News

The first W-SPRING/W-SPRING-AI PhD Forum took place at the Waseda University International Conference Center on 18 September. This forum, as part of the doctoral student support programs organized by W-SPRING, provided an invaluable opportunity for undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral students to not only interact with other young researchers from different schools and departments at Waseda University but also with professors and experts in different fields from the University, external research institutions, as well as company representatives and industry leaders.
The forum created an impactful platform for the participants as it bridged academia and industry by bringing scholars and practitioners together at the same time so that students could hear from a number of different perspectives, get advice and support with regard to career development, and engage in interesting interdisciplinary dialogues about social solutions and technological innovation that both cut across and integrate fields and industries.

Research Poster Sessions

The W-SPRING/W-SPRING-AI PhD Forum consisted of speeches, workshops, and poster sessions where more than 150 participants shared their research topics, works-in-progress, and career plans. The morning poster sessions were held in a relaxed manner, where the participants were able to freely walk around and casually speak with each other about their research. Their research spanned across a broad range of fields such as the fundamental sciences, human and life sciences, medical bioscience, industrial and management systems engineering, information, production, system engineering, and sports science.

Dr. Ryoichi Sugimura’s Keynote Speech 

Prior to the afternoon workshops, Dr. Ryoichi Sugimura, Chief Collaboration Officer, National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST), gave the keynote speech titled “International Situation Surrounding Research, Development and Business Using AI Technology”. In the speech, he combined examples related to technological innovations, cross-country comparisons with data, discussions on the interaction between innovators and society, and personal stories. Also, he emphasized the importance of continuous interdisciplinary dialogues and international academic cooperation in the context of the business world and some issues and challenges between mankind and AI. At the end of the speech, he called for the participants to become specialists first in their own academic fields and then expand their horizons across other fields. He also reminded them to be humble and aware of what they do not know yet. The speech encouraged the participants to think about how researchers can apply what they study to developing new technologies and solving real-life social problems.

Group Work and Presentation Sessions

Finally, the group work and presentation sessions in the afternoon divided the participants from the W-SPRING program into 20 groups in two rooms based on language, one room for Japanese speakers and one for English speakers, where students got to know each other better and deepened their discussions on the topic of “How to use AI to solve real-world problems.” Several faculty members at Waseda University, researchers from external research institutes, and practitioners from large firms acted as facilitators. Participants made short presentations at the end of the workshop to summarize the results of their group discussions. These sessions were designed to help the young researchers not only gain hands-on skills in communicating and cooperating across fields but also exchange academic information with each other and think about diverse academic opportunities.

A PhD Student’s Perspective

As a PhD student who has studied at Waseda University since I was an undergraduate student, I believe that access to information and interaction with peers are important for my academic and career development. Dr. Ryoichi Sugimura’s speech made me rethink about the potential contributions of my own research in public opinion and survey analysis to understand social issues and assist policy making. I look forward to applying and participating in similar events organized by W-SPRING in the future and making use of the various platforms designed to support PhD students at Waseda University.