Report (June 2017)
Special Lectures by Prof. Masao Takata
As one of the Top Global University Projects for TMDU undergraduate and graduate students to promote their interest in pursuing global careers, the Special Lectures were held from 26 June to 28 June, 2017. This year we invited Professor Masao Takata from Imperial College London, UK, who is also a TMDU Designated Professor.
Prof. Takata giving a Special Lecture
On Monday, 26 June, Professor Takata presented his cutting edge research in a Special Lecture called “Linking bench and bedside: translational research in lung injury,” which targeted mainly TMDU graduate students, in the Active Learning Room, M&D Tower, under the direction of Professor Tetsuya Taga, Vice President of Public Relations. The participants were able to exchange ideas with him during a question and answer session following the lecture.
On Tuesday, 27 June, the Special Lecture for Undergraduate Student, “日本の医学部を卒業し、世界を舞台にキャリアを (Pursuing Career Overseas after Studying Medicine in Japan)” was held in Active Learning Room, M&D Tower, for third-year medical students. Three representative medical students were selected to be in charge of planning and carrying out the lecture under the guidance of Professor Yujiro Tanaka, Executive Director / Executive Vice President of Hospital Administration and International Health Care Partnerships. For the first ten minutes, Professor Takata gave his lecture, and the rest of the session was opened to the students for questions about his career. Professor Takata randomly chose from among and answered questions that had been collected beforehand. Unlike in a typical lecture, additional questions were also accepted through LINE, an SNS tool, so that students could freely ask without having to raise their hand. In the end, we had more questions through raised hand than by LINE.
Prof. Takata and Prof. Tanaka at the lecture
Students listening to the lecture
On Wednesday, 28 June, Special Session “Effective Research Presentations” was held in G-Lab, M&D Tower, by Professor Masayuki Yoshida in the morning session, and by Professor Tokujiro Uchida in the afternoon session. Three PhD students presented their research in English in each session, after which Professor Takata gave comments on each presentation in order to help the presenters learn how to make their presentation more effective and how to answer questions at international academic conferences. Those in attendance also had a chance to ask questions to the presenter.
Presenter answering questions from Prof. Takata in the morning session
Prof. Takata asking a question to a presenter in the afternoon session
Based on the questionnaire results from the participants the Special Sessions appear to have been a major success. Such success indicates that Special Sessions can make a difference in providing more opportunities to our students and faculty to learn.