In November 2023, the Energy and Nanomaterials Unit welcomed Prof. Michael J. Schöning from Aachen University of Applied Sciences (FH Aachen) as a visiting professor with the support of Waseda University’s Top Global University Project. He spent a fruitful month at Waseda University, conducting educational and research activities. During his stay, he gave lectures to students and scientific staff on chemical/biosensing and related disciplines, such as analytical chemistry, biotechnology, engineering and nano/microsystem technology. Also, he gave an overview of one of his main research projects at the Institute of Nano- and Biotechnologies (FH Aachen).
Supervision of Students
Prof. Schöning also supervised several Waseda students, including students from Prof. Homma’s lab, who hosted Prof. Schöning.
“For the student presentations and discussions, I was impressed by the excellence of their scientific work, the width and depth of the research activities they are working on, the high level of English skills (especially, in comparison to other Japanese universities I had experience with in the past), the kindness of the whole team and the very welcome working atmosphere,” Professor Schöning commented. “In particular, based on my impression, most of the students are highly interested and motivated. I had very fruitful discussions with them, and I was able to give them advice and suggestions on on-going research including experiments and data analysis. For the future, I am eager to know, whether this could lead to a further improvement of their experimental research results.”
Building “Bridges” between the Labs
Article: New “Interfaces” (FA Aachen’s Website)
Collaboration between Prof. Schöning and Prof. Homma – and joint research with PhD student of Waseda University at FA Aachen
During Prof. Schöning’s stay at Waseda, plans were discussed for a PhD student from Prof. Homma’s lab to embark on a research stay at FH Aachen – the first-ever scientific exchange involving a student between the two institutions. Prof. Schöning emphasized that this exchange, “is, in my opinion, very important to build ‘bridges’ between the two institutions”. He had frequent discussions with the student to shape their research plan at FH Aachen, and Prof. Schöning’s lab team also joined via video conferencing to ensure seamless collaboration.
Future Plans for Collaboration
“Nowadays, networking within the scientific community seems to be getting more and more important: multi-disciplinary research is one of the driving forces to guarantee activities with high innovation impact (which might be also helpful in receiving funding),” Prof. Schöning emphasizes. “At the same time, multi-disciplinary research might also attract students in the future.” He shared his idea to “connect” Waseda University with other Japanese universities within his network, too.
