Computational & Systems Biology: the 2nd RIKEN - University of Edinburgh Joint Workshop                                                      

14-15 May 2009, British Embassy, Tokyo

Scientists who are conducting innovative research in the field of Medical Systems Biology and Computational Biology from the Edinburgh Centre for Bioinformatics, the University of Edinburgh, and researchers at the forefront of such fields as Computational Biology, Systems Biology and Metagenomics from the Advanced Science Institute, Advanced Computational Sciences Department of RIKEN, gathered to discuss research trends and common interests. This workshop was organised as a part of RIKEN - University of Edinburgh five-year contract signed in November 2006 to proceed with systems biology research.

Long-range Signal Coupling in the Human Brain: UK-Japan Researcher Exchange

June 2009, UK

The British Embassy is supporting a research exchange in the area of neuroscience to establish long-term collaboration between the UK and Japan. This collaboration is among Aston University, University College London and Osaka University Hospital, and aims to examine long-range signal coupling in the human brain and its implications for non-invasive brain imaging techniques. Having completed initial analyses, the researchers are currently at a stage of producing the first joint paper examining the spatial and temporal extent of signal coupling in the human brain. Two Japanese researchers will visit the UK in June 2009 to discuss the results of research, and elaborate on details of the collaborative research paper, and draft a longer-term research grant application for collaborative research among the group.

Cardiac Modelling ‘from Molecule to Man’: UK- Japan Workshop

1) 25 July 2009, Ritsumeikan University,
2) 2-4 August 2009, Okayama University

The British Embassy is supporting two workshops dedicated to integrated quantitative modelling of biological function. The workshops are linked to a major international conference (International Congress of Physiological Sciences) to be held in Kyoto in Jul-Aug. The aim is to raise awareness of UK’s cell modelling science at an international conference and to strengthen already existing ties between UK and Japan (3 year-BBSRC funded UK-Japan collaborative research project on “Cell-Organ Cross-Talk”).

Green IT: UK Mission and Seminar

5-9 October 2009, Tokyo (Seminar: 9 October 2009, British Embassy, Tokyo)

This is a one-week mission designed for 4-5 UK experts to visit leading Japanese research institutes and companies dealing with development of data centre cooling technologies, data centre infrastructure optimisation, and storage consolidation. In order to promote UK Green IT initiative, the mission leader, Director of Computer Grid Now KTN   will give a speech at international exhibition, CEATEC 2009 , led by the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade, and Industry (METI) and Japan Electronics & Information Technology Industries Association. At the seminar on 9 Oct ’09, the mission members will talk about recent UK Green IT strategies and R&D.

Medical Technology Roadshow: UK Seminar

4 November 2009, British Embassy, Tokyo

The Chief Executive and seven top medical scientists from the UK’s Medical Research Council (MRC) and the MRC-Technology will give presentations at the British Embassy to demonstrate UK’s strengths in the medical field. The event will provide the opportunity for MRC and MRCT to strengthen links and identify new opportunities for research collaboration or licensing agreements with both Japanese business and academic groups.

UK-Japan Robotics Collaboration

6,7 November 2009, Osaka

The British Embassy is supporting UK’s participation in the Robot Interaction and Urban Development Symposium, to be held in Osaka, Japan in November 2009. The main discussion will be focused on new business opportunities for next generation robots and future international collaboration from the perspective of urban development and robot interaction. Representatives from robot developing SMEs and manufacturing companies based in the western part of Japan are expected to attend. The aim of the UK involvement is to raise the profile of UK robotics research in Japan, the world’s leading developer and user of industrial and science robots, and facilitate the establishment of new research networks, collaboration, and business links. Prof Alan Winfield from the Bristol Institute of Technology, University of the West of England, will be speaking on UK mobile robot development and business expectations from Japanese advanced robots. He will also join a workshop in ATR and local educational institute to discuss potential future collaborations and strengthen the bilateral linkage developed during the UK Robotics Mission in February 2009.

Crop Modelling for Climate Change Research: UK- Japan Workshop

10-11 November 2009, British Embassy, Tokyo

Crop modelling is not only an important tool to project future harvests, taking global warming into consideration, but also a research area that contributes to advanced climate research. The workshop will bring together British and Japanese world-leading researchers in this area for the first time to explore a future bilateral link. Main focus will be to share information on next-generation crop models and to discuss how to reduce and deal with various uncertainties including input from climate sciences.

RFID: UK Mission and Seminar

16-20 November, Tokyo (Seminar: Date TBD, British Embassy, Tokyo)

A one-week mission led by Mr Ian Smith, CEO of AIDC UK Ltd to review latest Japanese RFID technologies, application trend and approach to standardisation, by visiting companies, research institutes and ministries. Mr Smith is one of the leading figures in international RFID community and currently co-ordinates EU’s major project for promoting standardisation and ubiquitous networking systems. Inviting Japanese companies to participate in UK’s large demonstration site is another aim of the mission and its benefit as well as UK’s strengths will be illustrated at the Embassy seminar.

UK-Japan Ecomaterials Collaboration

23-26 November 2009, Japan

The British Embassy is supporting UK’s Resource Efficiency KTN’s participation in the 9th International Conference on Ecomaterials, to be held in Kyoto, Japan in November 2009. The aim is to raise the UK's international profile in sustainability and ecomaterials. The representative from the KTN will be speaking on “Resource Security in UK”, underpinning key UK government messages on sustainability, climate change and support for a low carbon recovery to international audience. At the conference, the KTN hopes to expand international network and establishing links with other countries. The new relationships with Japan are expected to help develop follow-up activities to the previous UK-Japan workshops on resource productivity held in 2006 and 2007, e.g., recycling and sustainable technologies.

Environmental Impacts Assessment for Carbon Storage: UK-Japan Workshop

12-13 January 2010, British Embassy, Tokyo

Major countries, including the UK and Japan, are planning to support demonstration of carbon capture and storage at commercial-scale coal-fired plants. Each country is currently setting up separate guidelines for environmental impact assessment. In this workshop, British and Japanese policy-makers and researchers from academia and industries will explore possible collaborations by exchanging information on guidelines and research in the various areas including carbon storage permanency, impacts of carbon seepage, monitoring and computational simulations.

Synthetic Biology: UK- Japan Workshop and UK Seminar

20-22 January 2010, British Embassy, Tokyo

The workshop will be held at the British Embassy to create the first bilateral link in an emerging area of synthetic biology. Southampton University will co-ordinate the UK team and RIKEN CDB will co-ordinate the Japanese team. Main focus will be given to synthetic biology for the understanding of cells and bioengineering, including ethical issues surrounding the area. The two-day workshop will be concluded by an open seminar targeted at young researchers and students.

Brain Machine Interface (BMI): UK- Japan Return Workshop

22-26 February, UK

A follow-up event of the first BMI workshop held in Tokyo in February 2009 jointly supported by the British Embassy and the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT). The first workshop successfully concluded with the signing of an MOU between University of Newcastle, Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute (ATR, in Japan), and the National Institute of Physiological Sciences (NIPS, in Japan). The return workshop will bring several Japanese neuroscientists to the UK to take part in the workshop and to visit the UK’s premier institutes. The workshop will be co-ordinated by the University of Newcastle, and Japanese participants will be invited to attend, supported by Embassy funding.

Biomedical Optics: UK- Japan Workshop

January/February 2010 (TBD), British Embassy, Tokyo

A follow-up activity to UK Biophotonics Mission held in March 2008. This is a small-sized one-day workshop intended to investigate underpinning of Biomedical Optics, particularly, imaging for brain function developments. It will also foster bilateral relationship among researchers leading to collaborations in technology development and overcoming technological barriers. Lead Japanese organisers include Keio University and the National Institute of Radiological Sciences.

Advanced Materials: UK- Japan Workshop

March 2010 (TBD), UK

This workshop is co-funded by the British Embassy, EPSRC and JST under the joint agreement signed in 2008. Primary aim of the workshop is to strengthen UK-Japan research collaboration in the area of advanced materials. The workshop will also provide an opportunity to identify complementary areas of future research and encourage both UK and Japanese participants to work towards the 2nd call for oxide electronics, organic electronics, and spintronics research.

UK Mission on Fuel Cell Demonstration

25 Feb-5 March 2010, Japan

UK experts on fuel cells will visit Japan to learn best practices in Japan's public initiatives for acceleration of fuel cells commercialisation, particularly demonstrations and field trials. The delegation is led by a social science researcher who are conducting a comparison study on demonstration projects on fuel cells, solar batteries and wind power in EU, Japan and US. The delegation includes representatives from a funding agency and a public organisation for networking in fuel cell community. They will visit Government agencies, companies and research institutes that work on the commercialisation of fuel cells for homes, cars and potable electric devices.