A delegation from the Global Environmental Forum and the ASEAN Core visited the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand, to pay a courtesy call on President Kazuo Yamamoto, who assumed his new position on September 1. President Yamamoto is a professor emeritus at the University of Tokyo and has served AIT in the past as a seconded faculty member and a vice president. The visit was attended by nine people, including five from Kyoto University, including Professor Shinya Echigo of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies (GSGES), Visiting Professor and Professor Emeritus Shigeho Fujii of GSGES, and Professor Emeritus Eiji Nawata, Director of the ASEAN Center, and three from Mahidol University and others where joint research is currently being planned and prepared, including Associate Professor Suwanna Kitpati Boontanon. From AIT, six members including President Yamamoto, Vice President Shobhakar Dhakal, Director of International Relations Shawn P. Kelly, Professor C. Visvanathan received the delegation.
During the courtesy visit, after a video introduction of AIT, President Yamamoto and Prof. Visvanathan delivered welcoming speeches. After the introduction of themselves and the relationship between Kyoto University and AIT, they had an enthusiastic discussion about the collaboration between AIT and Kyoto University in education and research. The courtesy visit ended with an exchange of gifts and a photo opportunity.
After the visit, Prof. Visvanathan led the group on a tour of the laboratories and other facilities.
GSGES and the Graduate School of Engineering are receiving students from AIT in their PhD courses every year, and several faculty members, including Professor Emeritus Fujii, have been dispatched to AIT as JICA experts. By this visit, we look forward to continuing further cooperation in education and research.
Explanation and discussion during the courtesy visit
Courtesy visit group photo (President Yamamoto is 6th from the left)