The APRU symposium series on Multi-Hazards around the Pacific Rim is having its ninth symposium from 28 to 29 October 2013 at National Taiwan University in Taipei, Taiwan.

The 9th APRU symposium is hosted by the Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research (WCDR) at National Taiwan University. For general information, please refer to the website  http://www.apru2013.com/ 

The 9th APRU symposium aims to convene scholars and experts from countries around the Pacific Rim. The inter-disciplinary knowledge on multi-hazard researches can be exchanged and shared through APRU collaboration. The symposium will focus on related topics of multi-hazards induced by extreme weather, earthquake, volcanic activity and haze pollution. Other issues are also included such as advanced monitoring and forecasting techniques, risk assessment, disaster health and emergency management, as well as education on disaster reduction.All the participants are encouraged to join discussion and exchange experience throughout the symposium.

Far Eastern Federal University (FEFU) in Vladivostok, Russia will host the upcoming Student Leaders Forum (SLF) from 24 to 28 June 2013 as a parallel event to APRU’s Annual Presidents Meeting which is also hosted by FEFU.

The SLF is open to undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students of APRU member universities who are leaders or members of student organizations in their respective institutions. The forum aims to promote cooperation and camaraderie amongst young people and students in the Asia-Pacific region. The 5-day forum will also provide participants with an opportunity to contribute in shaping a proposal on a youth association being initiated by FEFU students. In addition, the SLF will feature a dialogue on youth policy and student organizations at APRU universities, special meetings with different student organizations at FEFU and various social and cultural activities.

The preliminary program, information on the registration process, accommodation, visa-related matters and relevant forms can be downloaded via the link below. For enquiries on the forum and other logistical arrangements, please contact the SLF secretariat at  youthapru@gmail.com.

Download: SLF 2013 Documents

Dr. Christopher Tremewan (APRU Secretary General) spoke today at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies Symposium on Building APEC and ASEAN Connectivity: Areas of Mutual Interest and Prospects of Cooperation. The symposium included keynote addresses from Dr. Alan Bollard (Executive Director of APEC) and Mr Arto Suryodipuro (APEC 2013 Chair & Director of Intra-regional Cooperation of Asia Pacific and Africa, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Indonesia). 

The University of Tokyo organized the APRU Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWL) Planning Meeting on 6 March 2013 prior to APRU’s Senior Staff Meeting (SSM) in Tokyo, Japan.  

Discussions at the planning meeting included shaping a development plan for the APWL program as well a dialogue on various leadership challenges faced by women in higher education.  Meeting participants agreed that the rationale for developing the APWL program should be supported by empirical data, thus a vital component of the initiative should include data collection on female representation in university governance, management and student population in each member institution as well as information on governance structures, policies, strategies and initiatives in support of women.  This would help in establishing institutional sharing among APRU members in terms of determining best practices and assessing its applicability in other APRU universities.  Another key suggestion was a possible presentation at the upcoming Annual Presidents Meeting in June. The presentation aims to elicit the support of APRU presidents on the importance of diversity in leadership and how the leadership development of women in academia can contribute to increasing the leadership capacity of member institutions in general.

The planning meeting was attended by APRU Senior Staff from 15 member institutions whereby key outcomes were reported at the SSM on 7 March.

To mark the second anniversary of the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, APRU and Tohoku University are pleased to announce the launch of the APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Program, an international collaboration among the Asia-Pacific’s 42 leading research universities to build safer and more disaster resilient societies through education, research and partnerships.  

The APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Program builds upon the strengths of eight APRU Multi-hazards symposia over the past decade in countries spanning the Pacific Ring of Fire. The International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) of Tohoku University provides secretariat services as the regional program hub that will harness the collective capabilities of APRU universities for cutting-edge research on disaster risk reduction and recovery, the sharing of strategies to cope with campus disaster risk management, and contribute to international policy making processes on disaster risk reduction. In particular, the Program will focus on better strategies to deal with low-frequency high impacts disasters.

An international Core Group, comprising representatives from APRU universities oversee the program chaired by Professor Yuichi Ono and coordinated by Dr. Takako Izumi of Tohoku University. The Core Group will develop a plan of activities for next three years, which include a summer school program hosted by the IRIDeS.   

APEC member economies have announced that they will honour a young scientist in 2013 who has made an outstanding contribution to sustainable ocean development in the region.

It would be wonderful if a scientist from an APRU member university won the prize.

Each APEC member economy may nominate one individual under 40 years of age for the 2013 ASPIRE Prize which is sponsored by Wiley and Elsevier, respectively, and carries US$25,000 in prize money. The submission deadline is 3 May 2013.
The theme of this year’s APEC Science Prize for Innovation, Research, and Education, also known as the ASPIRE Prize, reflects members’ focus on boosting cooperation that can help to generate innovative, environmentally and economically sustainable management solutions for the region’s oceans and waterways.
“The innovations, scholarly works and cross-border scientific collaborations of the APEC region’s scientists will help us achieve sustained economic benefits from ocean resources as well as the sustainable development of marine environments and marine-resource dependent communities,” said Prof. Dr. Ir. Gusti Muhammad Hatta MSi, the Indonesian Minister for Research and Technology.

Hosted by: Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan
Date: 6-8 March 2013
Theme: Leading Asia-Pacific Higher Education and Research: From Consensus to Action

Senior staff from 33 APRU member universities attended the 10th Senior Staff Meeting (SSM) hosted by Waseda University in Tokyo, Japan this month. A total of 65 leaders in global academia attended the meeting to share insights and provide guidance as APRU implements its new strategic framework.

The 3-day meeting featured a keynote address by Dr. Osamu Aruga, Director, Office for International Planning, at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology (MEXT), Japan. He spoke on Globalization of Higher Education and Development of Global Human Resources in Japan. The importance of globalization and its effect on higher education was highlighted at this year's SSM with a panel session on Global Human Resources and Universities, chaired by Prof Katsuichi Uchida, Vice President for International Affairs at Waseda University. The panel comprised Dr. Junko Hibiya, President, International Christian University; Prof Dennis Galvan, Vice Provost for International Affairs, University of Oregon; Dr. Mohd Hamdi Bin Abd Shukor, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic & International), University of Malaya; and Dr. Masako Egawa, Executive Vice President, University of Tokyo. Please see the SSM 2013 page for the presentations given at this session.

Click here for Registration

The Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainability and Climate Change Program (APRU SCC) in collaboration with the University of Indonesia’s Research Centre for Climate Change invites you to the International Symposium on Coastal Cities, Marine Resources and Climate Change in the Coral Triangle.

Coastal communities around the Pacific Rim urgently require sustainable solutions to address the mounting challenges of urban development and population growth, the over exploitation of marine resources and loss of biodiversity, coupled with the growing necessity to adapt to, and build resilience for, more frequent and intense extreme weather events and climate change induced sea-level rise. 

In few places are these challenges more apparent than in the island archipelago of Indonesia, the fourth most populous country in the world centered in the biodiversity rich, but ecologically fragile Coral Triangle. Jakarta, the nation’s capital is the region’s largest and fastest growing metropolitan city. The plethora of urban sustainability challenges facing Jakarta were highlighted earlier this year by the floods that left numerous dead and tens of thousands homeless in a city in which over a third of the land area sits below sea level.

To address these shared challenges this APRU Symposium brings together the top academic minds from the Asia-Pacific’s leading research universities to link knowledge to action through collaborative dialogue with local and regional policymakers, enterprise bodies and other key partners on sustainable solutions for the City of Jakarta, Indonesia and the region.

With 70% of the world's population expected to live in cities in the next few decades, urban planners are increasingly squeezed for ideas to plan and manage liveable cities. Policymakers too are nervously shuffling for elbow room in policies that take into account the array of challenges that a city faces.

What are the challenges Pacific Rim cities are facing? How is research on urban sustainability being structured? What do we know and what do we need to learn? These were among many pressing questions that brought together leading researchers and practitioners in the field of urban sustainability at the Pacific Cities Sustainability Initiative (PCSI) Forum at the Asia Society's new center in Hong Kong. Organized by the Asia Society and the Urban Land Institute, the Forum was held from 28-20 February 2013. The forum brought together a select group of city leaders, architects, planners, policymakers, and other experts who are working to creat tomorrow's livable city. APRU was a partner of the PCSI Forum, reflecting an alignment with its Partnering on Solutions thematic priority of the new strategic framework.

Nominations are being invited for the Keio Medical Science Prize awarded by Keio University. The Prize is administered by the Keio University Medical Science Fund which was established in 1996, and recognizes researchers who have made an outstanding contribution in the field of medicine and life sciences.

Through the Keio Medical Science Prize, Keio University aims to promote worldwide advances in medicine and life sciences, encourage the expansion of researcher networks throughout the world, and contribute to the well-being of humankind.

The deadline to send nominations to the Office of Keio University Medical Science Fund is 18 March 2013.

For more information about the Prize and selection criteria, please visit the Keio Medical Science Prize website.