Academic Staff Exchanges (Visits)

2023

March
Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited the Digital Fabrication Lab and Immersive Design Lab at ETH Zürich to discuss plans for a project that will be exhibited at the Expo 2025 Osaka, Kansai. He also visited the SE MusicLab, an international center for electroacoustics in Bern, which will also participate in the collaboration, and attended a design review meeting at the Digital Fabrication Lab.
Design review

Design review meeting at ETH Zürich Digital Fabrication Lab

February 13 - 17
Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama and Project Assistant Prof. Sara Badr of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited ETH Zürich and Roche, their collaboration partner in the Swiss pharmaceutical industry, with three undergraduate students to discuss their research and tour the facilities. While in Switzerland, they also met with Faculty of Engineering Fellows, Prof. em. Konrad Hungerbuehler (ETH Zürich) and Dr. Rainer Schmidt (formerly of Roche).

2022

December 6 - 8
Prof. Toshinori Mori and Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) to meet Prof. Klaus Kirch as well as their main collaborators on the MEG II Experiment, Dr. Stefan Ritt (PSI) and Dr. Angela Papa (University of Pisa), to discuss future educational exchanges and hands-on student training using state of the art equipment.
April 9 - 29, May 28 - June 18
Prof. Toshinori Mori and Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) several times at the start of the 2022 academic year. They held face-to-face meetings with their collaborators for final discussions before the start of the MEG II Experiment, planned for July 2022 after 8 years of development and construction of the upgraded detector.

2021

November 11 - December 4
Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). He met Prof. Klaus Kirch (ETH Zürich), Dr. Stefan Ritt (PSI), and Dr. Angela Papa (University of Pisa), the core members of the MEG II Experiment, to discuss future student exchanges and hands-on educational programs.
October
Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited ETH Zürich to discuss his collaboration with Gramazio Kohler Research in the Department of Architecture (ETH Zürich).
Demonstration

Demonstration at ETH Zürich

January [Expanding the partnership: UZH]
Prof. Shinichi Nakasuka of the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (School of Engineering, UTokyo) and Prof. Oliver Ullrich, Director of the Space Hub (UZH) took part in an online meeting to discuss ideas for future collaborations and exchange. They decided to organize a joint UZH-UTokyo workshop for students and researchers working in space research in FY 2021.

2020

December [Expanding the partnership: UZH]
Prof. Hiroaki Suga of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo), Prof. Yasunori Kasai of the Graduate School of Humanities and Sociology (UTokyo), and Prof. Tatsushi Genka of the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics (UTokyo) took part in an online meeting with Prof. Stephan Neuhauss, Vice-Dean for Research and Planning of the Faculty of Science (UZH), Prof. David Chiavacci, Director of the Institute of Asian and Oriental Studies (UZH), and Moe Omiya, Academic Assistant in the Chair of Global History (UZH) to discuss ideas for future collaborations and exchange in the fields of Life Science and the Social Sciences and Humanities.
November
Prof. Toshinori Mori and Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). They met Prof. Klaus Kirch to discuss approaches to student exchange and hands-on educational programs in the “with-corona” era.
Prof. Ootani

Prof. Ootani checking and discussing experimental safety precautions with Prof. Kirch and PSI staff

January [Expanding the partnership: UZH]
Prof. Hiroaki Suga of the Department of Chemistry, together with Dr. Kate Harris, a university research administrator (URA), both in the School of Science (UTokyo), visited the University of Zürich (UZH). They were given an introduction to research at the Faculty of Science and discussed the research areas that are regarded as most promising for a future partnership.
Prof. Suga (center)

Prof. Suga (center) with Prof. Nina Hartrampf (Department of Chemistry, UZH) (left) and Prof. Stephan Neuhauss (Vice Dean, Faculty of Science, UZH)

Prof. Suga with Dr. Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi

Prof. Suga with Dr. Rie Shimizu-Inatsugi (Department of Evolutionary Biology and Environmental Studies, UZH)

January 30 - February 5
Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication at ETH Zürich, where he also attended a design review for graduate students at Gramazio Kohler Research. In addition, Prof. Obuchi visited the digital fabrication facility at ERNE, a Swiss company that sponsors Gramazio Kohler Research, and held meetings with various governmental and industrial organizations.

2019

November 17
Prof. Kimito Funatsu of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Gisbert Schneider of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich) to discuss their research on drug design.
September 16 - 20
Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo), and a member of his staff responsible for supervising students visited Profs. Fabio Gramazio and Matthias Kohler's research group in the Department of Architecture (ETH Zürich). They also took part in a meeting with the Embassy of Switzerland in Japan, where they discussed ideas about their collaborative project to design and build the House of Switzerland for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
July
Prof. Toshinori Mori and Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI). They held a meeting about the summer school program that would be held at PSI in September.
March 27
Prof. Kimito Funatsu of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited ETH Zürich for a meeting about the research that he is carrying out in collaboration with researchers there.

2018

December 5-6
Prof. Kimito Funatsu of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) participated in the ETH Symposium “RETHINK Drug Design” at swissnex San Francisco, which is run by the Swiss State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation (SERI). RETHINK is an organization based at ETH Zürich that examines trends in research on artificial intelligence (AI). This particular workshop looked at the impact of AI on drug design and was organized by Prof. Gisbert Schneider, Prof. Funatsu's counterpart at ETH Zürich.
Participants at the ETH Symposium

Participants at the ETH Symposium “RETHINK Drug Design” in San Francisco

June
Prof. Toshinori Mori and Associate Prof. Wataru Ootani of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in the ETH Domain. They held a meeting about the summer school program that will be held at PSI in August.
Mid-March
Prof. Hiroshi Imai and Assistant Prof. Hidefumi Hiraishi, both of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology (UTokyo), visited ETH Zürich with Mr. Kohji Liu, an undergraduate student in their research group, to discuss the difficulties with graduate students' education and research, as well as their plans for future collaborations with ETH Zürich. In particular, they visited Prof. Karsten Borgwardt of the Machine Learning and Computational Biology Lab (Department of Biosystems Science and Engineering) to discuss problems related to the field of graph kernel learning, which was developed by Prof. Borgwardt, and the work on complexity theory being carried out at UTokyo. They also finalized their plans for Prof. Imai to host an exchange student from Prof. Borgwardt's group from April 2018.
January 17
Prof. Hiroaki Suga of the Department of Chemistry, together with Dr. Kate Harris, a university research administrator (URA), both in the School of Science (UTokyo), met with Profs. Jeffery Bode, Donald Hilvert, and Yoko Yamakoshi of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich), and Dr. Rahel Byland, Programme Manager at ETH Global, to discuss ways to promote and expand the strategic partnership across a wider range of research fields. They also met Dr. Marjan Kraak, Head of the Spin-off Group at ETH transfer, and discussed the possibility of including entrepreneurship among the activities of the strategic partnership.
Prof. Suga with Dr. Kraak

Prof. Suga with Dr. Kraak

January 17
The day after the “2nd ETH Zürich-The University of Tokyo Strategic Partnership on Science, Design, Manufacturing, and Innovation,” Prof. Yasuhiro Sakemi of the Center for Nuclear Study (School of Science, UTokyo) visited the Department of Physics (ETH Zürich) to discuss experimental techniques and the research that he is carrying out in collaboration with Prof. Kirch and his colleague Dr. Aldo Antognini. They discussed the active magnetic field canceling and laser light source technology that are required to generate the stable magnetic field environment needed to carry out ultraprecise particle physics experiments, and the details of the research project that a Master's student from UTokyo will carry out during his visit to ETH Zürich in August 2018. They are also preparing for a first-year Master's student from ETH Zürich to spend 6 months in Prof. Sakemi's research group under UTokyo's University-wide Student Exchange Program (USTEP) from September 2018.
From left:  Prof. Sakemi, Prof. Kirch, and Dr. Antognini in the laser laboratory

From left: Prof. Sakemi, Prof. Kirch, and Dr. Antognini in the laser laboratory

From left:  Prof. Sakemi, Prof. Kirch, and Dr. Antognini in the laser laboratory

Prof. Sakemi with ETH Zürich students in front of the prototype magnetic field canceler

January 17
Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler's research group at ETH Zürich and gave a seminar titled “Decision-support Tools for Pharmaceutical Production.”

2017

October 10
Prof. Kaoru Yamanouchi of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo) gave a lecture at ETH Zürich's Physical Chemistry Colloquium. His host was Prof. Hans Jakob Wörner of the Laboratory of Physical Chemistry (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences).
September 28
Prof. Masashi Haneda, Executive Vice President of UTokyo, visited ETH Zürich. Prof. Haneda and Prof. Hiroaki Suga of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo) met Dr. Sarah Springman, Rector of ETH Zürich; Prof. Gerhard Schmitt, Senior Vice President of ETH Global; and Prof. Gisbert Schneider, Associate Vice President of ETH Global from 2018, to discuss the diverse points that will direct future collaborations in research, education programs, and student exchanges between the two universities.
September 8
Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) gave one of a total of 13 lectures at the symposium held at ETH Zürich on the occasion of Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler's retirement. Prof. Hungerbühler was Prof. Sugiyama's supervisor while he was a doctoral student in the Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences) at ETH Zürich. After Prof. Hungerbühler's retirement, Prof. Sugiyama will continue to collaborate with Prof. Volker Hoffmann of the Department of Management, Technology and Economics (ETH Zürich). Prof. Hoffmann was Prof. Sugiyama's senior colleague in the Hungerbühler group during his doctoral studies.
After  the symposium in honor of Prof. Hungerbühler's retirement, with Prof. Hungerbühler in the center

After the symposium in honor of Prof. Hungerbühler's retirement, with Prof. Hungerbühler in the center

September
To coincide with his lecture at the symposium in honor of Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler's retirement, Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited his collaborators at F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., where he also used to work.

2016

November 21-26
Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich). He served as one of the committee members for the doctoral degree examination of Mr. Lukas Eberle, who was working on a collaborative research project between the two groups. Prof. Sugiyama also gave a seminar for Prof. Hungerbühler's research group and visited the Kaiseraugst site of F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd.
February 10-12
Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited the Architecture and Digital Fabrication group (Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich) and discussed future exchanges with Prof. Hubert Klumpner, Department Head; Prof. Fabio Gramazio; and Prof. Matthias Kohler. He attended doctoral research presentations and a review meeting for a newly established Master's course, and also visited the construction site of the new National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication.
January 25-February 1
Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama and two of his students from the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo), visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich) to discuss their research. Prof. Sugiyama also gave a seminar for Prof. Hungerbühler's research group and visited F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd. with his students.

2015

November 21-24
Prof. Kaoru Yamanouchi, Vice Dean of the School of Science; Dr. Yoshiko Baba, University Research Administrator (URA); Mr. Takafumi Yokoyama, Financial Affairs Team Manager; and Ms. Atsuko Takatsuno, Senior Staff Member of the Personnel Team (UTokyo), visited ETH Zürich. The group met Dr. Jürg Brunnschweiler, Head of ETH Global; Mr. Anders Hagström, Director of Global Educational Affairs; and Dr. Rahel Byland. It was agreed that both universities would further promote opportunities for collaboration under the strategic partnership agreement. During their trip, the group visited Prof. Ursula Keller's research group in the Department of Physics, where they interviewed Ms. Kana Yamada, a UTokyo graduate student from the Department of Chemistry on a short-term overseas study program at ETH Zürich, about the progress of her research. In addition, Prof. Yamanouchi talked with Prof. Keller, and they agreed that UTokyo's Department of Chemistry would accept young researchers from the Keller group on a short-term basis.
October 29-November 3
Associate Prof. Naokazu Kano of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo) visited the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich), where he gave a lecture on the chemistry of the main-group elements. Prof. Kano also discussed plans for a collaboration with Prof. Hansjörg Grützmacher and exchanged ideas with other professors in the same department.
September 27-29
Prof. Takeo Igarashi of the Department of Computer Science (Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, UTokyo) was invited to give a lecture at the Distinguished Colloquium organized by the Department of Computer Science (ETH Zürich). He talked to Prof. Olga Sorkine-Hornung, who leads the Interactive Geometry Lab (IGL) in the same department, and confirmed that reciprocal exchanges would be promoted through collaborative research with the IGL. He also held discussions on future collaborations with the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication.
September 16
Prof. Sachio Komamiya, Director of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo), held discussions with Prof. Klaus Kirch at the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) of the ETH Domain (an organization comprising ETH Zürich, the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL), and PSI, as well as a number of other research institutes). The two exchanged their opinions of the summer school program held at PSI.
August 24-25
Prof. Masahiko Hirao of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler's laboratory in the Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich) and gave a seminar. The seminar participants included a UTokyo graduate student from the School of Engineering who was undertaking an internship with the Swiss company F. Hoffmann-La Roche, Ltd., and Mr. Ryo Asakura, who graduated from the School of Engineering and is now enrolled as a graduate student at ETH Zürich.
Prof. Hirao also met Prof. Stefanie Hellweg of the Institute of Environmental Engineering (Department of Civil, Environmental, and Geomatic Engineering) to discuss future collaborations.
August 18-20
Prof. Tatsuya Okubo of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited ETH Zürich at the invitation of Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler of the Institute of Chemical and Bioengineering (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences). Prof. Okubo held discussions with Prof. Javier Pテゥrez-Ramテュrez, Prof. Andrew de Mello, and Prof. Wendelin Stark of the same institute, and exchanged views with researchers and administrative staff. A seminar held by Prof. Okubo was well attended by members of Prof. Hungerbühler's and other research groups.
July 10
Prof. Toshinori Mori of the International Center for Elementary Particle Physics (UTokyo) visited Prof. Klaus Kirch of the Institute of Particle Physics (Department of Physics, ETH Zürich). They discussed the upcoming summer program to be held in August.
July 3-6
Prof. Kimito Funatsu of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Gisbert Schneider of the Institute of Pharmaceutical Sciences (Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences, ETH Zürich) and gave two seminars.
June 4
Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich) to discuss their research.
March 24
Prof. Robert Geller of the Department of Earth and Planetary Science and Dr. Teruyuki Hayashi, University Research Administrator (URA), both in the School of Science (UTokyo), visited Assistant Prof. Andreas Fictner of the Department of Earth Sciences (ETH Zürich) to discuss ways of promoting collaborative research. Dr. Hayashi also visited Prof. Ursula Keller in the Department of Physics to talk about the possibility of collaborative research and the requirements for student exchange.
URA Hayashi, Assistant Prof. Fictner, Prof. Geller

From left: Dr. Hayashi, Assistant Prof. Fictner, and Prof. Geller

Mid-March
Prof. Hiroshi Imai of the Graduate School of Information Science and Technology (UTokyo) visited Prof. Komei Fukuda and Prof. Bernd Gärtner, who is responsible for student exchange, in the Department of Computer Science (ETH Zürich). They agreed to continue the exchange of students and promote the exchange of young researchers.
March 12
Prof. Hiroaki Suga, Head of the Department of Chemistry (School of Science, UTokyo), visited the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich). He gave a lecture on the RaPID system for drug development, which was attended by more than 100 people. During his visit, Prof. Suga discussed plans for collaborative research and doctoral student exchange with Prof. Jeffrey Bode, Head of the Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, and Profs. Jörn Piel and Kaspar Locher from the Department of Biology.
March 3-4
Accompanied by three undergraduate students, Associate Prof. Hirokazu Sugiyama of the Department of Chemical System Engineering (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited Prof. Konrad Hungerbühler of the Department of Chemistry and Applied Biosciences (ETH Zürich) and conducted a workshop on chemical process design.
From the right: Associate Prof. Sugiyama, Prof. Hungerbühler

First and second from right: Associate Prof. Sugiyama and Prof. Hungerbühler

February 24-27
Associate Prof. Yusuke Obuchi of the Department of Architecture (School of Engineering, UTokyo) visited the Architecture and Digital Fabrication group (Department of Architecture, ETH Zürich), where he met Prof. Hubert Klumpner, Department Head; Prof. Fabio Gramazio; and Prof. Matthias Kohler, as well as Dr. Russell Loveridge, Managing Director of the National Centre of Competence in Research (NCCR) Digital Fabrication, and Prof. Phillip Eversmann, Head of Education at NCCR Digital Fabrication.
Prof. Obuchi was informed about robots developed in the Department of Architecture and their introduction into construction sites. He also attended presentations by two doctoral students about their research on next-generation construction-scale 3D printers and critiqued their work. In addition, Prof. Obuchi took part in discussions on future exchanges with ETH Zürich that focused on the possibility of arranging joint review meetings for Master's programs.
Construction robot

Construction robot