Science and Technology Division of the ASEAN secretariat spoke about the examples of initiatives on advanced research equipment across the region: ASEAN High-performance Computing, and the RII Initiative. Shuhei Hayashi of MEXT spoke about Japanese initiatives concerning the sharing of research facilities such as SPring-8, JPARC and NanoTerasu.

In the presentation session, the representatives from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam presented information on the situation and initiatives on advanced research equipment being run in each country, followed by a presentation on the Japan-ASEAN Integration Fund (JAIF) by Hisamichi Yamazaki, First Secretary, the Japanese delegation to the ASEAN secretariat.

In the Panel Discussion, moderated by Professor Masami Furuuchi of Kanazawa University, Discussants from Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam introduced the status and challenges of research environment for the use of the advanced research equipment from the perspective of researchers in the field and exchanged opinions on the responses to those challenges.

The event was wrapped up by Deputy Director-General of the APRC, Shinichi Kuroki, who gave thanks to the audience for their collaboration and cooperation. He shared his thoughts on the workshop and his hopes for collaboration into the future.

For more information on the workshop, please refer to the following link:

Joint Japan-ASEAN Online Workshop“The current situation and challenges concerning the development of research environments for advanced research equipment between Japan and ASEAN countries”

Presentation materials are also available on the website.