Strategic Partnership between the Universities
for Research and Education (SPUR)

2023

October 4 [Expanding the partnership: UZH]

Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President Faculty Affairs and Scientific Information of the University of Zürich (UZH), visited UTokyo to discuss the possibility of a future partnership with Executive Vice President Prof. Nobuhito Saito, Vice President Prof. Yujin Yaguchi, and Prof. Satoshi Watanabe, Special Adviser to the President.

From left: Prof Yaguchi, Prof. Schwarzenegger, Prof. Saito, and Prof. Watanabe

April 10 - 15

Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) invited Prof. Matthias Kohler (Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich) to Japan to discuss their research on digital fabrication and its application to acoustic engineering. They also established a framework for collaboration with Obayashi Corporation, a major Japanese construction company, and organized joint workshops and lectures to provide opportunities for student exchange.

February 28

Dr. Georg Bison, who works with Prof. Klaus Kirch at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) visited Prof. Yasuhiro Sakemi at the Center for Nuclear Study (School of Science, UTokyo). He toured the facilities and gave a seminar.

Dr. Bison with members of the Center for Nuclear Study

2022

November 24

Prof. Kaoru Yamanouchi of the Department of Chemistry (UTokyo) invited Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner from the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich) to discuss their research and give a lecture at the department seminar.

November 4

Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) invited Dr. Michael Schneider, Global Head of Technical Innovation Drug Product at Roche, to discuss their research. Dr. Schneider also gave a lecture at the department seminar and met with Prof. Kazuhiro Takanabe, Head of the Department of Chemical System Engineering, and Prof. Kouhei Tsumoto, Assistant Dean of the School of Engineering and Professor in the Department of Chemistry and Bioengineering. Dr. Rainer Schmidt, Fellow of the Faculty of Engineering and former Roche employee, also joined the meeting online.

From left: Kozue Okamura, Dr. Philipp Zuercher, Assistant Prof. Sara Badr, Dr. Michael Schneider, Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama, Assistant Prof. Yusuke Hayashi

2020

February 24 - March 1

With the aim of strengthening his collaboration with ETH Zürich, Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) invited Mr. Hannes Mayer, Senior Researcher in Gramazio Kohler Research (ETH Zürich) to give a lecture to his students at UTokyo. Mr. Mayer also reviewed the students' research results, took part in meetings with the Japanese sponsors of their collaborative project, and visited the site on which they will build the pavilion for the House of Switzerland as part of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

January 16 [Expanding the partnership: UZH]

Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President Faculty Affairs and Scientific Information of the University of Zürich (UZH) visited UTokyo with Prof. Abraham Bernstein, Director of the Digital Society Initiative at UZH, to discuss the possibility of expanding the strategic partnership with ETH Zürich to include UZH. They met with Prof. Hiroaki Suga of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo), who leads the ETH Zürich Strategic Partnership team, and also with Prof. Yasunori Kasai of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology to talk about possible collaboration topics in the social sciences and humanities.

2019

October 9 [Expanding the partnership: UZH]

Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President Faculty Affairs and Scientific Information of the University of Zürich (UZH), returned to UTokyo with Prof. Michael Schaepman, Vice President Research of UZH, to further discuss a future partnership with Prof. Naoto Sekimura, Vice President of UTokyo. They also talked in more detail with Prof. Shinichi Nakasuka of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (School of Engineering, UTokyo) about promising collaborations in satellite development and remote sensing. The visit was arranged in collaboration with Ms. Kyoko Suzuki, the new head of the Science & Technology Office Tokyo of the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan.

July 19 [Expanding the partnership: UZH]

Prof. Christian Schwarzenegger, Vice President Faculty Affairs and Scientific Information of the University of Zürich (UZH), visited UTokyo to discuss the possibility of setting up a strategic partnership between the two universities. He met with Prof. Naoto Sekimura, Vice President of UTokyo, and six other faculty members, and discussed the potential for collaborations in fields ranging from classics to AI and space engineering. The visit was arranged in collaboration with Mr. Thomas Meyer, Head of the Science & Technology Office Tokyo of the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan.

Prof. Schwarzenegger with Prof. Sekimura

April 10

Prof. Martin Quack, Professor Emeritus in the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich) visited UTokyo to give a lecture at the Department of Chemistry Zasshikai Seminar.

2018

September 5

Dr. Markus Mattern from the Swiss pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche visited Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama and his research group in the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) to discuss their research. Dr. Mattern previously attended the “1st ETH Zürich-The University of Tokyo Strategic Partnership Symposium on Science, Design, Manufacturing, and Information,” which was held in Tokyo in January 2017.

2017

June 27-30

Prof. Klaus Kirch of the Department of Physics (ETH Zürich) and Prof. Yasuhiro Sakemi of the Center for Nuclear Study (School of Science, UTokyo) are members of the nEDM Experimental Program Review Committee, an international review committee on the use of neutrons in particle physics, and both took part in a meeting held in Tokyo. They also exchanged views on experimental techniques and the two institutions' development of technology for the highly sensitive measurement of magnetic fields.

From left: Prof. Sakemi (UTokyo), Prof. Emeritus Asahi (Tokyo Institute of Technology), Prof. Kirch (ETH Zürich), and Prof. Momose (University of British Columbia)

Prof. Kirch (fourth from left) with young staff and graduate students from Prof. Sakemi's group

2016

July 30

Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner from the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich) participated as a speaker in the “International Symposium on Attosecond Science,” which was hosted by UTokyo.

July 27-30

Prof. Gisbert Schneider of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich) visited UTokyo to act as a member of the examination committee for the final examinations of doctoral candidates in the Department of Chemical System Engineering. He also met Prof. Mamoru Mitsuishi, Dean of the School of Engineering, and gave a lecture at an open seminar for faculty members and students.

July 5

Dr. Rainer Schmidt, Head of the Kaiseraugst site at F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd., and Dr. Markus Mattern, Head of Sterile Manufacturing, visited UTokyo. F. Hoffman-La Roche Ltd. is a Swiss company with close links to both ETH Zürich and the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo). They met Prof. Mamoru Mitsuishi and Prof. Tatsuya Okubo, Dean and Vice Dean of the School of Engineering, respectively, and gave a lecture at an open seminar organized by the Department of Chemical System Engineering.

From left: Prof. Mitsuishi, Dr. Schmidt, Dr. Mattern, and Associate Prof. Sugiyama

After the open seminar organized by the Department of Chemical System Engineering

March 22-30

Prof. Emo Welzl, Deputy Head of the Department of Computer Science (ETH Zürich), was invited to the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology (UTokyo) to discuss collaborative research and academic exchange with Prof. Hiroshi Imai.

March 10-11

The former president of ETH Zürich, Prof. Ralph Eichler, was invited to visit UTokyo. He met Prof. Makoto Gonokami, President of UTokyo, and Prof. Ken Furuya, Executive Vice President responsible for International Affairs. He then discussed university management and innovation at ETH Zürich with Prof. Hiroaki Aihara, Executive Director and Vice President; Prof. Naoto Sekimura, Deputy Director of the Division of International Affairs; Prof. Kaoru Yamanouchi, Vice Dean of the School of Science; Prof. Toshinori Mori from the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (ICEPP); and Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama from the School of Engineering. He also visited ICEPP and the Kavli Institute for the Physics and Mathematics of the Universe (Kavli IPMU) to meet Prof. Sachio Komamiya and Prof. Hitoshi Murayama, respectively.

Prof. Eichler with President Gonokami

2015

December 1-5

Prof. Uwe Sauer of the Institute of Molecular Systems Biology (Department of Biology, ETH Zürich) was invited to UTokyo to give a seminar for the research group of Prof. Shinya Kuroda of the Department of Biological Sciences (School of Science).

Seminar given by Prof. Sauer

November 23-27

Prof. Gisbert Schneider of ETH Zürich visited Japan for the second time this year. As well as giving an invited lecture at the International Chemoinformatics Symposium, he took part in an open seminar organized by the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo). He also met and talked with researchers in related fields.

August 14

Dr. Philip Eversmann, Head of Education at the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication, which is managed by four Swiss universities and research institutions including ETH Zürich, visited the research group of Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi in the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo). A new Master's course on Architecture and Digital Fabrication that will be established in the Department of Architecture at ETH Zürich prompted them to discuss the current state of Master's courses in the field of architecture.

March 4-6

Prof. Gisbert Schneider of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich), who is also a Fellow of the School of Engineering (UTokyo), visited UTokyo and held discussions with Prof. Mamoru Mitsuishi and Prof. Tatsuya Okubo, Dean and Vice Dean of the School of Engineering, respectively, and Prof. Kimito Funatsu. He then gave a seminar on chemical systems engineering and two seminars for the Funatsu research group, and met and talked with researchers in related fields.

From left: Prof. Mitsuishi, Prof. Schneider, Prof. Okubo, and Prof. Funatsu

After the seminar given by Prof. Schneider in the Funatsu group

February 19-20

Prof. Donald Hilvert, Head of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich), and Prof. Jeffrey Bode, Head of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry (ETH Zürich), visited the School of Science (UTokyo), where they paid their respects to the then dean of the school, Prof. Makoto Gonokami. Afterwards, they gave talks at a symposium in the Department of Chemistry and talked with young researchers. Later, Prof. Hilvert and Prof. Bode attended a meeting with Prof. Kaoru Yamanouchi, Vice Dean of the School of Science, and Prof. Hiroaki Suga, Head of the Department of Chemistry, to discuss the strategic partnership between UTokyo and ETH Zürich.

From left: Prof. Suga, Prof. Yamanouchi, Prof. Hilvert, and Prof. Bode