We attended the Japanese Society of Sericultural Science meeting

We attended the Reiwa 8 Academic Symposium on the Functional Applications of Sericulture and Entomology—the 96th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Sericulture—held in Hokkaido.

There was still snow on the Hokkaido University campus.

From the Shoji Lab, in addition to Shoji, Cao, Arai, Iijima, Higashino, and Uruhara attended, along with Endo from the Tomari Lab.

Everyone gave excellent presentations (though Shoji was a bit flustered and couldn’t speak well for the first minute or so of his presentation).

In particular, Endo from the Tomari Lab at the University of Tokyo and

Higashino received the Outstanding Student Presentation Award.

It’s a highly competitive process: out of 20 applicants, the field was narrowed down to 8 through an abstract review, and only 4 were ultimately selected as award recipients.
Since the same category applies to everyone from undergraduates to doctoral students, it’s extremely rare (perhaps the first time…?) for an undergraduate like Mr. Higashino to win this award.

Afterward, I also participated in the networking lecture event held in Sapporo (organized by the Young Researchers’ Group of the Sericology Society).

It was an overnight event packed with activities, including a research hackathon where participants developed and presented research topics, a “World Poster” session (social gathering) where attendees walked around displaying A3-sized posters, and lectures and panel discussions featuring invited speakers.

In the research hackathon, the team consisting of Arai and Urushibara won the Judges’ Award.

I made copies of the certificates, laminated them, and put them on display. Congratulations.