Since its launch in 2020, the APRU Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) Program has redefined what a global classroom can be. Developed in response to the disruption of international mobility caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, over 4,200 students across 18 economies of the Asia-Pacific region have participated in the VSE Program, which involves over 1,100 academic and language courses from leading universities, without leaving home. The VSE program is open to all 61 APRU member universities across Asia, the Americas, and Australasia. Students of the participating institutions can take courses across disciplines and benefit from an immersive international experience through collaborative assignments, live discussions, and global peer interaction. The VSE Program has expanded access to courses that would otherwise be geographically or financially out of reach, enabling inclusive, borderless learning. However, the Program’s success lies not only in the opportunities it provides to students; for many instructors, the VSE experience has also inspired meaningful pedagogical transformation. For educators, the virtual teaching model challenges traditional assumptions about the classroom. Many VSE instructors express that, despite the virtual format, the level of student engagement has been remarkably high. Interactive tools, thoughtful course design, and the cultural diversity of the student body help facilitate rich academic discussions.   Creating a Global Classroom At Yonsei University, Professor Hyunjun Min teaches Contemporary Korean Cinema and Society and has observed how the virtual platform has enabled deeper reflection and cross-cultural exchange. The diversity of student backgrounds—culturally, linguistically, and academically—adds layers of interpretation to each film discussed, encouraging students to draw parallels with their own societies and experiences.   “The learning atmosphere has been lively, safe, thoughtful, and surprisingly intimate for an online platform. I firmly believe that virtual learning has become an essential component of higher education. For students considering a VSE course: be open, be curious, and don’t underestimate the connections you can build—even across continents.” – Professor Hyunjun Min, Yonsei University   Enhancing Inclusivity via Virtual Teaching & Learning Similarly, at Korea University, Dr. Hajin Lee’s Social Psychology incorporates digital tools like Slack to ensure accessibility and maintain engagement. While teaching online comes with challenges—such as asynchronous participation or students’ reluctance to appear on camera—Dr. Lee emphasizes the potential of these environments to foster inclusivity, especially for students with health concerns, mobility issues, or those who are balancing work and study.   “I strive to make my course dynamic and interactive by fostering a participatory learning environment where students feel comfortable asking questions and engaging in discussions without hesitation. Through the VSE Program, I’ve fostered a strong sense of community and built meaningful mentorship relationships with students, which remain to be one of the most rewarding aspects of my teaching journey.” – Dr. Hajin Lee, Korea University   Fostering Cross-cultural Exchange From the perspective of Professor Mio Sekiguchi at Nagoya University, the value of the VSE Program is also cultural. Her language course brings together students from Asia, the Americas, and Europe who share a common interest in Japanese language and culture. For students who are unable to study abroad, the opportunity to interact with peers in Japan and learn Japanese through listening, speaking, discussions, and group presentations is a rare and empowering experience.   “The students’ desire to learn Japanese inspires the faculty. Since they are from various countries, everyone will have different experiences, opinions, and points of view to share. ‘Let’s improve your Japanese language skills together through these activities.’” – Professor Mio Sekiguchi, Nagoya University   Instructors across various disciplines and institutions emphasize the vital development of intercultural competencies, digital fluency, and global awareness as core outcomes of the VSE model. These skills are not merely enhancements to the traditional academic experience; they are indispensable in our interconnected world. The VSE Program has also nurtured the growth of educators. As they teach across different time zones, manage diverse learning styles, and address various technological needs, instructors become more agile, adaptable, and intentional in their teaching. The journey inspires a profound rethinking of what “classroom presence” truly embodies and how vibrant learning communities can flourish—even through screens. While virtual learning may not replicate every nuance of in-person education, the VSE Program demonstrates that global experiences can transcend geographical boundaries. As higher education evolves, the VSE Program stands out as an inspiring model for inclusive, innovative, and international learning. To find out more, visit: https://vse.apru.org/

APRU is proud to introduce the Indigenous and First Nations Knowledges Network (IFNKN) Presidential Champions, a network led by The University of Melbourne and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa. The IFNKN aims to foster research, collaboration, and knowledge-sharing among APRU members, with a focus on Indigenous and First Nations studies. It also seeks to strengthen connections to enhance the network’s impact. The Presidential Champion plays a key role in advocating for Indigenous and First Nations knowledge on a global stage. This involves participating in international forums to promote the recognition, preservation, and integration of traditional knowledge systems. Through diplomacy, education, and strategic partnerships, the Presidential Champion ensures that Indigenous perspectives are valued and included in discussions on cultural heritage, environmental sustainability, and global development, among others. Meet Our New Presidential Champions.   Rector Rosa Devés Rosa Devés holds a degree in Biochemistry from the University of Chile and a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Western Ontario. She has had a distinguished career in teaching and research in cellular physiology, earning international recognition. As the first director of the Ph.D. program in Biomedical Sciences at the University of Chile, she played a crucial role in shaping biomedical education within the institution. In university leadership, she has served as Director of Graduate and Postgraduate Studies, Provost, and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs. She has championed equity and inclusion initiatives, including the Priority Admission System for Educational Equity. She is also a strong advocate for science education, co-founding the Inquiry-Based Science Education Program (ECBI) and collaborating with international organizations on educational innovation. On May 12, 2022, she made history as the first woman to be elected Rector of the Universidad de Chile.   President Angelo Jimenez Angelo Jimenez is a labor lawyer and expert in global worker migration. He has played a key role in shaping labor policies across Asia, Africa, and the Middle East and was instrumental in the creation of the Philippines’ Department of Migrant Workers. His experience includes serving as Deputy Administrator of the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration and as Labor Attaché in Japan, Kuwait, and Iraq, where he worked to protect Filipino workers during crises. A lecturer and researcher specializing in migrant protection and labor policies, Jimenez holds a Master in Public Management degree from the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy and was a Lee Kuan Yew Fellow at the Harvard School of Government. A University of the Philippines Diliman graduate, he was Chairperson of the University Student Council then served twice on the UP Board of Regents. He is the first UP President from Mindanao and a proud member of the Manobo tribe. He envisions UP as a globally engaged university dedicated to solving real-world challenges and producing transformative leaders. Rector Devés and President Jimenez were invited to become the IFNKN Presidential Champions after their strong support and participation in the 3rd Indigenous Knowledges In-person meeting hosted by Universidad de Chile in Santiago. To learn more about the Indigenous and First Nations Knowledges Network, its in-person meetings, and other initiatives click here.

From November 4 to 8, Universidad de Chile hosted representatives from various Indigenous groups and local national universities in Chile, along with Indigenous experts and scholars from Auckland, Melbourne, Hawai’i, Adelaide, Quito, Oregon, Monterrey, Sydney, and Manila. The inauguration was led by Dr. Rosa Deves, Rector of the Universidad de Chile, who stated at the Casa Central: “We are excited and committed to recognizing that, through the APRU Indigenous Knowledges Network, spaces are being created for dialogue and collaboration among the communities of our universities and our territories across different parts of the world. This is the invaluable contribution APRU makes in various fields of knowledge, acting as an agent of peace and understanding… Today, we kick off this 3rd Workshop of the APRU Indigenous Knowledges Network, whose members have travelled the world united by the Pacific. In previous years, they have journeyed to Mexico, Australia, and now Chile, gathering knowledge and committing to collaboration.” The Workshop was titled “Indigenous Sciences/Indigenous Knowledges: Discussions and Contributions for a Common Future”. Over four days, participants had the opportunity to reflect on issues related to the role of science and wisdom in academia and research to find solutions to humanity’s problems. Topics such as intersectionality and Indigenous knowledge, the strengthening of Indigenous languages, the challenges of institutionalizing Indigenous knowledge, and climate change were discussed, among others. “Today we are making history,” said Prof. Veronica Figueroa, coordinator of the event, “because this meeting opens new pathways where ancestral ties from different territories strengthen the construction of better life, some distant like Australia, New Zealand, and the Philippines, and others closer like the United States, Canada, Hawai’i, Mexico, or Ecuador, and of course from Chile.” Prof. Veronica Figueroa emphasized, “History is filled with untold events by Indigenous peoples. In fact, we have rarely had the opportunity to be the protagonists, to tell our story in our own words, from our memory. We have a long history, and we have learned from the voices of our grandparents, who have found new paths to advance, new spaces to flourish… For those of us in universities, we know we have a responsibility to Indigenous peoples, to our identity, to honor our past, but also our future.” Throughout the meeting, the voices of the Indigenous peoples of Chile were heard, and there were keynote speeches such as that of master Eduardo Rapiman, who spoke about Mapuche art as a way to express knowledge. He also kindly donated his work “Trawün” as the event’s image. During the event, participants experienced various ancestral ceremonies of the Indigenous peoples of Chile. The event concluded with the keynote lecture “Wenumapu, Mapuche Astronomy and Cosmology”. At the conclusion of the event, Adriana Rojas, Director of Networks at APRU, thanked Universidad de Chile and all participants, referencing the welcome message from the Aymara leader: “We are here together, which is not a coincidence. We are here to accomplish a mission together, and we are also here to represent our ancestors who wanted us to be together. It is not a coincidence that our paths are crossing this land at this time. Let’s honor this mission because one day, we will also become ancestors, and we will have to continue the mission, guiding, from there, the humans who will be here.” The Indigenous and First Nations Knowledges Network aims to bring together the work of APRU members in multilateral collaborations to share knowledge, build connections between researchers, and enhance teaching programs in Indigenous and First Nations studies. For more information about the network, visit its website here.

A roundtable discussion constituting a runup event to the Greater Bay Area (GBA) Science Forum 2024 (November 16-18) served as a good opportunity for APRU Chief Executive Thomas Schneider to share his views on how Hong Kong can play a key role as a super-connector in fostering international collaboration and build a scientific and technological innovation hub in the GBA. The Sub-Forum on International Organizations and Bay Area Dialogue of the GBA Forum 2024 featured three discussion panels on biomedical sciences, AI, and green energy co-hosted by The Chinese University of Hong Kong and The Alliance of National and International Science Organizations for the Belt and Road Regions (ANSO). Prof. Schneider was joined by CUHK’s Prof. Rocky S. Tuan (CUHK Vice-Chancellor and President), Prof. Qin Ling (CUHK Assistant Dean of Medicine), and Prof. Song Chunshan (CUHK Dean of Science), with Prof. Liu Weidong (Executive Director, ANSO) serving as the moderator. “International collaboration is of great significance to talent exchange, and the APRU network helps make full use of the regional advantages of the Greater Bay Area to attract more overseas talent and encourage our talent to go global,” Prof. Schneider said. The GBA Science Forum 2024 was held in Nansha, Guangzhou, co-hosted by Guangdong province, Hong Kong, and Macao. Centered on the theme “Leading through open Science”, the forum gathered over 100 academicians, key officials, Nobel laureates, and other experts to discuss cutting-edge topics, such as AI, brain-inspired technologies, green energy, and advanced materials. Twelve major science and technology cooperation projects were signed, marking significant progress in fostering research and industrial synergy.

The Vice-Rectorate for Internationalization, through the Directorate of Transversal Models, and the Vice-Presidency for Inclusion, Social Impact and Sustainability, through the Center for the Recognition of Human Dignity of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, in collaboration with the consortium of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), held the APRU Open Dialogues 3rd Cohort on October 23. The theme of this edition sought to generate a space in which students could become aware of and reflect on partner violence in the university context. More than 50 students from 4 universities (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, University of Chile and UCASAL) and 24 moderators participated. In this edition, the team of moderators was not only made up of the academic team of the Tecnológico de Monterrey, but also included the participation of Alejandra Parra from the Universidad de San Francisco de Quito and Osvaldo Guzmán from the Universidad de Chile, who, thanks to their universities participation in previous cohorts, had the opportunity to be certified in the Dialogue Moderation of the Sustained Dialogue Institutes, offered by the Tecnológico de Monterrey. But why talk about partner violence in the university context? According to UN Women, various studies and research at a global level have revealed alarming statistics on gender violence. It is estimated that, worldwide, 736 million women – almost one in three – have been victims of physical or sexual violence by their partner, sexual violence outside the couple, or both, at least once in their lives. Although most studies on partner violence include only the female population, there are figures that indicate that both sexes may be susceptible to suffering it. Furthermore, we cannot forget that heteronormativity persists in society, making people in the LGBTIQA+ community more vulnerable due to external stress factors, such as discrimination and violence against this community. Knowing the impact at a global level is crucial to understand the magnitude of the problem and take measures to prevent it. Educational institutions play a very important role in the learning process about gender relations and how these relations are fundamental to the origin of violence. In addition, universities are spaces where we can reflect, make these realities visible and raise awareness among people who in the future will be able to formulate effective policies and programs to prevent violence. As part of the learning generated in the dialogue tables, the students who participated in the exercise recognized that “the session was a calm space, with freedom to talk about all the issues,” and that “listening to the experiences of other people can help us propose solutions to these problems,” stating that “we are contributing our grain of sand to generate change.” Finally, they invited the team to “generate more international spaces where we can learn to listen different perspectives and bring them to our own context to generate change.” At the end of the activity, Adriana Rojas, Senior Director of Programs at APRU, said “We thank all the people who participated in this exercise of international dialogue today. These spaces contribute not only to reflection on difficult issues, but also make us sensitive to international contexts.” For her part, Perla Salinas, Director of Training in Human Dignity at the Center for Recognition of Human Dignity at the Tecnológico de Monterrey, commented that “these spaces promote the recognition of all people and their diversity, and also help us imagine ways of inhabiting the world more peacefully, renewing hope in complex times.” These types of efforts not only provide students with opportunities to enrich their international experience but also allow them to understand the importance of connecting with people with different perspectives fostering safe and violence-free spaces. We look forward to having you at the APRU Open Dialogues 4th Cohort Author. Natalia Moreno Barbosa, Management and Engagement Leader, Center for the Recognition of Human Dignity at Tecnológico de Monterrey.

The 4th APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation, a role-playing exercise in which students form multi-country, multi-disciplinary teams to play the role of delegates to the UN Climate Change Negotiations, successfully concluded in late-August, equipping 182 undergraduate students from 20 APRU member universities with complex climate negotiation skills. Led by the University of Oregon and the University of Southern California, the event leveraged APRU network connections to bring together a diverse group of experts sharing their perspectives on topics ranging from coastal habitats and deforestation to diplomacy and negotiation skills. Teams discussed the human and environmental effects of climate change, as well as the economic impact that countries consider in determining their position and global commitments. The main event was an online simulation activity using materials from the World Climate Interactive and the C-ROADS simulation model. “Through the APRU Student Climate Change Simulation, we’ve been able to create a truly interdisciplinary, cross-cultural, global experience for students,” said Elly Vandegrift, Director of the University of Oregon’s Global Studies Institute. “This year we have students from 50 majors, programs, and disciplines as diverse as global health, finance, and engineering. So far 500 students have participated in these meaningful, difficult, and hopeful conversations with global experts and students in our network across the Pacific Ocean.” Mellissa Withers, Director of the APRU Global Health Program, lauded the event for allowing students to learn about the complexities in climate negotiations through collaborating with other students and expert faculty facilitators from several APRU member universities. “It is always impressive to see how much time and efforts our speaker and volunteer facilitators devote to help bring a real-world lens to this activity,” Withers said.

The APRU SDG Education for Global Citizenship (APRU SDG4GC) recently concluded its dynamic one-week onsite programs which proved to be much more than an academic exercise. Hosted concurrently in late July in Bangkok by Chulalongkorn University (lead university) and in Kuala Lumpur by Universiti Malaya (co-lead university), the onsite program brought together nearly 40 lead mentors, speakers, and experts with 37 students from 13 APRU member universities. Onsite program participants in Bangkok, Thailand   APRU SDG4GC is an intercultural, transdisciplinary, and interactive initiative aimed at nurturing global citizenship among students from 60 universities across 20 economies along the Pacific Rim. By delving into the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), addressing global challenges, and co-creating solutions, the program fosters a sense of shared responsibility and action among participants. Reflecting on the impact of the program, Michiko Yoshida, Director of the Global Networking and Engagement Division at Chulalongkorn University, remarked, “Creating this program has been quite a journey for all of us, giving us a chance to reflect on ourselves and the urgency of the challenges we all face today, and what each of us can do. We take this job very seriously, given that you will be our change-makers.” Through a series of workshops, seminars, cultural activities, and community site visits, participants immersed themselves in the ethos of the SDGs, with a special emphasis on ‘Shaping the Future of Health & Wellbeing’. Raine Leung, a student from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, shared her experience from the onsite program in Kuala Lumpur, “This week, we’ve engaged deeply into the Sustainable Development Goals. We’ve learned to address global well-being challenges not only with intellectual rigor but with empathy.” And she added “Experiencing the Malaysian dance, the traditional sarong, and the wedding ceremony during the Cultural Village Tour, have all been good ways to immerse ourselves in Malaysia’s diverse culture”. Onsite program participants in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia   In Bangkok, the visit to the United Nations Headquarters was one of the standout moments for participants, who had the opportunity to explore the premises and take unique photos. They were also privileged to attend in person the hybrid seminars on energy transition by Ruhimat Soerakoesoemah, the Head of ESCAP’s Subregional Office for Southeast Asia, and youth empowerment by Savinda Ranathunga, the Regional Youth Project Manager of UNDP. Following the onsite experience, students returned to their universities and continued working on the social innovation projects they had been developing throughout the program. On 30 August (HKT) the SDG4GC “Pitching Competition” took place with students showcasing the projects developed under the guidance of their expert lead mentors. Panel of UN and Expert judges   After great presentations, the panel of UN and other expert judges awarded Team 6, formed by Ms. Natamol Thitithanida, Chulalongkorn University, Ms. Siti Sarah Zulaikha Binti Zahari, Universiti Malaya, Ms. Ningjie Sun, Nanjing University, and Ms. Dzihni Nadhifa, Kyushu University and led by Dr. Terence Yuen, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the 1st place for their innovative App “One Health Coop” which seeks to bring together young members from the community with elderlies that may need assistance. If you would like to learn more about the APRU SDG Education for Global Citizenship (APRU SDG4GC) visit the program website here.

Ten years after the successful launch of APRU Undergraduate Leaders’ Program in Nanjing University, it returned to China in July, raising the specter for another decade of fruitful cooperation that has so far provided international experiences to more than 500 undergraduate students from the Pacific Rim. Hosted by Shanghai Jiao Tong University and themed “Sustainable Development in a Fast-Changing Metropolis”, the program offered a unique window into the challenges and opportunities of urban sustainability. Set against the dynamic and evolving backdrop of Shanghai, a city that epitomizes the blend of tradition with cutting-edge modernity, a total of 64 undergraduate students from 24 APRU member universities in 13 economies engaged in program activities on key topics ranging from Envisioning a Sustainable Metropolis and Nourishing the Metropolis to Resilient, Hyperlocal Communities in the Metropolis and Universities Without Borders. “The past two weeks have been incredible as I see how much our young students can achieve in such a short time,” said Viva Du, the International Programs Office Manager of the University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI). “Coming from different academic backgrounds, universities and countries, they help shaping Shanghai’s sustainable future with their ideas and visions.” The program involved several site visits to Shanghai districts and additional activities, such as a cultural show, Chinese painting/calligraphy, and international cooking, as well as an international music night. In a 72-hour challenge, students were divided into 12 groups that were tasked with creating a poster and a 3-minute video with their vision of Shanghai in the future on their assigned themes. “I was gratified to hear from the ULPers that they learned as much about urban sustainability from the program activities around Shanghai as they did about the diverse Pacific Rim cultures and norms from fellow undergraduate leaders around the dining table and on the APRU Talent Show stage,” said the UM-SJTU JI’s Professor Kwee-Yan Teh, who serves as the program’s academic lead. The closing speech, delivered by APRU Program Officer David Quimbayo, highlighted the positive outlook for the program’s core quest of contributing to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. “You’ve forged connections with ideas, with this vibrant city, and with each other that are not meant to stay within these walls, this university or this city,” Quimbayo said. “Be the catalyst for change in your corner of the world; apply what you’ve learned here to real-world problems; continue to collaborate across borders and disciplines; and never stop imagining a more sustainable and equitable future for all.” Universidad de Chile will be the host of the APRU Undergraduate Leaders’ Program 2025, stay tuned to learn more about it.

How can students learn collaboratively and make global connections with peers from different cultural backgrounds – all without leaving their campus? The answer is the APRU Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) Program, now celebrating its fourth year of connecting students across borders and cultures. It all started during the pandemic, as an alternative to traditional international exchange programs. Launched in 2020 by the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the auspices of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), this creative digital platform allows students to access high-quality courses and programs offered by top universities from around the Pacific Rim, including those from Australia, Chile, China, Japan, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand. Four years on, it’s clear that the VSE Program still has a valuable role to play in helping globally-minded students achieve their goals and aspirations, even after the pandemic. The VSE Program offers a mix of academic courses across three study periods, also known as “Seasons”. Students can take up to two courses per Season from universities around the Pacific Rim, without paying any extra fees. Credits earned can be transferred to students’ home institutions, allowing them to access a world of knowledge at the click of a button.   A growing success story Forty-four APRU member universities have been participating in the Program, with 33 of them offering a total of over 1,100 courses in disciplines ranging from arts and culture to the social sciences, law, science and engineering. Over 8,200 student applications have been received and 4,000 students have enrolled. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive, with over 97% of students consistently expressing satisfaction with the learning experience in the latest student experience survey. “This course not only provided rich academic content but also fostered collaboration and communication. We tackled problems together, shared ideas, and collectively propelled each other’s learning forward.” – Yifan Zhou, Shanghai Jiao Tong University   Beyond the classroom Since its launch, the VSE platform has also hosted ​co-curricular programs on topics such as careers, culture, leadership and society, attracting many participation. These engaging short courses and non-credit bearing activities offer an opportunity for students to engage without having to commit for an extensive period of time. “The co-curricular programs offered by VSE allowed me to broaden my horizons and explore different aspects of my interests. Whether it was participating in workshops, attending guest lectures, or collaborating on projects with fellow students, I was able to enhance my learning experience beyond the classroom.” – Binyu Hu, The University of Hong Kong   What’s next for virtual learning? Now that the pandemic is over, are virtual programs still necessary? While in-person experiences are still popular and effective, virtual learning allows students to gain more and different types of knowledge and experience. Today’s students value the flexibility and accessibility of online learning, and programs such as the VSE Program can serve as an affordable alternative for less privileged students to learn in a multicultural environment without leaving home. What’s more,  87% of VSE Program participants say the experience has inspired them to participate in physical exchanges overseas. To support this, the VSE Program has now introduced a Virtual Language Center to help students learn new languages and prepare for their sojourn abroad. Understanding the local language no doubt enhances cultural immersion and appreciation. In the post-pandemic era, the VSE Program continues to offer a multicultural and interdisciplinary environment in which students learn to be open to new ideas and experiences, solve problems creatively, work collaboratively, and adapt to different contexts. What possibilities could it open up for you? To find out more, visit: https://vse.apru.org/

Illustrating strong interest in topics related to Indigenous Peoples and communities from the Asia-Pacific region, the “Roots and Bridges: APRU Indigenous Connections Seminar Series” recorded over 100 participants from across the Pacific Rim in its first two events. Held in May, the seminars featured network researchers from a broad range of academic fields who presented their fieldwork, insights, and findings. The initiative aims to share knowledge among APRU member universities, staff and students while encouraging collaboration and amplifying Indigenous voices and visions. “We set out to learn about what Maori people valued about Kapa Haka [Maori Performing Arts], and we ended up learning about the value of all things Maori,” said The University of Auckland’s Prof. Linda Waimarie Nikora, who, in the seminar shared how she and her colleagues explored the value and wellness contributions made by Kapa Haka to performers, audiences, and communities. Prof. Eldon Yellowhorn of Simon Fraser University shared that when he started his academic career in the 1990s, only about a dozen Indigenous people across Canada held a faculty position and that he was the first Indigenous person in Canada to complete a Ph.D. in archaeology. “Since then, we have researched various milestones in bringing an Indigenous route to the university; we now have 13 Indigenous faculty who teach courses with strong focusses on environmental knowledge, arts and literature, public policy and governments, and language preservation,” Prof. Yellowhorn said. For her part, Prof. Te Kawehau Hoskins of The University of Auckland explained that rather than wanting to be just another pressure group making rights claims, the Maori seek to dig into the idea of indigeneity to identify suitable ideas, logic, and practices for making changes. “There is a lot of productive potential in the way that we Maori approach political problems, questions and relationships…we are very good at breaching polarising positions, we are good at diplomacy, and we have got a lot of things that our nation and the world needs.” Prof. Hoskins said. The remaining six seminars will run until November, with the next one scheduled for June 28, 2024, 9:00 am – 10:00 am (Hong Kong/Philippines Time: UTC/GMT +8 hours). Prof. Raymundo Rovillos, University of the Philippines, will narrate, as well as reflect, on his experience as one of the leaders of the institutionalization of the Indigenous Studies Program (ISP) of the University of the Philippines Baguio. The seminars are led and moderated by Emeritus Prof. David Romo, Universidad San Francisco de Quito. Prof. Romo directed the Program of Ethnic Diversity and was responsible for including over 700 indigenous and Afroecuadorian students to USFQ. Learn more about the ‘Roots and Bridges: APRU Indigenous Connections Seminar Series’ and the upcoming talks here.

After successfully completing the APRU Open Dialogues Pilot in 2023, on May 10th, the APRU Open Dialogues 2nd cohort took place on the topic “What is the right to higher education?”. This topic was selected based on the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which exposes the right to higher education as part of the fundamental right to education. Sixty-five undergraduate students (59% female, 39% male, and other 2%) from 10 universities, nine economies, and 18 nationalities participated in the open dialogue. The participating universities were the National University of Singapore, Osaka University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The University of British Columbia, The University of Melbourne, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, the University of Alberta and Universidad Católica de Salta*. A team of experts and 14 moderators guided the dialogue exercise. Overall, the discussions highlighted the importance of global collaboration and advocacy in addressing educational inequalities and fostering inclusive higher education systems. Perla Salinas, Director of Human Dignity training at Tecnologico de Monterrey, started the conversation by declaring that Dialogue is not debating. In dialogue, people do not fight to win but to seek meeting points where ideas can be built. She added that the dialogue does not intend to change a point of view that does not want to be changed; its primary function is to find ways for people to talk about their ideas from their perspective and reach agreements where all parties are satisfied. She said “I invite you to listen to the person next to you, understand their story, find your voice, and speak out because everyone wants to listen to you.” In this online exercise, students had the chance to engage in candid conversations with peers from around the globe. Participants identified common challenges, such as economic hardship. However, they also learned about other barriers to accessing and remaining in college, such as distance, accessibility when having a disability, food insecurity, debt, and emotional burden, to name but a few. Mariana Echaniz, lecturer, and undergraduate program director of International Relations at Tecnologico de Monterrey, expressed: “This was a unique experience for everyone. After the dialogue, students were impressed with some of the stories they had heard.  Some had never realised how students from remote areas or war-torn countries struggle to access higher education. This was also an enriching experience for me as an instructor of the “Diversity in a Globalized World” class. We truly had the chance to be in a “global” environment exchanging ideas, views, and aspirations”.  In conclusion, some of the central learnings were: Economic barriers, cultural norms, and societal challenges affect access to education in various countries. Exchanging experiences with students from different backgrounds enriches understanding and empathy. Gender norms and societal expectations can also impact access to education, particularly for women. Refugee status and displacement present unique challenges in maintaining educational continuity. Encouraging awareness of available scholarships and advocating for inclusive policies are common solutions discussed. Recognizing the privilege of higher education and advocating for equitable access is a shared responsibility. David Huerta, Director of international experiences at Tecnológico de Monterrey concluded that nowadays, when many young people’s lives are affected by someone with sizable social media followers, we can use technology to connect students differently, through dialogue, is about moving beyond being “interesting” to becoming “interested” in the views, cultural perspectives, opinions, and life stories of students around the world… in a way, I want students to experience what Bob Burg once said: “Sometimes the most influential thing we can do is listen.”    The Asia Pacific Open Dialogues aims to develop a collaborative model for promoting open dialogues among the consortium universities in the Pacific Rim, to create empathy and awareness on current shared topics, and to develop responsible leadership skills. More information here: https://www.apru.org/our-work/student-leadership/open-dialogues/ *Special guest non APRU University

The recent International Women’s Day served as a timely opportunity for Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Program (APWiL) participants, alumni and guests to gather and participate in the webinar “Breaking Barriers, Building Bridges” organized by the Universiti Malaya. With the participation of Dato’ Professor Dr. Adeeba Kamarulzaman, President and Pro-Vice Chancellor, Monash University in Malaysia and former dean of Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Malaya, Prof. Kyoko Ohara from the Faculty of Science and Technology at Keio University, and moderated by Prof. Stefanie Pillai from the Universiti Malaya, the theme highlighted the significance of gender equity and the diverse roles of women in society. It also emphasized the overcoming of prejudices and barriers that have impeded the advancement of women in higher education institutions in the Pacific Rim.     The conversation started by mentioning the many competing priorities that women juggle when advancing in leadership roles. Both speakers highlighted the importance of recognising that women of all epochs often are balancing working and family responsibilities at the same time. “When women are in a period of intense study and training, it may conflict with our plan to start a family, so it is a huge need to have policies and investments to provide early childcare as well as ageing care to support women who by and large are still expected to do both of this” mentioned Prof. Kamarulzaman. Prof. Ohara said it is an important topic not just for this time but for all generations, and that this emphasizes the importance of mentoring programs, where participants can listen and share in safe spaces. “We often feel alone, so mentoring is beneficial for both sides, not just learning from mentors but also from mentees”, added Prof. Stefanie Pillai, the programme’s moderator from Universiti Malaya. Once again, awareness and imposter syndrome came up in the conversation as a critical barrier to women’s career advancement. Prof. Kamarulzaman has observed that women are less likely to put themselves forward for promotions in leadership committees. “Often, we think we’re not good enough. I sometimes doubt whether to be in the highest committees, so I try to be part of the conversations and not just keep sitting back.” Prof. Yvonne Lim, APWiL co-chair and Associate Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Academic and International), Universiti Malaya (UM), said “We have so many roles to play, which pushes us to become more collaborative”. Prof. Ohara shared her experiences creating a global leadership seminar and a global leadership exchange program. “Nobody taught us how to be leaders. In academia, at least in Japan, we were told to do an excellent job in research and education, but nobody has talked about women being leaders. That is why the importance of keeping closer, having conversations, and developing a human side with soft skills for the global leaders”. Prof. Kamarulzaman also commented on the importance of listening with an open mind, trusting and communicating with diplomacy as a critical factor to solve problems. Building bridges represents cooperation, cohesion, and interdependence. The theme also emphasised the significance of establishing partnerships in gender equity. The platform fostered a culture that supports lifelong learning and personal growth by promoting the sharing of experiences, perspectives, and knowledge among women leaders.     Prof. Lim concluded by reminding and encouraging the audience that, regarding the mistakes we may make, we must believe in ourselves, and if we are given a chance, we should grab it and go!   “A charming woman… doesn’t follow the crowd. She is herself.” Loretta Young   The event was organized by Universiti Malaya, led by Dr. Yong Adilah Binti Shamsul Harul, Dr. Charity Lee Chin Ai, Miss Nuzul Fatihin Izatil Binti Azman and APWiL. Click here to watch the full International Women’s Day 2024 APWiL webinar. The APWiL Mentoring Program is a year-long commitment that matches a mentor with a mentee from participating APRU member universities, to provide mentoring and intercultural opportunities for the empowerment of aspiring women leaders.

University-based academics from across Asia have been working with Bangladesh policymakers to identify gaps and bottlenecks in using artificial intelligence in maternal healthcare, and to prepare the ground for an upgrade in health services that would in future use advanced technologies such as AI. The initiative is part of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) AI for Social Good project, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok. It involved researchers from the National University of Singapore, the Korea Advanced Institute for Science and Technology, Australian National University and universities in Hawaii in providing research to support the Bangladesh government in developing AI policy and building AI capabilities in pregnancy monitoring. They worked closely with the Bangladesh Aspire to Innovate (a2i) programme of the government’s ICT Division and Cabinet Division, as well as Bangladesh policymakers and health professionals during the two-year APRU project funded by Google, which released its final report last month. The report focuses specifically on Bangladesh and Thailand. This article is part of a series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues published by University World News and supported by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. University World News is solely responsible for the editorial content. In the case of Bangladesh, the report concluded that despite technical barriers, an AI system is viable with the development of IT infrastructure to integrate AI and localised AI models using available data from hospitals and clinics. For example, AI could provide a better understanding of at risk-pregnancies by analysing data collected from different local sources, or through the development of an interactive ‘pregnancy assistant’ or monitoring system. Arifur Rahman, assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering at Hawai’i Pacific University, told University World News: “The project was about identifying how artificial intelligence can help in pregnancy monitoring in Bangladesh, then to improve the readiness of Bangladesh to use AI for monitoring.” Rahman, who is also affiliated to the University of Hawaii, Manoa, said autonomous AI “will be able to predict something is going to happen, and once you can predict, you can take preventive measures to stop it. So, for pregnancy monitoring, there is a prospect in AI. But how much prospect, that still has to be seen”. While many research groups around the world are working on AI in pregnancy monitoring, he noted that this was very much at the research stage. “It hasn’t been applied yet,” he said. Rahman added that much ongoing research involves intermediate level AI, which involves input of medical data “and then the [AI] output helps doctors to make a decision – but this is not AI making an autonomous decision”. Technological challenges to overcome Rahman’s task within the project was to look at Bangladesh’s current technological challenges and what they have to solve, in order to make some progress in using AI in pregnancy monitoring. This included what computer hardware is present in hospitals and clinics as well as at village level, how robust the connections are, as well as mobile phone penetration and prospects for digital networking. While mobile phone penetration in Bangladesh is, surprisingly, almost 100%, he found, computer penetration is lacking and there are other high barriers apart from digital access, such as literacy, social norms and inability to act on information, particularly among the most at-risk groups. Rahman acknowledged that there was some way to go before autonomous AI systems can be incorporated into maternal care in the country. Nonetheless there were ‘stepping stones’ that can be put in place. “For predictive AI to be robust could take some time. But instead of just waiting, the country should make some improvements so that when these predictive AI models are ready, they can implement it right away,” he noted. Bangladesh and SDGs According to Dr Shabnam Mostari, public health specialist in digital health at a2i, maternal health in Bangladesh has improved greatly in the past two decades. “But the rate of improvement has stalled in recent years and further inputs and efforts are needed to support the health of expecting and new mothers.” She told University World News that 90% of expectant mothers in the country receive antenatal care, but only 15% receive quality antenatal care and only 30% have access to quality postnatal care by qualified health professionals. Often complications in maternal and child health arise from delays in getting to quality health care such as doctors or hospitals. This is exacerbated by low levels of doctors per capita – on average just one doctor for 10,000 people, she explained. “The government’s objective is to reduce maternal mortality and to do that we need to look at a few indicators,” she said. Key among these is to identify pregnant women and reduce the burden on health service providers while also using the findings of the APRU-ESCAP collaboration for a new project for continuous pregnancy monitoring. “From the beginning of pregnancy, to delivery, [the intention is] to capture the everyday patient data – movement, blood pressure, sleep patterns, temperature, to be stored in the cloud.” Then, at some point in future, “AI will assist the service provider to identify high-risk pregnant women to detect pregnancy complications early,” she said. “It will help the service provider to focus on high-risk pregnant women.” Getting ready for AI in healthcare Continuous pregnancy monitoring is essential in achieving the Sustainable Development Goal 3 of health at every stage of life, according to Professor Olivia Jensen, deputy director and lead scientist (environment and climate) at the National University of Singapore (NUS). AI will transform treatment and diagnosis as well as the relationship between health professionals and patients. She was the research lead of the NUS team for the project. Digitalising health systems enhances monitoring and improves data quality. Higher quality data is important for the eventual application of machine learning techniques for AI analysis. But other foundations need to be laid in the absence of a universal electronic health record system in Bangladesh. The research team assessed options for developing localised AI models using available data from hospitals and clinics. User-centric design is also important. “Systems and applications should be designed to meet the needs of healthcare providers and expecting mothers, based on a strong foundation of evidence,” she told University World News. Jensen pointed to the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, which “enabled us to incorporate perspectives from academic research on risk perception and communication, which were highly regarded by our government partners”. The project report recommended digitalising standard antenatal care data entry in the public health system, as well implementing a mobile phone-based system for appointment tracking with automated reminders for expecting mothers and community health workers. Jensen also pointed to its use in route planning for health workers in areas of poor transport. “We gave a lot of emphasis in our work to the community health care workers, people who are not qualified health professionals, but nevertheless play a terribly important role in the frontline of the delivery of health care services, including maternal health care,” she explained. According to Jensen, an issue that came up during research was the possible use of digital devices by pregnant women themselves. “This has been developed in other countries, and also in Bangladesh, so there are already some apps or online resources like chatbots that provide information to the woman or her family,” she said. “But we decided that was not going to make a lot of difference to the women and their key outcomes that we were tracking,” she said, pointing to the most vulnerable and marginalised groups. Anir Chowdhury, policy advisor of the Bangladesh government at a2i, and the government lead for the project, said: “Digital inequality matches exactly maternal health and equality. So, the same people who don’t have access to reliable digital services are the same women who are currently not getting the maternal care they need, and find it most difficult to get to a clinic to receive assistance in the case of a complicated delivery.” Importance of academic research Chowdhury explained that the goal for policy-makers was to “collect enough data so that we can identify the high-risk pregnancies and change the visit schedules of health workers to prioritise them. But the question is what is the right data to be collected?” The research input was valuable in providing comprehensive understanding for policy-makers, and identifying the gaps to narrow, he said. “So hopefully this will lead to a solution that is affordable and scalable – if you collect that data for 100 women in a location, it can scale up to 100,000 or a million, that’s the challenge.” The second aim, which he noted would take longer, was to train an AI system to help doctors and health workers in their decisions. But this requires a lot of data to be collected “and perhaps a lot of experimentation and permutations and combinations of what the human person does and what the AI does”, said Chowdhury, adding: “It’s a long process but we wanted to get started and some of that has been achieved, but it will take years to get to the point of scalability and accuracy.” Working with academic researchers was important. “APRU was very careful and deliberate in involving the policy-makers throughout the whole process. In the beginning, the requirements and challenges from the policy-makers went into the design of the research. “Throughout the whole research process, the guidance and debate between the two parties really helped. There was mutual respect and trust and proof,” Chowdhury said. “Of course there was a bit of difficulty in the beginning, because the language, the perspectives are different,” he acknowledged. “But we figured out a common language of communication and common vision and this was a good model for us to follow. “AI is not well understood by policy-makers, there is a great fear about AI, and whether AI is ‘taking over’. And that fear is actually growing. So this collaboration between the academicians who understood much, much better than policy-makers, and could talk about specific examples from other countries that have had successes and failures, really informed the policy-makers,” he said. APRU’s Chief Strategy Officer Christina Schönleber explained that the research team was a large one with multiple universities involved, brought together by APRU from among more than 60 member universities and based on the expertise needed to frame the research questions. “For APRU it was about giving governments information that they may already know they need, or they are not aware they need, about the implementation of AI for some of the services that they would deliver, and it’s about the impact,” Schönleber said. “We want to make sure they don’t just use AI for the sake of using AI and because everybody wants to use it.” Chowdhury also underlined the importance of involving international universities, to learn about successes and failures from other countries “then juxtaposing it to our context”. He added: “That could not have been done by local researchers, they would not have had that exposure from other countries.” He stressed: “This is not just a research project. It is leading to actionable projects, and interventions that we’ll actually try out.”

By Yojana Sharma As published on University World News  As artificial intelligence-assisted technologies are developing rapidly in areas such as the healthcare sector, university researchers are helping policy-makers to identify the gaps and barriers to rapid implementation. As part of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities’ (APRU) AI for Social Good project, in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, university-based academics have been working with Thai policy-makers to assess gaps and bottlenecks in implementing AI in healthcare. The academics then support the Thai government in developing policies to help build AI capabilities. The two-year APRU project funded by Google, which has just ended, “aimed to work with government partners in Asia and the Pacific to grow sound and transparent AI ecosystems that support sustainable development goals”, explained APRU’s chief strategy officer, Christina Schönleber. Research has already shown that AI can make healthcare more efficient, improve patient outcomes and support medical research. Newer AI such as voice-to-text and generative AI tools for summarising patient data have also proven useful for health workers in the field. “For Thailand we were looking at barriers and enablers for data sharing for AI healthcare,” explained Jasper Tromp, assistant professor at the National University of Singapore and APRU’s research lead for the project. “In addition to rigorous research, the Thai partners emphasised the need to be relevant to the Thai people, and they also saw the benefit of researchers coming from different regions, because they could bring knowledge from their own regions,” explained Toni Erskine, professor of international politics at the Australian National University (ANU) in Canberra, who was the research lead for the overall APRU AI for Public Good project. For artificial intelligence to be useful in countries like Thailand, it is crucial that data can be shared. But many governments are unaware of the specific barriers or enablers for joined up data such as patient data or imaging data for healthcare, Tromp noted. Limited data availability and varying data storage standards also pose significant challenges to AI development and deployment, the research found. One of the aims of the APRU project, in collaboration with the Thai Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council, was “specifically to inform development of a guideline or protocol to enable data sharing between government institutions, but also between government institutions and private partners, such as companies or universities or external organisations that would use this type of data”, Tromp explained. AI solutions for Thailand Thailand is developing its AI capabilities to help bridge gaps in skills and healthcare coverage beyond major cities. But implementing AI-assisted healthcare still has significant hurdles to overcome, and many examples that resolve some of these have been developed in the United States or Europe. “Many of these AI algorithms are trained in the US or Europe and most of the training data is derived from either white people or African American people and people that do not share the same ethnic background [as Thais], so they might not work as well in the Thai or Asian local context as they do in the context where they’re developed,” said Tromp. “For both practical as well as economic reasons, Thailand is very eager to develop their own AI industry and apps that can be deployed locally,” he added. In part, this is because some of the AI-driven healthcare systems developed overseas are expensive to acquire and implement. Also, Thailand wants solutions geared to the local context. Some research work on AI for medical applications has been ongoing within Thailand, with some companies expecting to release them on the market in the near future. “AI has shown a lot of promise in healthcare. It’s being used now in terms of chatbots, and it is being implemented for image recognition,” Tromp said. What currently exists is fairly general. “But for health records for public health it has to be very high-level data.” Hurdles identified by research “The first task was to systematically map these barriers and enablers that have been published by others, for example, in academic literature outside of Thailand, that might influence data sharing, meaningful data collection and quality. And then we tested those barriers locally ]in Thailand],” said Tromp. He noted that in common with many other countries in the region, in Thailand “people use different software to collect data”. Apart from that, “if you go to lower tiers in health care, such as primary care or they use paper based [patient] records, it means you’re only getting access to data from centres that have capabilities to collect it”. Fragmented healthcare provision means differences in data architecture, standards and collection, and these hamper interoperability. In Singapore, TRUST, a data-sharing platform run by Singapore’s Ministry of Health and aimed at improving health outcomes, collects all this data together on a single platform. The platform includes research data ranging from genomics to socio-economic data and sourced from public health institutions, research institutions and public agencies that allow their anonymised data to be made accessible via TRUST for research purposes. Tromp acknowledged, however, that the Singapore example is an expensive one. Limited resources are a significant barrier, with uneven human, technical and financial resources across healthcare institutions. High costs of hardware and software acquisition, installation, and maintenance can hamper quality data collection and sharing, particularly for smaller clinics and hospitals, the research found. APRU’s final report on ‘AI for Social Good’ which is about to be released, points to a lack of understanding of “the value of data and the importance of data security and privacy. Health literacy issues and confusion around data-sharing parameters also contribute to the challenges. Additionally, the absence of precise data-sharing regulations and guidelines at the political and policy levels creates uncertainty and hampers progress.” Tromp also noted that there was reluctance to share data, within government but also outside government, such as in hospitals and others that hold healthcare data. In addition, for many people Thailand’s new Personal Data Protection Act, which began to be enforced in 2022, is unclear on how they are able to share data and in what formats. “It was one of our major findings. We are recommending they develop a protocol for this,” Tromp said. The project also proposed a regulatory ‘sandbox’ to promote innovation within a protected experimental environment with fewer regulatory constraints, so that relevant government departments can figure out what future regulation is appropriate. The project noted that “the rise of regulatory sandboxes in the health sector has ensued from the phenomenal increase in digital health adoption in many countries”. It was also a recommendation that was of interest to the Thai government, Tromp said. Working with policy-makers The research input was valuable, and important in the fast-moving AI environment, Tromp said. “AI has specific challenges for data sharing. Because of the granularity that you request from the data to develop AI, there are very few policy frameworks that address this directly, so it is difficult to copy [from others]. You need new knowledge to inform policy developments.” International organisations such as the United Nations have good on the ground knowledge but rarely work in knowledge generation, Tromp pointed out. “Healthcare systems face a lot of challenges, such as manpower, that require innovations like AI to strengthen, so there is a niche for universities to add to knowledge generation.” But working together with Thai officials from the outset was important. “With our Thai partners, we had a number of meetings before we even came up with the final research questions and we had a lot of people in those initial meetings,” ANU’s Erskine explained. The project also had peer reviewers who commented on the drafts the researchers produced. These included Dr Greg Raymond, an assistant professor at ANU who has worked specifically on Thai politics and was able to speak to the Thai government departments and also provide input about the geopolitical and cultural contexts of Thailand that needed to be considered in the research. “I think this project did a really good job in bridging the gap” between research and policy, said Tromp. “Working with government to inform research priorities is very replicable – it’s an unmet need in the region.”   This article is part of a series on Pacific Rim higher education and research issues published by University World News and supported by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. University World News is solely responsible for the editorial content.

The APRU SWM Forum 2023 was a significant event dedicated to exploring emerging sustainability-related issues, convening experts and enthusiasts. Held annually, this year’s forum revolved around the theme “Advancing UN SDGs and ESG for a Sustainable Future.” Hosted by the APRU Sustainable Waste Management (SWM) Program in collaboration with the International ESG Association (IESGA) and Korea University ESG Research Institute, the event was led by Prof. Yong Sik Ok, Chair and Program Director of the APRU SWM Program. Esteemed speakers, including Mr. Jamil Ahmad (Director of Intergovernmental Affairs UNEP New York), Prof. Chan-woo Kim (Former Ambassador for Climate Change and Government Representative from Korea’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs), and Dr. Monica Contestabile (Chief Editor of Nature Sustainability) offered their expertise and insights on UN SDGs and sustainability research. Prof. Yong Sik Ok, in his opening address, underscored the interconnectedness between ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance), UN SDGs, and sustainability, guiding the proceedings of the forum. Prof. Rhee initiated an important query, reflecting the impact of collaborative research along with its inherent advantages and disadvantages. Additionally, Prof. Kim underscored the collective responsibility to work together towards achieving UN SDGs, emphasizing that every individual plays a role in this global initiative. “UN SDGs serve as the blueprint for sustainability, which should remain consistent irrespective of geographical distinctions, as they are universally applicable,” said Mr. Ahmad. Mr. Jamil Ahmad, Director of Intergovernmental Affairs UNEP New York Dr. Contestabile highlighted the interconnectedness of numerous global sustainability issues, underscoring the necessity for multifaceted perspectives to formulate long-term solutions. She stressed the importance of collaborative research to address these complexities effectively. Furthermore, Dr. Contestabile emphasized the significance of framing research questions that hold substantial meaning for policymakers. Only when sustainability research aligns with policymaking can it effectively influence new policy developments toward a more sustainable and greener future. Following the keynote speeches at the APRU SWM Forum, IESGA Director Yoora Cho presented the analysis results of recent research conducted by IESGA. The study focused on evaluating nature-positive commitments in biodiversity performances of Korean corporations. Based on these commitments regarding biodiversity, the TOP 200 corporations were ranked accordingly. In addition, ongoing research initiatives by IESGA concentrating on ESG and sustainability were highlighted during the event. These studies encompassed diverse areas such as ESG evaluations specifically tailored for higher education institutions and the comprehensive assessment of nature-related issues prevalent among energy sector companies listed in the Fortune Global 500. These ongoing research endeavors showcased a multifaceted approach toward examining and addressing sustainability concerns across various sectors and institutions. During the Q&A session, participants engaged closely with the Chief Editor and the UNEP Director, seeking clarification on pressing sustainability and research-related issues. Comprehensive discussions ensued regarding the correct approach to conducting interdisciplinary research, acknowledged as highly challenging, and strategies to persuade policymakers through research findings to adopt or update policies. Additionally, a key message emphasized was the necessity for more impactful sustainability research to achieve the 2030 agenda for sustainable development. The focal point highlighted the indispensable requirement for collaboration between local institutions, government authorities, ministries, local administrations, and decision-makers to effectively advance sustainability initiatives. The APRU SWM Program, under the leadership of Prof. Yong Sik Ok, played a pivotal role in advancing the pursuit of the 2030 agenda on sustainable development and ESG. As the APRU SWM Forum 2023 drew to a close, it culminated in an extensive exchange of invaluable knowledge, emphasizing the urgent need for collaborative efforts aimed at fostering a more sustainable future. The discussions and insights shared throughout the forum not only underscored the significance of collective action but also highlighted the diverse strategies and innovative approaches essential for addressing multifaceted sustainability challenges. The event showed us ways to reach the ambitious goals outlined in the 2030 agenda, emphasizing the crucial role of collaborative initiatives in reshaping our global trajectory towards sustainability.

The 6th Global Conference, organized by the APRU Sustainable Waste Management (APRU SWM) Program on November 28 – 30, 2023, concluded with great success, attracting 377 representatives from academic institutions and global industries across over 30 countries. Titled “6th Global Conference: ESG Management and Sustainability,” the event chaired by Prof. Yong Sik Ok fostered intellectually stimulating engagements, with the APRU SWM Program playing a pivotal role. The program collaborated with esteemed institutions including the International ESG Association (IESGA) and Korea University ESG Research Institute. Prof. Yong Sik Ok, the Chair and Program Director of the APRU SWM Program, also holds the esteemed position of President at the IESGA. Additionally, Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee, who served as the conference chair, holds positions as the President of the IESGA and at the Korea University ESG Research Institute. Prof. Yong Sik Ok (left) and Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee (right)   Nature Masterclasses and lectures by Editors of Nature Journals One of the highlights of the dynamic event was the Nature Masterclass and Lectures, featuring Chief Editors from the Nature journals. The Lectures hosted by Prof.Yong Sik Ok served as a significant platform for knowledge exchange, fostering discussions on critical environmental and sustainability concerns. The panelists were chief editors from distinguished publications such as Nature Climate Change (Dr. Bronwyn Wake) and Nature Reviews Psychology (Dr. Jenn Richler). The editors offered comprehensive guidance to participants on structuring manuscripts effectively. Utilizing numerous examples from published articles, the editors engaged participants by encouraging them to assume the role of a journal editor. They requested feedback on each aspect of the manuscript and prompted participants to determine whether they would accept the manuscript for publication. Jenn Richler, Chiel Editor of Nature Reviews Psychology Bronwyn Wake, Chief Editor of Nature Climate Moreover, attendees had the unique opportunity to interact directly with each editor. This interaction allowed them to receive personalized feedback on their abstracts, enabling them to further refine and improve the content of their abstracts. The editors’ hands-on approach provided invaluable insights into the editorial process and enhanced participants’ understanding of crafting manuscripts that meet the standards of leading scientific journals.   The key lectures by sustainability leaders from Stanford and Oxford, the UNEP Director, and the IUCN Director General Another significant aspect of the global conference comprised keynote lectures delivered by distinguished academic figures, notably Prof. William A. Mitch, Co-chair of the APRU SWM Program from the Doerr School of Sustainability at Stanford University, and Prof. Amir Amel-Zadeh from the Saïd Business School, University of Oxford. These lectures greatly enriched the discourse by offering profound insights that furthered discussions on sustainable business practices. Their presentations underscored the imperative need for implementing quantifiable metrics to assess the impacts on natural resources, a crucial aspect that can substantially aid industries in attaining long-term sustainability goals. Dr. Bruno Oberle, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), emphasized the significance of securing reliable data and systems for corporate sustainability and biodiversity preservation. He stressed that this proactive approach not only mitigates risks but also reveals opportunities for growth. Moreover, he underscored the importance of early engagement, enabling corporations to influence regulations while championing environmental conservation efforts. Dr. Bruno Oberle, Director General of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature Mr. Jamil Ahmad, Director of the UNEP, provided a holistic perspective on conservation and global sustainability efforts. These sessions, marked by collaborative exchanges and forward-thinking dialogues, delved into multifaceted topics, encompassing climate change mitigation, sustainable development, the intersection of psychology and environmentalism, and innovative strategies for ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) management. Conference participants praised APRU SWM Program’s dedication to fostering interactive and impactful engagements, uniting prominent leaders to tackle the urgent challenges our planet faces. The Nature Masterclasses and Lectures received acclaim for catalyzing cross-disciplinary discussions and nurturing collaborations aimed at advancing global sustainability practices. The contributions of APRU SWM Program and the insightful perspectives shared by the panelists have reignited momentum toward achieving a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future. The 6th Global Conference: ESG Management and Sustainability stood as a testament to the potency of collaboration and knowledge-sharing, showcasing how collective efforts led by APRU SWM Program can drive changes toward a more sustainable world.

Original post: The University of Melbourne Pursuit (14 December 2023) by Kirsten Clark, Professor Barry Judd and Professor Adrian Little, University of Melbourne   The role of Indigenous knowledges in the climate crisis became a focal point of COP28, the United Nation’s climate change conference. At the opening plenary in Dubai, the International Indigenous Peoples’ Forum on Climate Change Caucus delivered a bold call for action. Pema Wangmo Lama Mugum, an Indigenous Youth activist from the Mugum Indigenous Nations in Asia. Picture: National Indigenous Women’s Federation Referring to the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, Pema Wangmo Lama, an Indigenous youth activist from the Mugum Indigenous community in Nepal, described how climate-induced disasters are threatening Indigenous ways of life around the world. She called for urgent compensation and a moratorium on carbon markets and offsets, geo-engineering, mal-adaptation technologies, “Net Zero frameworks” and “nature-based solutions”. In her address, Pema explained how these practices are failing to reduce global warming and are instead creating new forms of colonisation, militarisation, criminalisation and land loss. On behalf of Indigenous communities across the globe, Pema committed to working with nations to implement real solutions based on Indigenous knowledge, practices, time-tested sciences and reciprocity with the natural world. Indigenous advocates want to ensure that Indigenous knowledge is fully recognised as a solution to climate change. This growing recognition of the potential of Indigenous knowledge and practices to enrich and strengthen current and future adaptation efforts has implications for the university sector – both locally and globally.   RESEARCH IN PARTNERSHIP WITH INDIGENOUS COMMUNITIES Drawing on our research strengths in climate, environment, sustainability and Indigenous knowledges the University of Melbourne is playing a leading role in tackling the climate crisis. The Indigenous Knowledge Institute (IKI), one of five interdisciplinary research institutes, aims to advance research and education in Indigenous knowledge systems. The ‘Healthy Country’ research stream is developing benchmarks and metrics to measure the efficacy of management approaches as well as facilitating the development and implementation of cultural mapping and Healthy Country management plans. The overarching aim is to empower Indigenous people to influence and govern decisions that shape their Country. The theme is led by Professor Michael-Shawn Fletcher, a Wiradjuri man and expert in tracking the long-term interaction between humans, climate, disturbance and vegetation. His groundbreaking research is resulting in a more nuanced story of Indigenous interaction and management of the Australian landscape for the past 40,000 years or more. The IKI also has a strong focus on building the next generation of Indigenous leaders. A recipient of a 2023 IKI PhD Bursary, Djarra Delaney, a Quandamooka person from the Moreton Bay region of Southeast Queensland, will investigate climate adaptation practices in Australian Indigenous island communities. His work will examine the intersectional issues of colonisation and climate change, offering new Indigenous methods for undertaking adaptation practice that centres Indigenous knowledges, spirituality, culture and respect for the environment. The University’s place-based partnership with North East Arnhem Land is also proving a gateway to two-way knowledge sharing on climate change and adaption. A seed project, funded by the IKI, is examining native bee climate adaptation in Arnhem Land. It has the potential to become a model for research that draws on Indigenous knowledge that enhances understanding of species and supports their adaptation to climate change. These projects are underpinned by a strong commitment to establishing and nurturing meaningful and enduring collaborations with Indigenous communities – empowering Indigenous researchers and communities while avoiding extractive, tokenistic and harmful practices.   COLLECTIVE POWER OF INDIGENOUS NETWORKS Universities have long prioritised global networks as vital to sharing and growing global knowledge. However, Indigenous knowledge is rarely a focus of higher education internationalisation agendas. Prioritising international Indigenous networks is critical to ensuring that Indigenous voices are at the fore of engagement with tertiary institutions and networks across the world. These networks shape and develop global Indigenous research and education with a potential to play a major role in addressing global challenges, like climate change. In November, the University of Melbourne hosted a gathering of international leaders in Indigenous and First Nations knowledges for the second workshop of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Indigenous Knowledges Network. Participants from 17 different universities attended the week-long workshop attending research showcases at the University’s Dookie campus and spent time on country in the Yorta Yorta Nation, hearing from the University’s Goulburn Valley community partners and local Indigenous Elders. The APRU Indigenous Knowledges Network, led by the University of Melbourne, includes participants from 12 APRU member institutions from across Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. The University’s leadership in the APRU network is central to our commitment to ensuring that Indigenous voices are at the fore of our engagement with tertiary institutions and networks across the world, as outlined in Murmuk Djerring, our Indigenous Strategy. This network brings together the work of APRU members in multilateral collaborations to share knowledge, build connections between researchers and enhance teaching programs in Indigenous and First Nations’ studies. Discussions took place against a backdrop of continuing economic pressures, often contentious debates over local and geopolitical issues, and the worsening climate crisis. This enthusiasm for building global collaborations reflects the goals of COP28 and the urgent need to work together, across sectors and geographies. In Dubai, Indigenous leaders argued for governments to heed the recommendations of UN climate and biodiversity experts and work with Indigenous peoples, who have lived in balance and harmony with nature for thousands of years. Global networks are vital to strengthening Indigenous research and collaboration to elevate Indigenous solutions to the big challenges of our time.

The Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) successfully held the APWiL Mentoring Program 4th Cohort Orientation and the first Informal Networking event on November 9 and December 7 respectively, circling in on the persistent topic of women equity in the universities, the importance of creating a safe place for everybody in academia, and the importance of work-life balance in women’s academic careers. The APWiL Mentoring Program is a year-long commitment that matches a mentor with a mentee from participating APRU member universities, to provide mentoring and intercultural opportunities for the empowerment of aspiring women leaders. With 44 mentoring pairs, the 4th Cohort is almost three times larger than the Pilot Cohort in 2020-21 and involves 27 institutions, three more institutions than the 3rd Cohort, reflecting on the increasing interest and need from academics and universities alike. “The steadily growing participation shows how much this program is being appreciated by our group members,” said APWiL Co-Chair, Professor Yvonne Lim, Universiti Malaya’s Associate Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement). “It is not just the women leaders and women colleagues who play their roles, so we are grateful also for having male colleagues supporting us in our journey in encouraging women to be aspiring leaders.” The 4th Cohort Informal Networking event proved to be a valuable platform for unstructured conversations among mentees and mentors as well as program alumni to discuss successes and challenges in working towards their goals and connecting with other leaders in the APRU network. The next event of the 4th Cohort is the International Women’s Day Event on March 8 next year, which will be led by Universiti Malaya APWiL Alumni. “You are encouraged to be open to share information, because the more you build trust the more effective these relationships are,” said APWiL Manager, Dawn Takaoglu, Director of International & Academic English, Global Affairs at UC Davis during the Orientation Day. And she continued “Getting to know your mentor as a person, and as a professional will be helpful in developing that level of trust that makes these relationships very successful”.

Original post: The University of Melbourne News (29 November 2023) The University of Melbourne welcomed international leaders in Indigenous and First Nations knowledges for the second workshop of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Indigenous Knowledges Network. The workshop ran from 19 – 23 November and was hosted on campus in Parkville and Dookie and included travel throughout the scenic Goulburn Valley. Participants from 17 different universities were welcomed to Melbourne (Narrm) by Wurundjeri Elders and had the opportunity to hear from the University’s Indigenous leadership about the University’s Indigenous Strategy, Murmuk Djerring, and Victoria’s work towards Treaty, post-referendum. Participants also attended research showcases at the University’s Dookie campus and spent time on country in the Yorta Yorta Nation, hearing from the University’s Goulburn Valley community partners and local Indigenous Elders. Workshop sessions focused on opportunities for international university collaborations in the areas of Indigenous knowledge in research and research training, teaching and learning and student support, and leadership and professional development. The APRU Indigenous Knowledges Network is led by the University of Melbourne and includes participants from 12 APRU member institutions from across Asia, Latin America and the Pacific. The network brings together the work of APRU members in multilateral collaborations to share knowledge, build connections between researchers, and enhance teaching programs in Indigenous and First Nations studies. Participation in APRU aligns to the University of Melbourne’s commitment to ensuring that Indigenous voices are at the fore of our engagement with tertiary institutions and networks across the world, and to play a leading role in shaping and developing global Indigenous research and education networks.

Original post: University of Auckland Newsroom (22 November 2023) Honor Browne never saw herself as an ‘innovator’ or ‘entrepreneur.’ In her mind, those labels were for engineers or business owners, not someone dedicated to improving health outcomes. However, Honor’s university journey and openness to new opportunities have opened her eyes to the potential for innovative thinking for social impact. At the recent Waipapa Taumata Rau, University of Auckland Blues Awards, Honor was recognised for her role in winning the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) x United Nations (UN) Social Innovation Competition that enabled her team to attend advanced prototyping training and UN sessions in Thailand earlier this year.  Leaving school with good grades and a yearning to help others, Honor first enrolled for a Bachelor of Science- Biomedical Science at the University of Auckland with her sights set on a career in medicine. “It seemed like the obvious choice,” says Honor. But it was while studying one paper in Population Health in that first year that Honor had a lightbulb moment. “It really inspired me to change when I realised, I can prevent people from getting sick in the first place.”  During Honor’s second year at university, she pivoted toward health science combined with political and global studies, thinking they would help her make the impact she desired. Ultimately, Honor chose to tailor her degree programme further, settling on a conjoint Bachelor of Health Science/Bachelor of Arts (Economics & Statistics). “I decided If I want people to listen to me, I need the data to back it up, and I need the economics to show that it’s worth the money and support.”  Honor views everything in life as a learning opportunity. “I just put my name down for everything. Even if it doesn’t turn out to be something I enjoy. I still learn something from it.”   Honor applied and was accepted into the APRU x UN Social Innovation programme, through which teams of students from 60 universities across 19 Pacific Rim countries form virtual teams and are challenged to develop a social innovation prototype to address the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (UN SDG) 3: Good Health and Well-being.   It was while brainstorming ideas that Honor’s international team started discussing their own experiences of Covid lockdowns and the effects on mental health for themselves and loved ones. While living in different countries and communities, Honor described how they were surprised to learn how much of their experiences they had in common. It was this conversation that led the group to choose to address the topic of Geriatric Mental Health.  “Loneliness, social exclusion, and loss of independence are all known causes of poor mental health in the elderly population, “explains Honor. While Covid highlighted this in a dramatic way, elderly people can experience this anytime. Addressing Geriatric Mental Health also aligns with the United Nations Decade of Healthy Aging, a global initiative to transform the world to be a better place to grow older.  Five months of collaboration resulted in Honor’s team developing the concept called the Healthy Aging Project. An innovative community-based intergenerational skills and cultural exchange programme, that aims to build a bridge between elderly communities and younger generations. ”By enabling the elderly to engage with younger generations, it restores their sense of independence and usefulness. The programme includes various activities like sharing traditional knowledge, community gardening, improving literacy rates, and teaching trades and life skills,” says Honor.  An important part of the process was ‘social prototyping,’ which aimed to test the robustness of the idea across different communities and cultures. A key step in any innovative process, Honor described how it was fundamental to expose any personal bias and assumptions. “It’s all about working out feasibility, how you’re going to implement it. It’s answering all those realistic questions, whether the programme is accessible for elderly and addresses their needs.”  Savinda Ranathunga, Regional Youth Project Manager, UNDP (United Nations Development Programme) Asia and the Pacific, was the mentor for Honor’s team and supported Honor’s Blues Award nomination saying, “Honor demonstrated strong problem-solving abilities, leading the team to overcome challenges related to funding, equity and access barriers, and individual country implementation. Her creativity was evident in the innovative solutions she proposed, which added unique and effective dimensions to our project.”   Honor believes her secret to success is simply not being shy to ask or apply. “What’s the worst that can happen? They say, “No”,” she explains. “Signing up for things randomly has led me to represent New Zealand overseas twice!” 

Tecnológico de Monterrey in late-October successfully led the first program under the APRU Open Dialogues Pilot, circling in on the topic of gender-based violence prevention in learning environments. This comes shortly after UNESCO flagged that school violence is widespread, occurs in all countries, and affects many children and adolescents. Whilst data on sexual or gender-based violence in school is difficult to collect, global data shows that one in four young women has already experienced violence by an intimate partner by the time they turn 24. Forty undergraduate students (23 men and 17 women) from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, University of Oregon, and Universidad de Chile participated in the first dialogue that allowed the students to share their points of view, perspectives, and ways to support their communities. The dialogue exercise was guided by a team of experts and fifteen moderators.                                        “Walking down the path of the mainstreaming gender perspective is opening the way to the true future. Celebrating, recognizing and working on diversity in co-responsibility as universities and giving our student communities the powerful tool of ‘dialogue’ is weaving threads of equality for the well-being of our societies.” said Alba Cázeres from the Center for the recognition of Human Dignity at Tecnológico de Monterrey. The APRU Open Dialogues Pilot aims to develop a collaborative model for promoting sustained dialogues among the consortium universities, to create empathy and awareness on current shared topics, as well as develop leadership skills. “Nowadays, bringing together students from different countries to learn from one another is not just technologically feasible and cost-effective, but necessary in terms of developing the very cultural sensitivity and intercultural communication skill sets that are highly needed in the global job market,” said David Huerta Harris, Director of International Transversal Models at Tecnológico de Monterrey. “Participants are invited to listen strongly enough to integrate other visions into their own, thus developing a broader understanding of the issues and challenges our societies face.”                                        The October pilot program was delivered in Spanish, with a first English-language program to be announced soon for 2024. On the list of expected outcomes are the creation of immediate and lasting impact on student communities; improved connection of students across borders; strengthened awareness of diversity and inclusion issues; and collection of insights to assess the pertinence of building a larger-scale Open Dialogues consortium program.

The APWiL Mentoring Program 3rd Cohort wrapped up on October 11 with a virtual graduation ceremony kick-started with a keynote speech by Prof. Dawn Freshwater, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland and APWiL Presidential Champion. The ceremony highlighted participants’ accomplishments and appreciation for a fruitful year of mentor-mentee exchanges. Involving 91 mentors and mentees from 24 APRU member universities, the 3rd Cohort’s footprint was larger than the previous cohort’s, reflecting APRU’s successful outreach within its large network.     The APRU APWiL Mentoring Program, which is co-chaired by Universiti Malaya and University of California, Davis, is a year-long commitment focused on fostering women’s leadership at APRU institutions by pairing mentors and mentees in one-on-one mentoring relationships. Empowerment is an urgent task, given the persistent complex social and economic barriers to women’s advancement in leadership in academia. “Participation in the APWIL program has been a rewarding experience, and I always look forward to catching up with my mentee and continuing our exchanges beyond this program,” said Juliana Ng, Director of Australian National University’s Research School of Accounting. The 3rd Cohort was enriched by a Tecnologico de Monterrey-led workshop on Imposter syndrome: Women, psychology, and society; a Keio University and The University of Melbourne-led workshop on Exploring Intersectionality on International Women’s Day; and a seminar on The Art of Effective Communication and Negotiation with speakers from APRU, The University of Auckland, Universiti Malaya, and University of California, Davis. Participants also engaged in multiple informal networking exchanges.     Te Kawehau Hoskins, the University of Auckland’s Pro-Vice Chancellor (Maori), emphasized that she thoroughly enjoyed her first mentoring experience. “We could call this relationship a “tuakana-teina”, one where teaching and learning occur in both directions,” Hoskins said. Akiyo Okuda, Keio University’s Vice President, was thrilled to learn that her mentee, Wai Yee Yeong, Associate Professor Nanyang Technological University, has become the chair of her department. “It was a true privilege to work together with Wai Yee in our careers,” Okuda said.  On the mentee side, Kaori Idemaru, Professor at the University of Oregon, revealed that participating in the APWiL Mentoring Program empowered her to work on developing leadership skills and raising her research prominence purposefully and proactively. “With my mentor’s guidance, I applied and secured university fellowships, accepted invitations for guest lectures, and submitted research grants,” Idemaru said. Carolina Senes, Chair of Tecnologico de Monterrey’s Regional Bioengineering Department (West area), said the 3rd Cohort will influence her well beyond the immediate future. “It steered me towards decisions that will leave a lasting imprint on my career trajectory,” Senes said.  We congratulate all the participants from the APWiL Mentoring Program 3rd Cohort, and we hope that the experiences, learnings, and relationships built throughout it will help them grow in their professional careers and achieve their goals. To learn more about the APWiL Mentoring Program visit its website here.

Original post on EurekAlert by AAAS. The International ESG Association (IESGA), in collaboration with the APRU Sustainable Waste Management Program (APRU SWM), the Korea University ESG Research Institute, the Korean Society for Consumer and Advertising Psychology, and Springer Nature, hosted a forum with Sir Philip Campbell, titled “Routes towards a sustainable society.” The forum was led by Prof. Yong Sik Ok, the HCR Professor at Korea University, the Chair and Program Director of the APRU SWM Program, as well as the President of IESGA. Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee, the Director of the Korea University ESG Research Institute and the President of IESGA, played a key role alongside Prof. Ok. Sir Campbell, a prominent British astrophysicist, is an Honorary Fellow at Cambridge. He held the position of Editor-in-Chief of Nature for 22 years and currently serves as the Editor-in-Chief at Springer Nature. He is also a recipient of the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Association of British Science Writers (2019) and was recognized as a Knight Bachelor for his contribution to the field of science on the late Queen’s birthday in 2015. ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) holds a place of paramount importance across both research and industries. Its significance resides in shaping responsible practices, ensuring sustainability, and promoting ethical governance. The adoption of an interdisciplinary approach is imperative to effectively tackle the multifaceted challenges tied to ESG, thus fostering holistic solutions for a more conscientious world. Within the current ESG era, this Forum provided a notable platform to link ESG and the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UN SDGs). It was graced by the presence of CEOs and representatives from diverse industries, as well as esteemed high-level professionals from media societies. During the welcome address delivered by Prof. Rhee, it was duly highlighted that ESG stands as an emerging phenomenon. The significance of embracing an interdisciplinary approach, harmonizing research, and education, was underscored for the effective implementation of ESG principles. During his speech on societal challenges of research, including research communication and its societal impacts, Sir Campbell emphasized the need for conducting interdisciplinary research that covers a wide array of disciplines in order to achieve UN SDGs by 2030. He added that the findings of such research could provide actionable recommendations to help overcome the challenges faced by the society, environment, and economic sectors. Moreover, he emphasized that researchers must realize their power to influence high-level policy development. According to Sir Campbell, for any research to impact the society, it must take on-board the target group of the society that will benefit from it, as its stakeholder. He further added that to find relevance in the social dimension, universities and researchers should pursue research that aligns with the UN SDGs and their national policies; encourages multidisciplinary research projects; and promote practices like open data, available tools, and open access. The panel discussion, led by Prof. Yong Sik Ok, sparked further deliberations by emphasizing on the link between UN SDGs and ESG and the impact that media has had on research. It deep-dived into the use of machine learning techniques for developing quantitative indicators from qualitative datasets. In addition to these rich discussions, the forum was also a great platform for participants to socialize and share their research insights, which could potentially materialize into collaborative research in the future. Such fora serve as a fertile ground for new ideas that can benefit society and support the goal of achieving the UN SDGs by 2030. Agreeing on this with Sir Campbell, Amasha Withana, the secretary of the APRU SWM Program, commented, “Universities, research institutes, governments, and private organizations should collaborate more on research that has a societal impact.”

Original post on EurekAlert by AAAS. Korea recently witnessed a significant meeting aimed at fostering a strong and sustainable biochar market. The unique meeting involved the Korean Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs (MAFRA), featuring an esteemed assembly of international university experts and Corporations. Deputy Minister Mr. Beom Su Park spoke about how MAFRA identifies biochar as an ideal technology for achieving carbon neutrality in Korea. Under the government action plan, MAFRA has been conducting research in collaboration with research institutes and industries concerning the sustainable biochar market, especially in converting livestock manure into biochar. MAFRA also implements finance and policy-based actions to create infrastructure for a sustainable livestock manure-based biochar market. MAFRA plans to provide subsidies for facility installation, livestock manure treatment, and voluntary greenhouse gas (GHG) reduction projects (10 USD per 1 ton of GHG). The amendment of the Livestock Manure Act to define and set standards for biochar is also in the pipeline. Biochar is crucial in the carbon removal portfolio of several big companies. Thus, even during the meeting, professionals shared their perspectives on best practices for good quality biochar and future actions towards its commercialization led by Prof. Yong Sik Ok, the Chair and the Program Director of the APRU SWM. APRU SWM is a pioneering endeavor devoted to advancing sustainable waste management practices. It achieves this through synergistic research endeavors, interdisciplinary partnerships, and the dissemination of knowledge. APRU SWM fosters collaboration between academia, industry, and government to tackle urgent waste challenges. APRU SWM also drives positive change and sustainable growth through a holistic approach and strong leadership in Asia-Pacific and worldwide. The distinguished participants of the meeting included Prof. Scott Chang from the University of Alberta, Canada; Prof. Ondrej Masek from the University of Edinburgh, UK; Prof. Stephen Joseph from the University of New South Wales, Australia; Prof. Lukas Van Zwieten from New South Wales Department of Primary Industries, Australia; Prof. Daniel Alessi from the University of Alberta, Canada; Prof. Shinjiro Sato from Soka University, Japan; and Dr. Janelle Jung from Gardens by the Bay in Singapore. This event also saw active involvement from key representatives of Korean corporations, including CJ CheilJedang, Shinsegae Food, Nongwoo Bio, Wonjin Group, and Platform Partners. The proceedings of the meeting were overseen by Prof. Yong Sik Ok, a distinguished Highly Cited Researcher and full professor at Korea University, serving as the chair and program director of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities Sustainable Waste Management Program (APRU SWM) concurrently as the president of the International Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) Association (IESGA). Accompanying him was Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee, director of the Korea University ESG Research Institute and also the president of IESGA. Nonetheless, Dr. Kevin Kung, the co-founder of the Canada-based start-up company Takachar and a prize winner from the XPrize Foundation and Musk Foundation, highlighted the importance of the size of the biochar production plant. According to Prof. Rhee, an expert in the field of Business Administration, integrating ESG principles with business strategies through biochar technology creates a potent synergy for sustainability. The meeting highlighted how businesses adopting biochar showcase environmental responsibility by enhancing environmental health and carbon capture. Such an approach fosters social well-being through reduced ecological impact while adhering to governance standards. Biochar integration cultivates a holistic ESG-driven path, benefiting both the environment and communities. Prof. Daniel Alessi from the University of Alberta, Canada, appreciated Korea’s efforts regarding biochar; he noted, “Korea is the first nation to develop a national plan for converting animal manure into biochar and creating a commercial biochar market.” Many experts also discussed the need for exploring other possible environmental applications of biochar besides using it in soils as an organic amendment. Amasha Withana, the secretary of the APRU SWM program at the meeting, said, “The collaboration between industries and academic institutes and receiving financial support from the government is mandatory to create a sustainable biochar market.” Finally, the meeting highlighted that developing biochar standards will require multistakeholder participation from the government, private industries, academic institutes, biochar producers, raw material suppliers, and the primary consumers of biochar. To this end, MAFRA emphasized that they will collaborate with international governments, academic institutions, and industries to produce scientific research on biochar applications, develop breakthrough technologies for biochar production with minimum environmental damage, and receive continuous feedback on new and ongoing biochar projects for creating a sustainable biochar market across Korea.

We are pleased to welcome the following presidents who will serve on the APRU Steering Committee, the executive body of the network which oversees its strategy, policy, programs and finances, for the year 2023-2024. Steering Committee members (in alphabetical order of the name of universities): Vice-Chancellor and President Rocky S. Tuan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Chair) Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater, The University of Auckland (Vice-Chair) President Kohei Itoh, Keio University President Tan Eng Chye, National University of Singapore President Ryu Hong Lim, Seoul National University President Kuiling Ding, Shanghai Jiao Tong University President and Vice-Chancellor Joy Johnson, Simon Fraser University President David Garza, Tecnológico de Monterrey President and Vice-Chancellor Xiang Zhang, The University of Hong Kong Vice-Chancellor and President Deborah Terry, The University of Queensland Rector Rosa Devés, Universidad de Chile Vice-Chancellor Mohd. Hamdi Abd. Shukor, Universiti Malaya Chancellor Gene D. Block, UCLA President Carol L. Folt, University of Southern California Professor Thomas Schneider, Chief Executive, APRU Mr. Sherman Cheng, Chief Financial Officer, APRU Comprising elected presidents representing various regions of Asia-Pacific, the Steering Committee is responsible for driving the activities of the association and giving direction to its impact and advocacy work across the region. Click here for the biographies of Steering Committee members.

Photos by The Australian National University The AI for Social Good Summit convened at The Australian National University in Canberra from July 9 to 11 this year, provided experts from academia and public agencies the opportunity to discuss results and next steps of four policy-oriented research papers on AI capabilities to address social issues with focus on Southeast Asia.  The summit was organized to exchange outcomes from four projects of the “AI for Social Good— Strengthening Capabilities and Governance Frameworks” (AI4SG) collaboration, which was jointly established by the Association for Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP) and Google.org in 2021. Over the past two years, meetings and workshops have been held with government agencies and local experts in Thailand and Bangladesh. In Thailand, two teams of academics from the National University of Singapore (NUS) and The Australian National University (ANU), worked with the Office of National Higher Education, Science Research and Innovation Policy to support the Thai Government in building AI capabilities regarding medicine and healthcare, and poverty alleviation. Two agencies — the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) and National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) — have collaborated each team respectively. In collaboration with the Bangladesh Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme of the ICT Division and Cabinet Division of Bangladesh, two other teams from NUS, Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) and the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa conducted research to support the Bangladeshi Government in developing of AI policy frameworks and building AI capabilities in pregnancy monitoring. Government representatives from Thailand and Bangladesh and academics discussed research findings at the AI for Social Good Summit 2023 at ANU, Canberra Professor Toni Erskine, Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at ANU, guided the conception of the research questions in collaboration with the government partners. “The process of working closely with government agencies from the outset to discuss these problems and co-design research questions makes this project unique and genuinely collaborative,” Professor Erskine said. Professor Toni Erskine, Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at The Australian National University During the summit in Canberra, the papers of four teams was presented: 1) Responsible Data Sharing, AI Innovation and Sandbox Development: Recommendations for Digital Health Governance in Thailand, 2) Raising Awareness of the Importance of Data Sharing and Exchange to Advance Poverty Alleviation in Thailand, 3) Mobilizing AI for Maternal Health in Bangladesh, and 4) AI in Pregnancy Monitoring: Technical Challenges for Bangladesh. With insights exchanged, the participants drew consensus to further AI capabilities in governance: local context and needs are key drivers for high impact research collaborations, while trust and common goals are main success factors for multi-stakeholder partnerships. Following the summit, an impact assessment over the four projects will be conducted, while a set of country case studies is under the development. Here is the AI for Social Good project webpage. Here is the detailed AI for Social Good Summit 2023 Program:

This article is adapted from the original post on NXPO. Photos by Australian National University  Dr. Soontharee Namliwal, a policy specialist from the International Policy Partnership Division the Office of National Higher Education Science Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO), took part in the AI for Social Good Summit with the theme “Strengthening Capabilities and Government Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific Summit” July 9-11, 2023 in Canberra, Australia. The summit was co-organized by the Association for Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), and Australian National University (ANU). Ms. Panchapawn Chatsuwan, a representative from Thailand’s National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC) also attended the summit.  The summit served as a platform for participating organizations and policy researchers involved in APRU’s AI for Social Good project to share research findings and discuss issues emerging from the studies.   During the summit, the work of four projects was presented, with two each from Thailand and Bangladesh.  The projects included: 1) Responsible Data Sharing, AI Innovation and Sandbox Development: Recommendations for Digital Health Governance in Thailand, 2) Raising Awareness of the Importance of Data Sharing and Exchange to Advance Poverty Alleviation in Thailand, 3) Mobilizing AI for Maternal Health in Bangladesh, and 4) AI in Pregnancy Monitoring: Technical Challenges for Bangladesh. Joining the meeting virtually, the project leaders from Thailand – Dr. Kommate Jitvanichphaibool (NXPO Senior Division Director) and Dr. Suttipong Thajchayapong (NECTEC Senior Researcher) – delivered presentations on “Responsible Data Sharing, AI Innovation and Sandbox Development: Recommendations for Digital Health Governance in Thailand” and “Raising Awareness of the Importance of Data Sharing and Exchange to Advance Poverty Alleviation in Thailand”.  Apart from the research presentations, Dr. Soontharee shared information on Thailand’s Personal Data Protection Act (PDPA) and provided a review of procedures and best practices regarding data collection, storage, usage and sharing in public health domain in developed countries. Ms. Panchapawn added information on the implication of standards and practices of PDPA on data collection, storage, usage and sharing of Thai People Map and Analytics Platform (TPMAP) which aims to support evidence-based policy.  The meeting also discussed the application of advanced technologies in sustainable development. Dr. Soontharee presented her viewpoints on this issue: 1) the necessity of root cause analysis on public issues, including poverty and social inequality, 2) the potential of advanced technologies, especially AI and big data, in improving public services including public health services, and 3) the importance of good governance, observing ethics of STI while harnessing their potential.   The representatives from NXPO and NECTEC took this opportunity to meet with the executives of ANU and network with researchers working on Humanising Machine Intelligence (HMI) Research Project and the team of the Global Research Network.  AI for Social Good project was initiated in 2021 to study the impact of AI development and application in the region. The UNESCAP and APRU, with funding from Google.org, established a multi-stakeholder network to provide support in the development of country-specific AI governance frameworks and national capabilities. 

This is a press release prepared by the National University of Singapore and the organizing committee of the 2023 Global ESG Forum in Singapore.  The 2023 Global ESG Forum in Singapore, co-organised by the APRU (Association of Pacific Rim Universities) Sustainable Waste management Program, International ESG Association (IESGA), Korea University ESG Research Institute, the Centre for Governance and Sustainability (CGS) of NUS Business School and E2S2, National University of Singapore concluded successfully in Singapore. The event was attended by over 200 participants from the United States, United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Canada, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Poland, India, Indonesia, Korea and Malaysia. The forum saw fruitful discussions on important sustainability topics, including sustainable plastic management, consumer-centric ESG practices, circular economy, voluntary carbon markets (VCMs), net-zero initiatives, and renewable energy. Biodiversity and Nature Positive Reporting as the New ESG Commitment The forum noted a two-fold increase, from 16 in 2019 to 37 in 2021, in the number of companies reporting biodiversity and nature-positive practices, according to the “Biodiversity and Nature Positive Ranking of the Top 200 Korean Companies. In addition, 15 companies in 2021, compared to only 6 in 2019, considered biodiversity as a material issue. This reflected a significant shift in focus on biodiversity as a key indicator of sustainability reporting in Korea. It also reinforced the growing importance of biodiversity in sustainable development.    As such, IESGA and CGS of NUS Business School will be establishing an ESG advisory team dedicated to biodiversity assessment at a global level. This initiative aims to provide comprehensive insights into the global ranking of companies in terms of biodiversity. The report is aimed for release in November 2023. Study Reveals the Critical Gaps Remain in ESG Reporting According to the latest joint study by CGS of NUS Business School and PwC which analysed the sustainability reports of top 50 listed companies in 14 Asia Pacific jurisdictions, there are crucial reporting and disclosure gaps prevalent in business practices. Although the majority of companies (92%) in the examined jurisdictions excel in disclosing ESG targets, only 51% disclosed net zero targets, and a mere 42% aligned their net zero targets with the Science-Based Targets initiative (SBTi) framework. The study also emphasized the need for heightened efforts in measuring Scope 3 emissions, as less than 50% of companies disclose these indirect emissions originating from their value chain. This is amid an encouraging sign showing 80% of companies disclosing their Scope 1 (direct emissions from a company) and Scope 2 greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions (indirect emissions from purchased and used electricity). Prof. Lawrence Loh, Director of CGS at NUS Business School said, “The 2023 Global ESG Forum endorses the criticality of considering nature and biodiversity by businesses. Going forward, stakeholders should realize that climate change actions, in themselves, are only the means – the end outcomes are really to perpetuate nature and biodiversity. Enhancing human lives should be the core emphasis of sustainability.” The 2023 Global ESG Forum marks the implementation of the MOU signed in 2022 between CGS, NUS Business School, and IESGA. This agreement demonstrates the joint commitment to promoting knowledge on incorporating ESG considerations in business operations. Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee, the President of the IESGA, mentioned, “Singapore is demonstrating excellent leadership through collaboration with international organizations in various fields related to sustainable management.” He explained the reason for hosting this year’s ESG Forum in Singapore. Prof. Yong Sik Ok, the President of the IESGA, and the Chair and Program Director of the APRU Sustainable Waste Management Program, emphasized that the Singaporean government is encouraging companies to focus on ESG management through various forms of support and incentives. There will be a follow-up ESG event on 28-30 November 2023 in Seoul, where top ESG scholars and experts from the Stanford University, National University of Singapore Business School and the University of Oxford as well as the Secretary General of International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), will be present to discuss about nature positive business.   Front from left: Prof. Lawrence Loh (Business School, NUS), Dr. Amy Khor (Senior Minister of State for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Sustainability and the Environment, Singapore), Prof. Jay Hyuk Rhee (President IESGA). Back from left: Prof. Yong Sik Ok (President IESGA), Prof. Shawn Cole (Harvard Business School, USA), Prof. Sungyeon Hwang (Director IESGA), and Prof. Yen Wah Tong (Director CREATE, NUS).   About APRU SWM Program The APRU Sustainable Waste Management Program hosted by Korea University offers a timely opportunity for knowledge exchange among professionals from all over the world to assist in the formulation of an efficient sustainable management agenda for biological waste and remediation of soil, water and air in the local context, which satisfies the environmental compatibility, financial feasibility and social needs. It will deliberate on state-of-the-art treatment technologies, advanced management strategies, and political issues pertaining to the recycling and recovery of organic waste. Moreover, local and overseas experts from different sectors including academic researchers, industrial practitioners, green groups, and government departments will be gathered in this program to solicit scientific and technical inputs as well as political feedback, facilitating the development of integrated solutions. Experienced industrial practitioners, professional organizations, green groups, as well as government officers are invited to the conference. Find out more about the 2023 Global ESG Forum in Singapore. About International ESG Association (IESGA) The IESGA aims to improve information creation and sharing about ESG management through linking businesses with academics, from different fields of expertise, whose research findings can help predict future directions for ESG practices. These predictions aim to give corporations a head-start to incorporate the latest and most relevant ESG practices into their business structures. This not only helps to protect the environment and improve business sustainability, but also encourages ethically conscious investors to take notice. The IESGA presently mainly advises corporations in South Korea, but will soon expand its consultancy services worldwide, especially to companies in developing economies. In addition to its consultancy services, the IESGA launched the Global ESG Lecture Series in collaboration with major South Korean academic societies and industries. Monthly events have been held on topics such as the relevance of ESG scores for attracting investors, and how companies can integrate ESG performance measurement to develop sustainable supply chains. The IESGA collaborated with Nature Conferences and LG Energy Solutions to hold a hybrid event on waste management and valorisation, attracting more than 2,000 attendees from 97 countries. In August 2022, the association held its first Global ESG Forum in South Korea with a focus on sustainability through ESG. More than 1,000 participants from 55 countries attended. President Jay Hyuk Rhee and Yong Sik Ok also offer two MBA courses in South Korea and internationally, in conjunction with the IESGA, on business and environment, and sustainability in ESG management. These courses target students eager to find business opportunities associated with ESG practices.  About Centre for Governance and Sustainability (CGS) The Centre for Governance and Sustainability (CGS) was established by the National University of Singapore (NUS) Business School in 2010. It aims to spearhead relevant and high-impact research on corporate governance and corporate sustainability issues that are pertinent to institutions, government bodies and businesses in Singapore and the Asia-Pacific. Spearheading thought leadership, CGS conducts public lectures, industry roundtables, and academic conferences on topics related to governance and sustainability. CGS is the national assessor for the corporate sustainability and corporate governance performance of listed companies in Singapore. In tandem with growing demands from consumers and investors that financial returns are achieved with integrity, backed with environmental and social considerations, CGS has a slew of research focusing on sustainability reporting in Asia Pacific, sustainable banking, nature reporting, and climate reporting in ASEAN. More information about CGS can be accessed at https://bschool.nus.edu.sg/cgs/ NUS Business School is known for providing management thought leadership from an Asian perspective, enabling its students and corporate partners to leverage global knowledge and Asian insights. The School is one of the 16 faculties and schools at NUS. A leading global university centred in Asia, NUS is Singapore’s flagship university which offers a global approach to education, research and entrepreneurship, with a focus on Asian perspectives and expertise. Its transformative education includes a broad-based curriculum underscored by multi-disciplinary courses and cross-faculty enrichment. Over 40,000 students from 100 countries enrich the community with their diverse social and cultural perspectives.

Original post: CUHK Press Release (July 18, 2023) The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK) hosted the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Undergraduate Leaders’ Program (The Program) from June 25 to July 6, 2023. The Program, themed “Leadership for Sustainable Cities Development”, was part of the University’s 60th anniversary celebration events and brought together a diverse group of 55 undergraduate students from 31 APRU member universities in 15 countries and regions in North and South America, Asia and Australasia. The event was co-organized by the Urban Studies Program, School of Architecture, Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge and Office of Academic Links at CUHK. The Program aims to empower young leaders to become changemakers in pursuit of building sustainable, safe, resilient, and inclusive cities in response to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. It covered five sub-themes: energy sustainability; environmental, social and governance; green transport; smart, green and resilient communities; and waste and resource management. Professor Ng Mee-kam, Program Director of the Urban Studies Program; Professor Hendrik Tieben, Director of the School of Architecture; and Dr. Elsie Tsui, Project Director of the Hong Kong Social Enterprise Challenge, with two overseas scholars from APRU member universities, Dr Mohsen Mohammadzadeh from the School of Architecture and Planning at the University of Auckland; and Professor Yang Yizhao from the School of Planning, Public Policy and Management at the University of Oregon, gave lectures and led workshops and discussions on urban design during the Program. Other local industry experts and leaders from NGOs also conducted a series of talks and workshops to equip students with a holistic understanding of the challenges and opportunities facing cities today, using case studies from Hong Kong and around the world. They included Mr. Wong Kam-sing, GBS, JP, Former Secretary for the Environment in the HKSAR Government; Mr. Leo Chan, Founder and CEO of Leader Radio Technologies Ltd; Mr. Alok Jain, CEO and Managing Director of Trans-Consult Ltd; Mr. Warren Luk, CEO of Good Lab; Mr. Hendrik Rosenthal, Director – Group Sustainability of CLP Holdings Ltd; Ms. Fiona Sykes, Resource Management Consultant of Arup Hong Kong; and Mr. Harold Yip, Co-founder of Mil Mill. Classroom learning was supplemented with field trips during the Program. Students were brought to the Heritage of Mei Ho House, MTR Corporation Ltd, Swire Coca-Cola HK Ltd, the Hong Kong and China Gas Company Limited, T-Park and Viva Blue House to allow them to gain a deeper understanding of sustainable development practices in action. The Program concluded with a group project competition in which students showcased their innovative solutions to sustainable city development by applying design thinking principles. A team led by Mr. Thuta Ye Moe, a student from Yonsei University in South Korea, won the competition with its SkyBike proposal to build elevated bike lanes for local short-distance commuters, providing healthy and environmentally friendly transport in Hong Kong. The judges were very impressed with the team’s creativity and innovation in promoting green transport in urban areas. Mr. Thuta Ye Moe said, “The Program has been a remarkable opportunity for leadership development and collaboration. The lectures and field trips have provided insight into green transport infrastructure, integration of technologies, energy efficiency measures and sustainability policies in Hong Kong. The Program has encouraged each of us to engage in our communities and make a positive difference with passion.” At the closing ceremony, CUHK Provost Professor Alan Chan met with the participating students. He said, “In the face of unprecedented global challenges, it is critical that we come together to collaborate and find solutions. CUHK is pleased to host the APRU Undergraduate Leaders’ Program to facilitate collaboration across borders and provide opportunities for young leaders to address important issues related to sustainability, which is ever more pressing in a time of climate crisis.”  

The 27th Annual Presidents’ Meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) was successfully hosted by The University of Hong Kong (HKU) with the theme of “From Invention to Implementation – Solutions for a Sustainable Future.” From June 25 to 27, 2023, the University became a hub for higher education leaders across the Pacific Rim to exchange views and inspire one another with solutions that can bring us closer to a sustainable future. The event, spanning three days, attracted esteemed presidents and senior administrators representing leading universities to explore innovative ideas and strategies to achieve sustainable goals. It highlighted the need for collaborative efforts in tackling current and future sustainability challenges. The panel discussions centered on topics including the need for fostering research on low-emission energy production and green technologies, the vital role of higher education in providing research-based solutions for future generations and more. During his welcome remarks, the President and Vice-Chancellor of HKU, Professor Xiang Zhang, emphasised the importance of addressing humanity’s negative impact on the planet. He noted that this cannot be addressed by any single nation but requires a collective effort. President Zhang also highlighted the need for continued commitment to sustainability policies across all areas of human activity. “As university leaders, we acknowledge that the challenges stemming from climate change demand a united effort from all of us. The APRU network offers a platform for collaboration and the cultivation of innovative solutions to tackle these pressing issues. Through our discussions held during this President’s Meeting, we have the opportunity to harness our collective expertise, empowering the next generation of thought leaders and change-makers with the mindset, knowledge, and skills to create a sustainable future,” said Professor Zhang. During his opening remarks, Chair of APRU and Chancellor of the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), Professor Gene D. Block, noted the significance of this year’s meeting hosted by HKU as a platform for higher education leaders to share new ideas and seek solutions to pressing challenges in the region. “Creating a sustainable future requires all of us to work together in order to find lasting solutions,” Professor Block said. “This is consistent with the collaborative work we do as members of APRU. The bond between our Asia-Pacific universities allows us to address critical global issues that impact so much of our world – even well beyond the Pacific Rim.” He added. During the panel discussions, university presidents and senior representatives highlighted the vital role of research universities in fostering innovative solutions and leveraging them to drive progress toward a sustainable future. The discussions also underscored the significance of providing equitable and inclusive educational opportunities to the next generation, empowering them to become agents in addressing our planet’s urgent challenges. Additionally, the speakers emphasised the critical roles universities play in developing a systematic approach to mitigate the globally interconnected risks and create solutions for achieving sustainable growth. The three-day in-person event hosted by HKU proved invaluable in fostering renewed respect and trust among top university leaders, igniting a shared commitment to deeper engagement in shaping the future landscape of higher education. The event showcased the power of leveraging APRU’s network to drive meaningful progress. Education leaders will harness this momentum to sustain collaboration and develop innovative solutions for the pressing challenges facing higher education and society at large. “The conclusion of the meeting does not mark the end of our discussion. I believe that all APRU members will carry on our missions and work hand-in-hand towards sustainability,” said Professor Zhang in his concluding remarks. Download event photos here.

Original post: Keio University News (18 May 2023)  The Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion implemented a pilot mentoring program in AY2022 to promote women’s empowerment and leadership development at Keio University. In AY2023, Keio will be launching it as an official program for the first time and is accepting applications until May 31 from interested full-time faculty members of Keio University to join the program. Vice-President Akiyo Okuda welcoming the participants In March, a closing ceremony was held for the AY2022 pilot program, where President Itoh presented certificates of completion to 19 mentor-mentee pairs, a total of 38 participants. At the closing ceremony, each pair offered comments on the program. The mentees mentioned the advantages of the program, such as being able to network beyond their affiliated faculty and discuss joint research with other staff they met through the program. They also highlighted the benefit of being able to discuss how to manage research groups or labs as well as common pitfalls and tendencies for women in management. The mentors commented on the importance of putting their own experiences into words and thought that it was good that they were forced to speak about topics they previously dared not broach with their younger colleagues. Both mentors and mentees affirmed that their experiences in the program were fruitful. In her welcome address at the ceremony, Vice-President Akiyo Okuda touched on the importance of forming individual connections to build a larger network and expressed her determination to continue promoting women’s empowerment in a unique Keio style. President Itoh presenting certificates of completion to program participants This program was formulated through consultation with faculty members (WG members) who participated in the Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) program conducted by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), of which Keio University is a member. The structure of the program has been tailored to fit Keio University by incorporating its characteristics. Keio University believes that its women leaders should be at the forefront of school management, promoting reforms and pioneering new paths forward. The university anticipates that more women will be able to play an active leadership role by leveraging on their experience gleaned from this program based on “learning while teaching, teaching while learning,” a foundational ethos of Keio University since its establishment.

The Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Program (APWiL) is set to continue its important work with the confirmation of Professor Dawn Freshwater as the new APWiL Presidential Champion. Professor Freshwater, who serves as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Auckland, is a member of the APRU Steering Committee, has been an advocate for gender equity in higher education, and is a supporter of the APWiL Mentoring Program. A globally recognized leader in world-class universities for several decades, she became the University of Auckland’s first female Vice-Chancellor in 2020 after serving as the University of Western Australia’s Vice-Chancellor and Senior Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Registrar for six years. Professor Freshwater was the first female Chair of the Go8 Research Intensive Universities in Australia. She is also a member of Chief Executive Women (CEW) and Global Women New Zealand. Professor Dawn Freshwater, APWiL Presidential Champion, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland “We are happy to have confirmed a new Champion who has such an extremely strong track record of pushing for gender equity while also being very familiar with the work of the APWiL Mentoring Program” said APWiL Co-Chair Professor Joanna Regulska “We believe Professor Freshwater will be an extraordinary advocate for the goals of APWiL and our signature mentoring program.” The APWiL Mentoring Program was launched in 2020 in response to the APRU 2019 Gender Gap report finding that Pacific Rim universities had made little progress in advancing women into university leadership positions during the previous 5-year period, despite a number of initiatives at the university level. By pairing mentors and mentees across economies for mutually inspiring exchanges under a year-long commitment, the APWiL Mentoring Program offers leaders at APRU universities an opportunity to grow the pipeline of aspiring women leaders. It encourages participants to take on the many challenges that aspiring women leaders are still facing within the region. The APWiL Mentoring Program is currently more than halfway through the 3rd cohort, which involves 45 mentoring pairs from 24 institutions. In addition to the one-on-one mentoring relationships, the program has also held three seminars so far for the 3rd cohort, on the topics of imposter syndrome, intersectionality, and effective communication and negotiation within leadership. “It has been an amazing journey with our 3rd cohort so far. Participation in the three seminars has been encouraging, inspiring, and stimulating. This mentoring program provides a safe space to discuss struggles and successes that are pertinent to women, as well as providing a fantastic opportunity to learn from successful women and men leaders” said APWiL Co-Chair Professor Yvonne Lim. The program can be possible thanks to the collaboration of all partners and a nuclear international APWiL Mentoring Team integrated by Kimberly Bellows, Chelsey Hawes, and Joanna Regulska from UC Davis; Yvonne Lim from Universiti Malaya; and Adriana Rojas and David Quimbayo from the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). While institutional recruitment for the 4th cohort of the program is now closed, the APWiL Mentoring Program team encourages interested members of the APRU network to consider joining this important gender equity initiative in the future.

Original post on NXPO. NXPO in partnership with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Google.org, Australian National University (ANU) and alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, organized a country workshop for “AI for Social Good: Strengthening Capabilities and Governance Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific” project on 11 May 2023. The workshop brought together academics, researchers and policymakers to share information and opinions as well as to engage in discussion to turn research findings into policies. NXPO Executive Strategist Dr. Kanchana Wanichkorn said in her opening statement that artificial intelligence (AI) has potential to drive multiple issues essential to the national development. At the time leading to Thailand’s 2023 general election, several political parties had declared policies promoting the use of advanced technologies such as AI to solve national problems, including social disparity and environmental degradation. In term of institutional arrangement, the National AI Committee has already been established, and Thailand National AI Strategy and Action Plan has been endorsed. This workshop is intended to explore policy development to maximize AI benefits.   To design evidence-based policies that follow international practice, NXPO has collaborated with private entities and international partners. Two studies have been launched, one concerning AI in medicine and healthcare, and the other on AI application in poverty alleviation. Results of the two projects, along with potential topics for further collaborations with state agencies, were presented by each research team. Following the presentations, breakout sessions were held involving stakeholders and relevant agencies, namely NXPO, the National Science and Technology Development Agency, the Office of the National Economics and Social Development Council, Department of Medical Services, representatives from the industry and alliances in the Asia-Pacific region, to provide suggestions for improvement to the research team and discuss how the findings can be turned into public policies. The research teams will finalize the study reports with inputs from this country workshop. The final reports will be presented at a summit scheduled to take place on 9-11 July 2023 in Canberra, Australia.

Original post on USC Global. While climate change remains a pressing issue across countries and generations, research shows the topic is of particular concern to millennials and Gen Z, according to Pew. That is part of the reason why the Student Global Climate Change Simulation has drawn such immense interest from the USC student body. It’s also a challenging, thought-provoking way to learn more about the worldwide effects of climate change. The event, hosted in partnership with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), saw almost 200 students from 22 universities around the globe participating in an online mock United Nations climate change conference. Students formed delegations that worked together to negotiate policies, sign pledges related to carbon emission caps and other climate change solutions, and more.  Top experts from the UN, World Business Council for Sustainable Development and other esteemed organizations also spoke at the simulation on issues such as climate refugees, reforestation and ocean health. This year, the simulation was led in part by Mellissa Withers, director of the APRU Global Health Program at USC and associate professor of population and public health sciences at the Keck School of Medicine of USC, and Shannon Gibson, associate professor of environmental studies, political science and international relations at USC Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.  Gibson first became interested in working on the APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation years ago, when she experienced an earlier iteration at a summit. She incorporated it into her own classroom, and later, with the help of Withers, “took the model and really expanded it.” “I think as an educator, one of the things that you become aware of is that students learn by doing. They learn by putting themselves in the shoes of a decision-maker. By taking a student who may only have a perspective of the United States when it comes to climate change, having them function as China, or the Philippines, or South Africa really helps them to learn how the thinking varies,” she told USC Global.  Preparing for Careers in Global Health The mock exercise ran for three days total — April 11, April 18 and April 25 — and drew students from multiple schools and disciplines within USC, including public health, computer science, business, international relations, environmental studies, global studies, occupational therapy and engineering. Giancarlo Ceja, an international relations and environmental studies undergraduate student, hopes the simulation will impact his future career in environmental policy, using his education to help those living in countries most affected by climate change. “In terms of environmental justice, I grew up in a very low-income, marginalized community in Southern California. My parents immigrated from a rural community in Mexico, and both are being affected in different ways by climate change. Marginalized, low-income communities around the world are most vulnerable to the brunt of the effects of climate change, and I want to help fix that,” he explained. Ceja is also optimistic his fellow participants will end the mock conference more aware of how much work is yet to be done, especially by the world’s most powerful countries. While everyone has a role in combating climate change, some nations — specifically developed countries that have produced the most carbon emissions — have a higher responsibility to contribute to the fight against climate change, he said. “Coming together in the international community and holding up to the commitments that you make is really important. Solving this problem is impossible without international cooperation,” explained Ceja, citing the UN’s common but differentiated responsibilities principle. Like Ceja, environmental science and public health undergraduate student Abeerah Siddiqui was inspired to participate in the simulation to gain a new, universal outlook on today’s critical climate change challenges. “We all have this collective interest in combating climate change, so this way, we can get a more global perspective on the issue. I think oftentimes, as students here, we’re a lot more familiar with how the U.S. handles [climate change]. We’re learning how our local communities are addressing the issues, but not so much how other countries and other parts of the world are tackling it,” she explained. With an aspiring career in public health, Siddiqui believes the mock negotiations will allow her to further grasp international health care systems and policies, as well as come up with public health solutions that prioritize regional perspectives. “The skills and knowledge I take away from this will help me [prepare] when it comes time for me to potentially visit other countries,” Siddiqui said. Multi-Discipline Simulation Promoting a cross-industry response to climate change, the simulation also included Master of Business Administration (MBA) student Kayla Friedman-Barb, who is looking to enhance her education in clean and renewable solutions to pivot to the sustainability sector following graduation. “Understanding other people’s perspectives is a huge part of business and [how we operate],” she said. “We need to understand how other countries think about climate change and what they see as the best ways to combat it, working together in order to have a truly collaborative solution.” Friedman-Barb was particularly eager to learn from students who are based outside of the U.S., as the international negotiations would highlight what the U.S. and other countries are “willing to give up” or refuse to mediate in their respective commitments to tackling climate change. “What’s important for each community and each person will become apparent, especially in younger generations who are participating in this program,” Friedman-Barb explained. For Gibson, these students have perfectly articulated what she hopes they will take away from the process: an effective, international approach to protecting our shared planet. Even if climate change is not a topic brimming with optimism, it’s a crucial one that will directly impact each and every participant — and Gibson is hopeful some students will go on to directly influence the fight against climate change. “Sometimes, I wish it were a bit more hopeful, but it does show them climate mitigation is a political process,” Gibson said. “It’s not just a scientific problem. It is very much a political, social and economic issue, as well as a cultural problem. You need that interdisciplinary approach to understand how to solve this massive problem.”  Learn more about APRU and USC’s Department of Population and Public Health Sciences today. Find out more about the Climate Change Simulation here. 

Original post on Around the O. The University of Oregon is co-hosting the Student Global Climate Change Simulation sponsored by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. The APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation is a role-playing exercise in which students will form multicountry, multidisciplinary teams to play the role of delegates to the UN climate change negotiations. Twenty-two universities from around the Pacific Rim are taking part in the exercise, which runs April 11-25. Over three sessions, an online simulation activity will use materials from the World Climate Interactive and the C-ROADS simulation model developed by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The live sessions will be supplemented with short lectures and other materials developed and curated by the APRU experts, which will be available on a shared Canvas website. To learn more, visit the World Climate Simulation. The APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation is co-organized by the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program housed at the UO and the APRU Global Health Program housed at University of Southern California. Partner universities include Fiji National University, Keio University, Korea University, Monash University, Nagoya University, Nanyang Technological University, National Taiwan University, National University of Singapore, Peking University, Tecnológico de Monterrey, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, The University of Auckland, The University of Melbourne, The University of Sydney, Tohoku University, Universidad de los Andes, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Universiti Malaya and University of Hawaii. Find out more about the Climate Change Simulation 2023 here. 

APRU Chief Executive, Prof Thomas Schneider, spoke at The World BOSAI Forum 2023 / International Disaster and Risk Conference 2023, held between March 10 to 12 in Sendai, Japan. The global event served as a valuable opportunity for APRU to underscore its commitment to disaster resilience and represent APRU and its constituents of 60 universities through dialogue among industry, government, and academia. On the heels of the Bosai Forum, the APRU leadership team was also focused on visiting the six APRU member universities of Japan. Visiting the senior leadership of Keio University, Waseda University, Nagoya University, Osaka University, Kyushu University, and Tohoku University, APRU leaders (APRU Chief Executive Thomas Schneider; APRU’s Chief Strategy Officer, Christina Schönleber; and APRU Senior Director Student & Network Programs, Adriana Rojas) discussed the wide range of innovative projects that influence globalization and the future cooperation within the APRU network. Universities’ recommendations included developing frameworks for sustainably bringing geographically diverse members together as a cornerstone of APRU’s network. Universities cited existing and successful APRU programs, such as Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL), Multi-hazards, Global Health and University Museums, for being appropriate precursors for the new framework. “We are extremely grateful to return to Hong Kong with this wealth of solid input and will use it as a basis for informing our strategic focus,” APRU Chief Executive Schneider said. “APRU will continue to serve, more indispensably than ever before, as a platform of dialogue and a power of change across the Pacific. It is more than a super-connector – it is a super-translator, translating between different cultures and mentalities, and translating ideas into action,” he added. The World BOSAI Forum is the outcome of an agreement by the World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) as part of the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030, which came against the backdrop of the Great East Japan Earthquake in 2011. The Sendai Framework incorporates many disaster risk reduction (DRR) concepts promoted in Japan, such as the importance of investment in disaster reduction and the need to “Build Back Better” after a disaster event. One of APRU’s key collaborative initiatives in the realm of DRR is the Multi-Hazards program, which Tohoku University hosts. In Sendai, APRU Chief Executive Schneider gave a panel lecture outlining the history of collaboration between Tohoku University’s International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) and APRU. The timing could not have been better, given that 2023 marks the Multi- Hazards Program’s 10th anniversary. “The Association of Pacific Rim Universities is committed to addressing the new disaster risk-scape with its increasingly complex, overlapping, and cascading hazards, and data kindly provided by Elsevier indicate that 12% of global scholarship in disaster sciences is produced in APRU member universities,” Schneider said. “With Tohoku University as its hub for the Multi-Hazards program, APRU has established a trans- Pacific network of experts, practitioners, and partner organizations that together will build a more resilient future for the Asia-Pacific,” he added. Keio University (R to L)  Vice President Akiyo Okuda, Vice President Motohiro Tsuchiya, President Kohei Itoh, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director) Waseda University (L to R) Vice President Masahiko Gemma, Dean Kate Elwood, President Aiji  Tanaka, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer) Nagoya University (L to R) Prof Jiro Takai, Vice Presidential Advisor Hideji Kasuya (Vice Dean of Medical School), Chancellor’s Advisor and VP Norimi Mizutani, President Naoshi Sugiyama, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director) Oasaka University (R to L) Dr Ariunaa Enkhtur ,(Specially Appointed Ass. Prof. Center for Global Engagement), Exec Director Mayumi Ishikawa, Prof Beverly A Yamamoto (Osaka University UNESCO Chair in Global Health and Education), Executive Vice President Genta Kawahara, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director) Kyushu University (R to L) Exec. Director Satoshi Tsuzuki (International Affairs Office), Vice President Natalie Konomi, Exec Vice President Kenji Iwata, President Tatsuro Ishibashi, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer) Tohoku University (L to R) Prof. Takako Izumi, Prof Fumihiko Imamura, Executive Vice President Toshiya Ueki, President Hideo Ohno, Dr. Thomas Schneider (APRU Chief Exec.), Ms Christina Schönleber (APRU Chief Strategy Officer), Ms Adriana Rojas (APRU Senior Director). Find out a news article here published by Tohoku University. 

On 11 January 2023, NXPO in collaboration with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Australian National University (ANU) and partner entities organized the 2nd workshop of “AI for Social Good: Strengthening Capabilities and Government Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific” project, or known in short as AI for Social Good project. The virtual workshop served the objective to review research progress and analyze in-depth information on capabilities and governance frameworks that will effectively support the exploitation of artificial intelligence (AI) for social good. This activity is a follow-up on the 1st workshop held on 31 August 2022 in which outlines of four research proposals were reviewed and given feedbacks by experts. The four proposals are 1) Responsible Data Sharing, AI Innovation and Sandbox Development: Recommendations for Digital Health Governance in Thailand, 2) Raising Awareness of the Importance of Data Sharing and Exchange to Advance Poverty Alleviation in Thailand, 3) AI in Pregnancy Monitoring: Technical Challenges for Bangladesh, and 4) Mobilizing AI for Maternal Health in Bangladesh. Since then, remarkable progress has been made on these four studies with the support of government agencies and the network of universities in the Asia-Pacific region. NXPO Vice President Dr. Kanchana Wanichkorn who leads the AI for Social Good project expressed her appreciation to the four research teams and partner organizations for their commitment and dedication to studies. She also underscored the importance of a balance between academic excellence and real-world application in performing policy research.  Expert panel reviewing the progress and provide suggestions to the research projects consisted of Dr. Kommate Jitvanichphaibool, NXPO Senior Director of Technology Foresight Division;  Dr. Suttipong Thajchayapong, Leader of Strategic Analytics Networks with Machine Learning and AI Research Team, the National Electronics and Computer Technology Center (NECTEC); and  Dr. Warasinee Chaisangmongkon, faculty member of Institute of Field Robotics, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (FIBO-KMUTT).  For more information on this project, please visit here. View the article in a Thai version here.

Written by Patrick Owen Tuaño Original Post of University of the Philippines Office of International Linkages The APWiL Mentoring Program provides international and intercultural opportunities for the empowerment, professional growth, and development of aspiring women leaders within APRU (Association of Pacific Rim Universities). The APWiL Mentoring Program conducts mentorship through one-on-one sessions, seminars, and hands-on workshops. The program intends to grow the pipeline of aspiring women leaders in APRU, identify professional opportunities for growth and skills development, increase the awareness of challenges that aspiring women leaders face, connect senior leaders at APRU institutions with emerging women leaders, introduce global and intercultural dimensions to leaders across APRU and beyond, and advance ethnic, cultural, and gender diversity of partner institutions. With over more than 20 participating higher education institutions, the APWiL Mentoring Program is a year-long commitment matching a mentor and mentee from one of the participating APRU member universities. Up to two mentors and mentees can represent per university. These mentors and mentees will be paired up with different women from the APRU network, and they shall participate in one-on-one meetings, seminars and workshops that will provide opportunities to develop their leadership skills and obtain insights from other women leaders with the APRU network. They will also have the opportunity to network with senior leaders within he APRU institutions. The APWiL Mentoring Program is a one-year program that requires commitment from its participants. For the second cohort of the APWiL Mentoring Program, the orientation and kick-off were held in November 2021, and it concluded with the graduation ceremony held on October 2022. For the University of the Philippines, two representatives participated for the program. Dr. Nina M. Cadiz was nominated as a mentor, and Dr. Samantha Erika Mendez was nominated as a mentee for the 2nd Cohort of the APWiL Mentoring Program. The orientation for the program began on November 2021, and workshops were held all throughout the year every two to three months. A mid-program survey and assessment was conducted in April 2022. The APWiL Mentoring Program concluded with a closing seminar and graduation ceremony that was held in October 2022. The 3rd Cohort of the APWiL Mentoring Program is currently on the way, with the orientation and kick-off being held last November 2022, and the program concluding in October 2023. From the University of the Philippines, Dr. Amaryllis Tiglao-Torres and Dr. Ma. Victoria R. Raquiza are currently participating as mentors, and Asst. Prof. Irish de Ocampo and Ms. Maritess Cruz are currently participating as mentees. More about Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Program, visit here. More about APWiL Mentoring Program, visit here.

Original post on Bloomberg. The AI for Social Good Project – Strengthening AI Capabilities and Governing Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific has recently passed the milestone of onboarding two key government agencies. The project is the latest collaboration between the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), UN ESCAP, and Google.org, which commenced in mid-2021 and will run until the end of 2023. Over the past year, meetings and workshops have been held with government agencies from Thailand and Bangladesh. The confirmed government partners to join the project are the Office of National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) of Thailand, in close collaboration with the National Electronics and Computer Center (NECTEC) and the National Science and Technology Development Agency and the Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO) under the King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi, and the Bangladesh Aspire to Innovate (a2i) Programme. NXPO and a2i are affiliated with Thailand’s Ministry of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation and the ICT Division and Cabinet Division of Bangladesh, respectively. The AI for Social Good multi-stakeholder network was initially set up in 2019, among the first milestones being the creation of a platform that convenes leading experts from the region to explore opportunities and challenges for maximizing AI benefits for society. After these activities engaged a wide range of policy experts and practitioners, the three project partners decided that it was the right time to move on to the next stage of working directly with government agencies to apply the insights generated through the collaborative project to date. The aim has been to work with government partners in Asia and the Pacific to grow sound and transparent AI ecosystems that support sustainable development goals. “Recognizing that AI offers transformative solutions for achieving the SDGs, we are pleased to participate in the AI for Social Good Project to share experience and research insights to develop enabling AI policy frameworks,” said Dr. Kanchana Wanichkorn, NXPO’s Vice President. NXPO identified ‘Poverty Alleviation’ and ‘Medicine and Healthcare’ as two areas of need that are now tackled by two academic project teams. To alleviate poverty and inequality, the Thai government has developed data-driven decision-making systems to improve public access to state welfare programs. The project, under the academic leadership of the Australia National University (ANU) team, will focus on enhancing the human-centered design and public accessibility of these technologies to support successful implementation. In addition, research on AI for medical applications has increased exponentially in the past few years in Thailand. However, the progress in developing and applying AI from research to market in these areas is relatively slow. To support and accelerate the use of AI in medicine and healthcare, the expert team from the National University of Singapore (NUS) will focus their research and analysis on identifying crucial bottlenecks and gaps that impede the beneficial use of AI. While the two Bangladesh projects both focus on the need for ‘Continuing and Personalized Pregnancy Monitoring’ (to improve health outcomes during and after birth), they are exploring different aspects of this key focus area for the government of Bangladesh. Under the leadership of the team from NUS & KAIST, the first project investigates challenges in perceptions and reception of incorporating AI into continuous pregnancy monitoring systems. Under the leadership of the University of Hawai‘i Team, the second project circles in on technological issues of Bangladesh’s healthcare sector and their impacts on AI-based data analysis and decision-making processes. The academic integrity of both sets of country projects is overseen by Toni Erskine, Professor of International Politics and Director of the Coral Bell School of Asia Pacific Affairs at ANU. Erskine guides both the conception of the research questions in collaboration with the government partners and the delivery of the project outputs by providing support for the four academic teams in developing their projects. “It has been incredibly rewarding to lead a project that brings together such an impressive, multidisciplinary group of researchers with government agencies that are so passionate about finding solutions to crucial problems – ranging from poverty alleviation to maternal health care,” Erskine said. She added that “the process of working closely with government agencies from the outset to discuss these problems and co-design research questions makes this project unique and genuinely collaborative. I’m very proud to be part of it.” The following steps for the ‘AI for Social Good Project: Strengthening AI Capabilities and Governing Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific’ project will be to review and discuss the first complete drafts of the research papers by the four academic teams at a workshop in January. The partner government agencies from Bangladesh and Thailand will attend the workshop. Workshops with both government teams will also follow the presentation of final papers in the second quarter of 2023. To mark the project’s conclusion, a summit with all participants in the project will be held in mid-2023 at the Australia National University. More APRU AI for Social Good

Original Press Release from Tec in Spanish Monterrey, Nuevo León, on November 7, 2022.- The 1st Indigenous Knowledge Workshop has been held from November 1 to 5 in San Cristóbal de las Casas, Chiapas, at the Tecnológico de Monterrey Center for Social Innovation (CIS), a space that fosters the connection between the academic community and indigenous communities through social innovation projects. This event was held to share best practices and collaborate on common interests to promote indigenous heritage in the Pacific Rim. The program consisted of five sessions, in which the University of Oregon, University of Auckland, University of Melbourne, University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, University of the Philippines, Universidad San Francisco de Quito, Simon Fraser University, and Tecnológico de Monterrey shared initiatives and projects to strengthen the commitment between researchers to promote and improve education programs on indigenous studies. Mexico is one of the most culturally diverse countries in the world. Its indigenous population, which includes 68 indigenous peoples and 11 linguistic groups, is present in a fourth of the nation’s territories. Furthermore, San Cristóbal de las Casas in Chiapas is a multicultural city where the worldview of indigenous peoples who are descendants of the Maya converges with the global vision of visitors and residents worldwide. “For Tec de Monterrey, it’s very important to work with the knowledge from our indigenous peoples. At this event, besides exploring better best practices in social innovation from different parts of the Pacific Rim, knowledge and experiences were shared about preserving the language, education, cultural diversity, and identity,” said Inés Sáenz, Vice President of Inclusion, Social Impact, and Sustainability at Tecnológico de Monterrey. “The state of Chiapas is home to 12 indigenous languages that are fundamental to the identity of the indigenous peoples from these lands, for preserving their culture, worldview, and expressing their self-determination,” she added. “We’re here to highlight a series of dreams and realizations about cultural diversity in all its forms. As universities, we’ll continue to promote recognition of human dignity and representation,” said Felisa González, Director of the Tecnológico de Monterrey Center for Recognition of Human Dignity. At the event, Dr. María Patricia Pérez Moreno, a Tzeltal Maya from Bachajón in Chiapas who is Deputy Director of the Regional Planning Department at the National Institute of Indigenous Peoples, presented the talk “The p’ijilaletik (wisdom) of indigenous peoples: challenges and advances in its recognition and visibility.” Its purpose was to address the current context around the efforts made regarding knowledge from communities and the challenges still being faced. Pérez Moreno mentioned that “we not only need to recognize and accept the p’ijilaletik of indigenous peoples, but also the people and their way of life, that they can build better communities, health services, and access to education, as a reflection of the lekil kuxlejal (the good life) that everyone should be entitled to,” she said. The program included immersion activities in indigenous communities where attendees could connect with people and their cultures, as well as witness traditions such as the Mayan Fire ceremony and the ritual of the Tzotzil community in San Juan Chamula. Photograph download link: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/10WWlukEP2rRwt_XH-hl6HawH7770cTmU More on APRU Indigenous Knowledges Working Group: https://www.apru.org/our-work/university-leadership/indigenous-knowledges-working-group/ For more information about the workshop, please visit here. About Tecnológico de Monterrey Tecnológico de Monterrey (https://tec.mx/es) is a private, not-for-profit, multi-campus university system. Since it was founded in 1943, it has stood out for its academic excellence, educational innovation, entrepreneurship, and internationalization, as well as its outreach with industry and employers, and its proven track record. It has campuses in 29 Mexican cities; 67,000 undergraduate and graduate students and almost 7,000 professors; as well as more than 26,000 high school students and 2,500 professors at that level. The institution has been accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) since 1950. According to the QS World University Rankings (2022), it holds 161st place, ranked number 30 among the world’s private universities; and number 1 in Latin America and 26th in the world in the QS Graduate Employability Rankings (2022). In the Times Higher Education Latin America University Rankings (2022), it is number 4 in Latin America; as well as being the only university outside the U.S. in the Top Schools for Entrepreneurship Ranking (2022) from Princeton Review and Entrepreneur, occupying 6th place in entrepreneurship programs at undergraduate level. It belongs to several networks with international prestige, such as the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Universitas 21 (U21), and the Worldwide Universities Network (WUN). About APRU As a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, APRU (https://apru.org/) brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. They leverage their members’ collective education and research capabilities into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, their strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking action on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on critical areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management, and more. Press Contacts:  Teresa Barragán Tecnológico de Monterrey [email protected] T.: (81) 8088 4819 Daniela García Alterpraxis [email protected] T.: (55) 5059 1135 Jack Ng Director, Communications APRU [email protected]

Representing the University of Melbourne at the APRU workshop: Kirsten Hausia, Margot Eden, Brittany Carter, Kirsten Clark, Professor Adrian Little, Dr Cameo Dalley, Professor Michael Wesley, Professor Aaron Corn. Original Post on The University of Melbourne Newsroom The University of Melbourne is delivering on its commitment to elevating Indigenous knowledge in teaching and learning by co-hosting the inaugural workshop of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities’ (APRU) Indigenous Knowledges Working Group in Chiapas, Mexico. Led by the University of Melbourne with Tecnológico de Monterrey, the Indigenous Knowledge Working Group brings together APRU members, many of whom have world-leading departments and programs in the areas of Indigenous, First Nations, Māori, Pacific, or Native American studies. The working group and workshop aimed to build focus on how universities can practice and promote comparative research and teaching in Indigenous studies. This aligns to the University’s goal of assisting in the recognition, curation and activation of Indigenous knowledges within academia, which is outlined in the University’s Advancing Melbourne 2030 strategy. As part of delivering this strategy, the Indigenous Internationalisation Plan works to overcome barriers to Indigenous staff and student participation in international experiences and encourage faculties to develop new initiatives to boost Indigenous staff and student international engagement. University of Melbourne Deputy Vice-Chancellor (International) Professor Michael Wesley said it was a privilege to be involved in such an important conversation and experience from its initial stages. “As Australia’s leading university, we have a pivotal role to play in progressing the inclusion of Indigenous knowledge into academia,” Professor Wesley said. “Indigenous internationalisation means we look for partnership opportunities that facilitate knowledge exchange, understanding and collaboration between Indigenous Australians and First Nations peoples internationally.” “We’ve been joined in Mexico by many experts, including our own Indigenous colleagues, who are shaping a focus on sharing best practice and the strength of what is ‘uniquely Australian’ within the Pacific Rim.” Professor Wesley said. The workshop, which ran from 1-5 November, was themed as a ‘Dialog surrounding Indigenous Knowledges within the Pacific Rim: Living Cultures and World Heritage’. The University of Melbourne’s work on Indigenous knowledges is led by the Indigenous Knowledge Institute and Murrup Barak. Staff from both institutes attended and contributed to the conversation, an opportunity for knowledge sharing and creating new connections to promote Indigenous heritage within the Pacific Rim. The University of Melbourne is also preparing to host the APRU Indigenous Knowledges Working Group workshop on campus in Parkville in 2023.

APRU recently completed its second APRU Climate Change Simulation and is now preparing for next year’s simulation, with a new advisory group soon to be appointed. Co-organized by the APRU Global Health and the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Programs, the APRU Climate Change Simulation is a role-playing exercise in which students form multi-country, multi-disciplinary teams play the role of delegates to the UN Climate Change Negotiations. The 2022 APRU Climate Change Simulation engaged nearly 170 students from 17 APRU Universities in addition to a student group from Fiji National University. Forty-five experts from APRU universities and external partner organizations supported the delivery of the simulations, which are tasked to show ways to limit global warming to well below 2℃ in line with The Paris Agreement. A post-event survey showed that participating students highly appreciated the amount of diverse information on climate change, interaction with people from different parts of the world and the chance to take a very close look at the problems facing each country. “This simulation exercise has brought me to look at climate change in various perspectives in terms of its causes and the possible mitigation actions that are scientifically proven,” said Pedros Marcol Tabulo, a student from Fiji National University. “I will be so happy to share with my family and friends the importance of managing forests, which involves reducing deforestation and stepping up afforestation efforts,” he added. Students have also been grateful for the input they get from the experts who contribute to the simulations. The 2022 APRU Climate Change Simulation saw Ebru Gencoglu, Head of Sustainable Sourcing of Adidas, sharing insights on Adida’s efforts to lower the carbon footprint with new design and production approaches. Bernhard Barth, Human Settlements Officer of UN-Habitat, described how the Covid-19 pandemic and ongoing conflicts both reveal and amplify the escalating impacts of climate change. Important expert contributions were provided by Dr. Rhys Jones (Ngāti Kahungunu), the Public Health Physician and Senior Lecturer at the University of Auckland, and Dr. Ralph Chami, the Assistant Director, and Chief of Financial Policies at the International Monetary Fund. Their key insights focused on indigenous perspectives and how to fund the climate crisis respectively. On the facilitator side, the post-event survey showed that the participators of the 2022 APRU Climate Change Simulation were impressed by how close it got to actual negotiations. Facilitators also noted that the students were very motivated despite the event being held online. “The value of this type of experience for students is magnificent, as it allows students to appreciate the values of a wide range of intellectual disciplines and a high degree of intercultural sensitivity, tolerance and a global perspective,” said Vivian Lee of the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who served as a facilitator. The 2023 APRU Climate Change Simulation will tentatively run in April 2023. The advisory group will be made up of simulation founding members Mellissa Withers of the University of Southern California and Elly Vandegrift of the University of Oregon. They will be joined by facilitators Vivian Lee, Zhenyu Zhang of Peking University and Christina Schönleber and Tina Lin of the APRU Secretariat. “We urge any interested APRU members who want to get their students engaged in this important activity to reach out to us,” Zhang said. “It is an excellent opportunity for participants to improve their communication skills, which is important when negotiating, lobbying or influencing leaders to take the actions necessary to implement solutions to climate change,” he added. More Information Find the webpage of the Student Global Climate Change Simulation 2022 here. View the program of the simulation 2022 here. Read the news in The Fiji Times about the simulation here. View a blog from UO’s student reporter here. To find out more about the APRU Climate Change Simulation 2023 and how your students can engage please contact [email protected].

On 31 August 2022, the Office of National Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation Policy Council (NXPO) of Thailand in close collaboration with the National Electronics and Computer Center (NECTEC) and the National Science and Technology Development Agency and the Institute of Field Robotics (FIBO) under King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi co-hosted a workshop to review research proposals to drive “AI for Social Good: Strengthening Capabilities and Government Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific” project. Co-hosts of this event include the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), Google.org, Australian National University (ANU) and leading universities and research institutes in Thailand and abroad. In this workshop, four AI policy research proposals were presented and reviewed by the experts. The four proposals are: 1) AI in Pregnancy Monitoring: Technical Challenges for Bangladesh, 2) Mobilizing AI for Maternal Health in Bangladesh, 3) Responsible Data Sharing, AI Innovation and Sandbox Development: Recommendations for Digital Health Governance in Thailand, and 4) Raising Awareness of the Importance of Data Sharing and Exchange to Advance Poverty Alleviation in Thailand. Presenting the background and importance of this project in Thailand was NXPO Policy Specialist Dr. Soontharee Namliwal. She proceeded to introduce project members from Thailand which are NXPO, NECTEC of FIBO under King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. Dr. Kommate Jitvanichphaibool, NXPO Senior Division Director and Dr. Suttipong Thajchayapong, Leader of NECTEC Strategic Analytics Networks with Machine Learning and AI Research Team – provided additional information relating to the research and application of AI in Thailand, namely 1) the poverty alleviation policy, 2) the healthcare system and guidelines for data collection and 3) Personal Data Protection Act B.E. 2562 and policy and guidelines for personal data protection. The experts also offered useful suggestions to the two projects submitted by Thailand to improve the coverage and maximize the benefits to the countries in the Asia-Pacific region. Initiated in 2021, AI for Social Good: Strengthening Capabilities and Government Frameworks in Asia and the Pacific is a collaboration between the UNESCAP, APRU and partners. Under this project, the UNESCAP and APRU, with funding from Google.org, established a multi-stakeholder network to provide support in the development of country-specific AI governance frameworks and national capabilities. For more information on this project, please visit here. View the article in a Thai version here.

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Live-streamed from Hong Kong, the 3rd APRU MetaGame Conference concluded on 27 August, 2022 to a resounding success, during which academics and industry experts discussed policies, challenges and opportunities on the development of esports in higher education. Hosted by Cyberport and in partnership with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), APRU MetaGame Conference 2022 brought together leading scholars and industry experts from the Asia-Pacific region, and were joined by over 2,000 participants from over 30 countries and regions. This year’s Conference focused on three themes: “Edutainment: Education, Gamification, and the Metaverse”, “Elite Collegiate Esports”, and the “Gamification of Social Well-being”. It kicked off with a keynote speech by Professor Yang Wang, Vice-President for Institutional Advancement at HKUST and APRU Senior International Leader, who shared insights on the power of edutainment and the latest trends in the integration of esports and the metaverse into education. Panel discussions between academics and industry experts were also held, during which they exchanged ideas on the opportunities and challenges that esports, web3, blockchain, artificial intelligence and other new technologies will bring to the higher education sector. Participating scholars also urged universities to take the lead in adopting new thinking, teaching and learning methodologies. Professor Yang Wang said, “With the advent of the metaverse and blockchain technologies, the higher education landscape as we know it will be rewritten completely. This will bring new opportunities and challenges for scholars, students, creators and universities, unlocking the next level of interaction and engagement in universities.” Professor Pan Hui, Director of the Center for Metaverse and Computational Creativity (MC2) at HKUST, and Chair Professor of Computational Media and Arts at HKUST (Guangzhou) said during a panel discussion, “While the research community is still exploring the full potential of edutainment, data shows that new technological tools such as mobile devices, wearables, and extended-reality classrooms can vastly enhance the learning experience of students through gamification, as they blend physical and virtual objects to create a world rich in ‘surreality’, creating playful educational experiences.” As a network of 60 leading research universities from the Pacific Rim, APRU is committed to developing esports and other new technologies into educational medium for students and researchers, as well as a sustainable and safely governed industry that will improve career trajectories for all across borders. The APRU MetaGame Conference 2022 therefore provided the perfect platform for global thought leaders to discuss the development of future policies and application of esports in education. Kathy Chiang, Vice President, Board of Directors, Voice of Intercollegiate Esports, said in a panel discussion, “People are starting to see the games and esports industry as a very significant portion of what new tech – and its investment – is going into. It is such a vast industry that a variety of new jobs for graduates will be created, such as game programmers, sound artists and designers. What’s even more interesting is that the growth of this industry also promotes physical and mental health, and increases collegiate scholarship pathways.” In addition to the panel discussions, students actively engaged in the Conference at the APRU Rampage Invitational esports tournament featuring top teams of the Asia Pacific on PLANET9, the preferred esports platform, and the Digital Art Design Competition sponsored by Moon Lab. Six finalist teams from North America, Asia and Latin America faced off virtually, and presented their original game ideas on a sustainable and inclusive world, each also reflecting their respective culture. Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, says, “Talents are the pillars of every industry development. Cyberport is delighted to work with APRU for the third time to launch the APRU Esports Fellowship Program, which enables Pacific Rim student leaders who are passionate about esports, to participate in learning, internship, and entrepreneurial opportunities to prepare them for becoming future leaders, and ultimately contributing to the thriving and evolving esports ecosystem worldwide.” “The APRU tournament was a great way to start the semester and a really fun event with the team,” said Tate Tamaye, 2nd year student at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa who participated in the tournament. “The tourney allowed us to play against teams that I haven’t played against before, which made it very interesting. I hope that in the future, they will be able to invite more teams, and have a larger tournament.” For more information on APRU’s esports initiatives, please visit: www.apru.org/our-work/student-leadership/esports/ Photos: link Contacts Jack Ng Director, Communications, APRU Email: [email protected]

Recently, the “Global Health Virtual Case Competition 2022” hosted by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) proceeded to its final stage. Team “Arete” from Tongji University advanced to the top 10 of the competition, receiving the great honor of being the only team from China’s mainland in the final this year. Six Tongji University students, namely WANG Kaitao, MIAO Yongen, YAN Le and LIU Tong from School of Medicine (TUSM), and CHEN Yixian and PAN Kunwei from the School of Foreign Languages, made up the “Arete” team. The internationally and annually APRU-hosted Global Health Virtual Case Competition has provided APRU students with an opportunity to practice critical thinking and problem-solving skills through cases and scenarios to help solve global health challenges. The challenge of the case competition 2022 was to build and strengthen the capacity of the health systems in Fiji to better respond to future public health threats, focusing on vulnerable populations. The participating teams were obliged to propose a realistic, well-designed, and innovative solution. A total of 48 teams from 12 major Pacific Rim economies participated in the case competition 2022. Three Tongji University teams (Arete, Tongji Youth Team, Small Jin), made up of twelve students from TUSM (Clinical Medicine, Nursing and Physical Therapy) and four students from other majors (SFL, CAUP, CEIE), registered for the challenging competition to compete against other teams from top leading research universities around the Pacific Rim. By the time these participating teams started to prepare for their entries, they had been confronted with various difficulties and challenges such as stringent containment measures during the worst period of the COVID outbreak in Shanghai, despite which they still managed to do a literature search, completed interview schedules with Fijian students and local transportation workers, conducted liaison meetings on a regular basis, and worked out a wrap-up of the case solution through video shooting and editing. Through uninterrupted efforts in balancing online learning and a non-stop fight against COVID, they completed their proposal on schedule. During that period, they received intensified concerns and support, including guidance from CHEN haibin, Deputy Party Chief of TUSM, who shared the first-hand experience of pandemic prevention and control on West Campus. The International Students Office of Tongji University assisted in contacting Fijian students whilst the School of Design and Innovation, along with the Sino-Italian Institute, gave support for video-making. The Association of Pacific Rim Universities, or APRU, set up in 1997, is a consortium of top leading research universities from various economies of the Pacific Rim. Currently, it has a membership of 60 top research universities around the world, among which 12 universities are from China’s mainland, including Peking University, Tsinghua University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Fudan University, Nanjing University, Xi’an Jiaotong University, University of Science and Technology of China, Zhejiang University, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences, Harbin Institute of Technology, Sun Yat-sen University and Tongji University. Tongji University has been taking an active part in consortium activities with its commitment to promoting cultural integration and resource sharing, close-knit and deep-rooted partnerships, and further development of an inclusive and efficient platform for international collaboration. View the Chinese version here. Find out more about the Global Health Virtual Case Competition 2022 here.

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The 3rd APRU MetaGame Conference is set to be live-streamed on 27 August, 2022 HKT (26 August, 2022 PDT) in partnership with The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) and hosted by Cyberport Hong Kong. During the annual conference, scholars and industry leaders will examine the ways that international esports leaders can further their scope within universities, shape digital skills development, and the career pathways for students. As one of the biggest virtual education conferences and a spotlight event of Hong Kong Cyberport’s Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF), the APRU MetaGame Conference 2022 will incorporate the full ecosystem of esports, including high-level policy discussions, expert insights, next-generation learning, student competition, and gaming. APRU has in recent years orchestrated the effort in bringing esports, a new form of edutainment and an integral part of the metaverse, to its university network. Top academics, esports policymakers, researchers, and students from North America, Europe, and the Asia-Pacific region are expected to join this all-virtual conference, marking a new milestone for the event, which was first introduced in 2020. Dr. Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General of APRU said, “We believe universities have much to gain by supporting esports as part of their education and research agenda. Together with our network’s 60 universities and industry experts, we aim to contribute to building the esports ecosystem around the Asia-Pacific region. We are committed to developing a sustainable industry with a strong career trajectory which connects students, researchers and administrators across international borders. We intend this innovative technology and its social impacts will empower researchers and students to work with each other on solutions to global challenges for the common good.” Peter Yan, CEO of Hong Kong Cyberport, said, “As the flagship for Hong Kong’s digital innovation, Cyberport is excited to join hands with APRU for the third consecutive year to offer the perfect platform for co-creating digital entertainment and esports in the Web 3.0 era. Riding on the success of our previous collaborations, including two rounds of APRU Esports Fellowship Program, APRU Global Tournament and APRU Student Esports Paper Competition, the APRU MetaGame Conference will foster the application of new technologies, and the cultivation of talent in universities and the higher education sector, bringing continuous impetus to the digital entertainment ecosystem.” Professor Yang Wang, APRU Senior International Leader and Vice-President for Institutional Advancement at HKUST said, “With the advent of the metaverse and blockchain technologies, the higher education landscape as we know it will be rewritten completely. This will bring new opportunities and challenges for scholars, students, creators and universities, unlocking the next level of interaction and engagement in universities.” The event will kick off with a keynote address on edutainment and the metaverse by Professor Yang Wang, and feature three panel discussions among scholars on edutainment, collegiate esports, and the gamification of social well-being, in which challenges, opportunities, and future policies will be discussed. Insightful findings will also be presented at the conference, followed by the announcement of a student showcase on digital art and original game ideas supported by Moon Lab, a blockchain-based startup that specializes in making mass adoption of blockchain technology possible. In addition, top Esports teams from the Asia Pacific region will face off in a Valorant tournament powered by PLANET9, the designated tournament platform. Supporting Universities: KAIST Nanyang Technological University Tecnológico de Monterrey University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa University of Southern California Zhejiang University Date and Time: August 26 from 6PM (Los Angeles/Vancouver) August 27 from 9AM (Hong Kong/Singapore) For more information, please visit: https://www.apru.org/event/apru-metagame-conference-2022/ Registration (free admission): https://apru-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_mCkWZyIGRzWZNOcBWpuAFw#/registration Download Visuals: https://cutt.ly/wXAgwcZ Contacts Jack Ng Director, Communications, APRU Email: [email protected]

Pioneering Study of Centipedes and Millipedes Breaks New Ground for Biodiversity A new genome-sequencing study by CUHK biologists has uncovered the hidden genetic histories that explain differences in the behaviour and diets of centipedes and millipedes. These surprising evolutionary insights could help scientists better understand the vital ecological roles that these creatures play in sustaining and restoring natural ecosystems. The findings were reported in the prestigious scientific journal Nature Communications. Centipedes prey on insects and other invertebrates, while millipedes feed on leaf litter and other decaying organic matter. Both belong to a group of invertebrate animals called myriapods, which means ‘10,000 feet’ in Ancient Greek and includes about 16,000 extant species. Myriapods perform many crucial ecological functions, including recycling nutrients in the soil and keeping forests healthy. Despite their importance, however, myriapods are relatively understudied compared to invertebrates that share similar features, such as insects, arachnids and crustaceans. A fork in the family tree In a major advance for myriapod knowledge, a CUHK team has now sequenced the whole genome of nine centipede and millipede species, creating high-quality reference genomes that constitute the world’s first myriapod gene repertoire analysis. These genomic studies revealed several unexpected gene alterations that led to the different adaptive pathways followed by centipede and millipede lineages after their divergence from a common ancestor, according to Prof. Jerome Hui of CUHK’s School of Life Sciences. ‘This remarkable divergence has led to two very different lifestyles being expressed in extant myriapods: predation in centipedes, characterised by the evolution of offensive chemical weaponry in the form of venom, and a detritivorous diet in millipedes,’ explains Prof. Hui. ‘We provide the first steps towards unravelling the genomic bases of the divergent adaptations underlying these two lineages with very different ecologies.’ Applying genomic insights to promoting biodiversity Prof. Hui was part of the consortium that published the first centipede genome. He has led a research team working on myriapods since 2013 and published the first millipede genome. This latest study provides a firmer foundation for further basic and applied research on myriapods, which in turn can contribute to studies of biodiversity and ecology. Prof. Jerome Hui (1st right) co-chairs the new APRU Biodiversity and Pacific Ocean Programme. Prof. Hui added, ‘In the near future, in addition to continuing to explore the hidden biology and genomics, we need to fully understand the ecological roles in soil and forest ecosystems of this fascinating yet neglected group of organisms. Hopefully one day we can better understand these life forms on land, the effects of climate change on them and their contribution to nutrient recycling, and perhaps eventually achieve zero hunger via agricultural applications.’ Prof. Hui is Co-chair of the new Biodiversity and Pacific Ocean Programme of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities which seeks to promote collective action to address biodiversity loss, protect ecosystems and combat the impacts of climate change. Co-leading the initiative with the University of Sydney and the University of California, Davis, other members include Universidad de los Andes, University of Malaya and University of the Philippines. Read more: CUHK builds a genome bank of myriapods offering clues to the divergent behaviours of centipedes and millipedes

We are pleased to welcome the following presidents who will serve on the APRU Steering Committee, the executive body of the network which oversees its strategy, policy, programs and finances, for the year 2022-2023. Steering Committee members (in alphabetical order of the name of universities): Chancellor Gene D. Block, UCLA (Chair) Vice-Chancellor and President Rocky S. Tuan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Vice-Chair) President Jin Taek Chung, Korea University President Tan Eng Chye, National University of Singapore President Zhongqin Lin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University President David Garza, Tecnológico de Monterrey Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater, The University of Auckland President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. Ono, The University of British Columbia President and Vice-Chancellor Xiang Zhang, The University of Hong Kong Vice-Chancellor and President Deborah Terry, The University of Queensland Vice-Chancellor Mohd. Hamdi Abd. Shukor, Universiti Malaya Chancellor Carol T. Christ, UC Berkeley President Carol L. Folt, University of Southern California President Aiji Tanaka, Waseda University Dr. Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General, APRU Mr. Sherman Cheng, Chief Financial Officer, APRU Comprising elected presidents representing various regions of Asia-Pacific, the Steering Committee is responsible for driving the activities of the association and giving direction to its impact and advocacy work across the region. Click here for the biographies of Steering Committee members.

Congratulations to the sixteen APRU scholars across seven universities alongside external partners and experts contributing to this book, sharing interdisciplinary knowledge and experiences that higher educational institutions can lead in the midst of disaster risk management, natural and biological hazards, and COVID-19 pandemic. Original post on Bloomberg. APRU is proud to announce that the APRU Multi-Hazards Program has facilitated the upcoming book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: Considerations for a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis, published by Springer. Higher educational institutions (HEIs) have had to undergo significant transformations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some countries had to cope with the pandemic and natural hazards simultaneously. However, the situation had a silver lining, as it has allowed HEIs to review their campus disaster preparedness, response, and recovery capacities. The upcoming book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: Considerations for a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis covers the experiences and lessons learned from HEIs in preparedness, response, and recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare for such calamities beyond natural disasters in the future. The book has been edited by Takako Izumi, Associate Professor of IRIDeS, Tohoku University, Japan, and Director of APRU Multi-Hazards (MH) Program; Indrajit Pal, Associate Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; and Rajib Shaw, Professor of Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan. Izumi’s chapter includes a checklist for university preparedness developed under the APRU MH campus safety program. A survey was conducted based on the checklist to assess the current preparedness capacities on campus and identify their challenges to minimize damage from future hazards. “The survey result showed that not many universities conducted even a general risk assessment on campus. It is strongly recommended that universities review their current disaster management plans with proper risk assessment and improve them to be applicable to a wider range of risks,” Izumi said. A chapter co-written by Dr. Mellissa Withers, Associate Professor at the University of Southern California and Director of the APRU Global Health Program, and Elly Vandegrift, Director of Global STEM Education Initiatives in the Global Studies Institute at the University of Oregon, contains fifteen case studies from universities in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., finding that faculty learned to create online community environments and meaningful assessment and assignment systems. At the same time, students responded to new offerings to participate in global cross-cultural and cross-country event programs. The authors described how the APRU Virtual Student Exchange Program facilitated immersive structural exchange connecting students with peers abroad in projects ranging from exploring the Galapagos islands to picturing Hong Kong through historical paintings and photos. “Although many of these innovations were born out of necessity, they have certainly set the stage for post-pandemic higher education in the future,” Withers said in a webinar held on May 24 in preparation for the launch. In the same webinar, Dr. Pan Tsung-Yi, Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University (NTU), presented an overview of the Taiwanese government’s epidemic prevention in the higher education system. Pan explained how NTU swiftly developed a digital learning platform for non-contact teaching while creating a low-cost automated temperature measuring device with a contract tracing system for face-to-face learning by describing the universities’ role. The system successfully handled 26,000 visits to the NTU campus daily, involving 80,000 daily ID card scans to avoid Covid-19 cluster-spreading between the different campus buildings. “Through the sharing of the Taiwan experience, we hope institutions can refer to it to enhance campus safety and resilience for the future,” Pan said. Dr. Ailsa Holloway, a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Auckland University of Technology, explained that New Zealand’s Covid-19 responses were based on the national risk context of past measles outbreaks, volcanic eruptions, Australian bushfires, and earthquakes. “We learned that higher education governance systems that systematically incorporate disaster risk considerations are better placed for vigorous and coherent emergency response,” Holloway said. “Universities are vital in the frontline response to public health and other emergencies, while also being vulnerable, both externally with respect to exposures outside the institution and internally with respect to students, staff, and the operating system,” she added. Information about the book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-1193-4 More on APRU Multi-Hazards Program: http://aprumh.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/ https://apru.org/our-work/pacific-rim-challenges/multi-hazards/ About APRU As a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, APRU brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. They leverage their members’ collective education and research capabilities into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, their strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking actions on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on critical areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management, and more. To learn more about APRU, please visit www.apru.org Contacts Media: Jack Ng Director, Communications, APRU Email: [email protected]

The 26th Annual Presidents’ Meeting 2022 was the first international in-person meeting for many university presidents worldwide. More than 100 presidents, university delegates, higher education leaders, and guests from around the world gathered at the 26th APRU Annual Presidents’ Meeting hosted by Nanyang Technological University Singapore, which kicked off on 6 July 2022. Themed “Reconnecting in a Sustainable World”, this APM is the first in-person meeting of APRU since 2019. In the 3-day meeting, speakers and panelists addressed critical sustainability and climate change issues, how to prevent the next pandemic, and the urgent need to collaborate in a post-COVID-19 world. More: www.apru.org SINGAPORE–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Annual Presidents’ Meeting 2022 wrapped up in Singapore on July 9th, marking an important milestone as university leaders from at least nine countries gathered together in person as our societies began to open up. Hosted by Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, under the theme “Reconnecting in a Sustainable World”, the three-day event saw more than 100 presidents, senior university administrators, and private sector representatives in attendance. Over six sessions, the participants addressed critical sustainability and climate change issues, how to prevent the next pandemic, and the urgent need to collaborate in a post-COVID-19 world suffering from an alarming trend of international rivalry. The meeting ended with a firm commitment by the university presidents to pool together their resources by combining the formidable scholarship, research, and innovation on our campuses to help shape a cleaner, safer, more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world to secure the 21st century for future generations (See Appendix A for the full Presidents’ Statement). Opening of Annual Presidents’ Meeting 2022 APRU is a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia. APRU has members in very diverse contexts, so it is well-positioned to offer relevant expertise from around the region. NTU Singapore President Professor Subra Suresh said in his opening remarks: “For the first time since 2019, this in-person meeting brings together presidents of some of the world’s leading research-intensive universities from around the Pacific Rim. As we gather at this pivotal moment, let us pledge to create a roadmap for compelling action-oriented cooperation and make a positive contribution in a transformed world.” Fireside Chat with Mr. Piyush GUPTA DBS Chief Executive Officer Piyush Gupta discussed sustainability issues, suggesting that universities and businesses like DBS should explore co-creation and research to combat climate change. They should also partner to train the workforce in the sustainability field by providing grants, for example. “The private sector and the corporate world are serious about putting money behind these big issues. Just the motivation of being able to fund some research helps businesses and universities come together,” Mr. Gupta said. The subsequent meeting’s sessions highlighted a wide range of critical concerns. They were held under the themes Responses to Crisis in a Diverse Region; Sustainability and Climate Change; Preventing the Next Pandemic; and Reconnecting: The New Urgency for Collaboration. Panelists representing different regions shared their experiences building resilience against the challenges (See event rundown). Responses to Crisis in a Diverse Region The biggest challenge to many universities has been the pandemic over the past few years. Provost and Executive Vice President Kwang-Jae Kim, POSTECH in Pohang, Korea, explained that POSTECH had taken steps to expand the university into a Metaversity—a combination of the words, Metaverse and University. “We decided to introduce virtual reality work through VR technologies in some undergraduate classes. We provided VR devices to all freshmen students for the lab classes in physics, so students can experience the experimental scenes using the VR devices just as if they were participating in the actual experiment,” Prof. Kim said. “In addition, we provided experimental kits to students. We sent the kits to their homes so the students could do the actual experiments themselves at home by just following the VR directions. And we built a specially designed classroom with a VR-AR augmented reality and mixed reality capabilities.” Chancellor Gary S. May, the University of California, Davis in the United States, identified several substantial commonalities in the responses to various crises we discussed between the different regions while finding some notable differences. “The concept of the Metaversity I thought was very interesting. For one of our panelists, that is inclusive of activities like eSports and campus sharing. Regarding the climate change crisis, we talked about our various activities in the evolution toward carbon neutrality and how we’re addressing the UN sustainability goals. Finally, on the aging demographic crisis, we heard about attracting international students to the university and internationalization at home as possible solutions to that particular situation,” Prof. May, said. “In the spirit of thinking about actionable responses from the APRU community…We’ve collected a lot of data over the past few years particularly relevant to the pandemic and (we should think about) how can that data be shared for productive and constructive solutions to potential new crises, including perhaps the next pandemic.” “We all agree that APRU is an important network…(On) the idea of building standards for education, now we have lots of micro-credentials; we have online distance learning and whatnot. Many universities are engaging with all these education techniques, and there is no one standard. Should we have one under the umbrella of APRU? That’s a question that (we) probably have to answer.” Vice-Chancellor Mohd. Hamdi Abd. Shukor, Universiti Malaya in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia added. Sustainability and Climate Change On July 8th, the panelists discussed advancing the climate change agenda. In a few snapshots taken from the meeting’s many insightful exchanges, President and Vice-Chancellor Joy Johnson, Simon Fraser University in British Columbia, Canada, zoomed in on universities’ moral obligations to protect the vulnerable in surrounding communities. She recalled that 2021 was a devastating year for her province. British Columbia experienced an extreme heat wave where temperatures exceeded 40° C. 619 deaths were attributed to a weather phenomenon known as the “heat dome”. Prof. Johnson noted that these deaths occurred among the elderly and the homeless – vulnerable populations. In addition, recently released research suggests that a billion sea creatures were killed due to the heat. “I do believe that the president’s role is to try being a beacon of hope in this time because it does feel a little bit dark…Climate change is very much on our mind, and I believe that universities have a moral obligation to think about our commitments, given that we have the people, the infrastructure, the research, and the engagement capacities,” Prof. Johnson added. For his part, Executive Vice President, International Affairs, Toshiyuki Kono, Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan, illustrated how universities could continue to lead by example. He described Kyushu University’s new campus, explaining how it manages to embrace both its history and its future. The site was already mentioned by Chinese literature in the 3rd Century AD. “We kept the green areas, groundwater, landscape, and historical remains, but this campus is also designed for next-generation technologies with comprehensive research centers,” Prof. Kono said. “We have established three priority areas: decarbonization, medicine and health, and environment and food. And specifically, decarbonization is one of the significant research areas we wish to focus on in our cooperation with the APRU network. Last year, we also established the Research Center for Negative Emissions Technologies. Professor Shigenori Fujikawa, one of the star researchers at our university, developed 30 nanometer-thin sheets so that we could collect CO2 from the atmosphere. He’s trying to make social implementation. If it can be implemented properly, you can collect CO2 everywhere worldwide. He named it a ubiquitous negative emission. The idea is that carbon-neutral is not enough, the time doesn’t wait. So we must collect the CO2 in the atmosphere and make it negative.” “We have been very active in the area of hydrogen research. And this research focuses on fundamental methods of hydrogen production, storage, transport, and utilization…Our main Ito Campus has installed an Ene-Farm energy generation system, contributing to Toyota’s 2021 hydrogen fuel vehicle Mirai and its hydrogen station. The campus is the testing ground for hydrogen energy; this is a long-run project. We are committed to achieving a sustainable energy society by advancing our hydrogen research and education.” Prof. Kono added. “Last but not least, we were privileged to host a five-week webinar series on sustainability in the framework of APRU. This webinar series focused on the realization of a decarbonized society to combat climate change. It brought together a diverse group of experts and researchers focusing on early career researchers, to exchange ideas and explore potential cross-disciplinary collaborations to develop solutions.” Preventing the Next Pandemic The panelists also investigated what universities can contribute to preventing the next pandemic by addressing issues of global governance, as well as improved public health strategies and the sharing of intellectual property on biomedical discoveries. The APRU Presidential Working Group provided an update on how their concerted efforts have played a role in helping APRU members demonstrate global leadership In preventing the next pandemic. According to President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. Ono, The University of British Columbia in Vancouver, Canada, “the working group is focused on bringing together resources and presenting recommendations for action in the following areas: – assembling scientific research assets in biomedical technology and therapeutics for APRU’s 60 member universities as a major global resource for responding quickly to the next pandemic; – implementing strategies for combating the infodemic through science and media literacy and other initiatives, taking into account diverse cultural settings; – and compiling a handbook on pandemic crisis management in various societies, which record lessons from COVID-19 while looking to future requirements in a world increasingly affected by inequality and climate change.” Prof. Rocky S. Tuan, Vice-Chair of APRU and Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong in Hong Kong, China, identified social and cultural determinants of public health strategies. Nine APRU member universities looked at more than 90 different sources of studies published in highly reputable journals, such as The Lancet, Nature, PNAS, etc., and studies performed in different parts of the world. “Further analysis shows that resistance to intervention was relatively strong in individualistic societies. Whereas conformism was relatively common in societies high in collectivism and subordination to the powerful others,” Prof. Tuan said. “What is the strategy forward? When it is an endemic disease, we should increase trust in science and public institutions and develop efficient global epidemic watch and alert systems. We should promote early compliance with interventions through effective communications when it is an epidemic disease. And once you go to post-pandemic, you can talk about post-pandemic public education to increase pandemic awareness and strengthen civic values. These strategies are helpful in all societies. But particularly important in individualistic societies.” “What should APRU do? I can think of a number of things such as exchanging ideas and information, consulting each other in terms of best practices, enhancing and developing scholarly and research collaborations, and enriching student experience,” Prof. Tuan added. The group will convene a major international symposium in November 2022 during the APEC Leaders’ Week and APEC CEO Summit week. President Bundhit Eua-arporn, Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, Thailand, expressed confidence that the forum will help universities across the globe to build international cooperation, develop new knowledge on challenges facing the region and contribute to social and economic advancement. “This platform will also provide opportunities for participants from all sectors to share their experience in their preparation for handling new challenges, especially during this period of uncertainty, in which mutual collaboration is needed more than ever,” Prof. Eua-arporn said. Reconnecting: The New Urgency for Collaboration Finally, panelists shared their unique experiences and visions of how higher education institutions may work together to address imminent regional and global issues and shape a sustainable future. “Last year at UQ, we launched our Global Development Impact Plan to coordinate our global development expertise better and help address shared challenges and affect social change. As part of this plan, we articulated our focus on helping to build the global capacity of people and organizations to achieve their sustainable development goals. We believe we can make a difference in agriculture and food sciences, understanding and combating natural hazards and providing leadership, governance, and management programs in developing countries. We also believe we have a role to play in helping to provide higher education opportunities to our neighboring nations,” shared Vice-Chancellor and President Deborah Terry, The University of Queensland in Queensland, Australia. “While devastating and challenging in so many ways, the pandemic also presented opportunities, one of which is the potential for new education models, which could assist UQ and other universities to help meet the educational needs of our region…A forum such as the APRU Annual Presidents’ Meeting will help us to reconnect and explore these possibilities.” Prof. Kathy Belov, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (Global Engagement), The University of Sydney in Sydney, Australia, introduced a new program, the APRU Biodiversity Program. “We have lost 80% of our insect biomass in the last 30 years, 80%. In 50 years, we’ll only have half of what’s left now. And in 100 years, all of our insects will be gone…Our insects are at the heart of our food webs, pollinating our plants…We aim to leverage our expertise within APRU universities to conserve our unique biodiversity. So we’re going to foster collaboration to catalog, study and conserve the biodiversity in our region. We want to capacity build and train particularly HDR and postdoc students. And we want to focus on ethical, legal, and social issues. And of course, justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion,” Prof. Belov said. “At the moment, a million plant and animal species are threatened by extinction. That’s about 28% of all species that we know about. It’s recently been said that this is the sixth great extinction spanning geological time, but humans entirely drive it.” Prof. Belov added. “The challenge is getting access to the samples, preserving those samples well, not the sequencing, but the analysis of all the data because this will generate a huge amount of data. And I think this is where APRU can come in…The Pacific Rim is full of amazing biodiversity. And I think there are something like 17 countries known to be biodiversity hotspots, and about 13 or 14 are in the Pacific Rim. So what we’ve done is we’ve set up a steering committee. I’m keen that we consider engaging our academics, postgraduate students, and postdocs. Together, we can be going out and sampling our biodiversity, studying our biodiversity, and more importantly, all the data analysis that comes with it.” “In our case, we had a 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake, we lost 20,000 people, and the Fukushima incident was associated with it. In response, we have established the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS) next year, and APRU agreed to launch the APRU Multi Hazards Program…The basic message of risk reduction is that if we invest earlier, we can suppress many costs that once things happen. The costs include, of course, human as well as financial costs.” said President Hideo Ohno, Tohoku University in Sendai, Japan. “We had this in-person APRU Multi-Hazard Summer School, and it was reasonably popular, but suddenly, when we made it online, the 2020 version was a three-day program. We had almost 850 participants, so apparently, there are interests and needs in this type of activity. We had the summer school visit places affected by earthquakes and tsunamis. Although we share lessons learned from our experiences, we also learn from the participants’ experiences…We also have an APRU Multi-Hazard Campus Safety Program. Another thing that we did together with our APRU members is this ArcDR3 exhibition of future urban design. This exhibition was first shown in Tokyo this year and will be shown in Los Angeles later this year. Eleven universities got together and formed seven regenerative cities, meaning that it’s how to cope with all kinds of disasters.” “We also make International Organization for Standardization (ISO) on disaster prevention. By standardizing it, we can use this equipment and many means all over the place. So that will be published hopefully by 2023.” President Hideo Ohno added. “So we want to use this Fukushima as a ground to do these proof of concept activities. We will have the 10th anniversary of the APRU Multi-Hazard Program late this year in Bangkok. Next year, we will have an APRU session at the World BOSAI Forum, a Japanese disaster risk reduction forum in Sendai. So, we look forward to putting this disaster (reduction) level to the next level. I think it’s urgent.” Highlights of Global Reports The APRU Annual Presidents’ Meeting 2022 saw the release of four global reports from within the APRU network. Chair of APRU and Chancellor of the University of California, Los Angeles, Professor Gene Block, and Secretary General of APRU, Dr. Christopher Tremewan, announced the release of the APRU Annual Report 2022, highlighting APRU institutions’ actions and collaborations throughout the pandemic and amid continuing global geopolitical tensions. APRU also launched a joint report with Elsevier entitled For the Global Common Good: APRU and the China-US Research Landscape. Vice President, Global Strategic Networks at Elsevier, Dr. Anders Karlsson, discussed the report’s findings, highlighting the importance of maintaining research collaborations, especially on the UN Sustainable Development Goals. NTU Singapore, for its part, presented its Report on NTU’s Carbon Footprint Framework and Roadmap, which includes a tool for institutions such as universities worldwide to measure their carbon footprint. The second NTU Singapore report released at the meeting was the Report on Resilient Universities during the COVID-19 pandemic; Differences between East and West. The report highlights the best practices by universities in various countries in their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. About APRU As a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, APRU brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. They leverage their members’ collective education and research capabilities into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, their strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking actions on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on critical areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management, and more. ​To learn more about APRU, please visit www.apru.org. About Nanyang Technological University, Singapore A research-intensive public university, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) has 33,000 undergraduate and postgraduate students in the Engineering, Business, Science, Medicine, Humanities, Arts, & Social Sciences, and Graduate colleges. NTU is also home to world-renowned autonomous institutes – the National Institute of Education, S Rajaratnam School of International Studies, Earth Observatory of Singapore, and Singapore Centre for Environmental Life Sciences Engineering – and various leading research centres such as the Nanyang Environment & Water Research Institute (NEWRI) and Energy Research Institute @ NTU (ERI@N). Under the NTU Smart Campus vision, the University harnesses the power of digital technology and tech-enabled solutions to support better learning and living experiences, the discovery of new knowledge, and the sustainability of resources. Ranked amongst the world’s top universities, the University’s main campus is also frequently listed among the world’s most beautiful. Known for its sustainability, over 95% of its building projects are certified Green Mark Platinum. Apart from its main campus, NTU also has a medical campus in Novena, Singapore’s healthcare district. For more information, visit www.ntu.edu.sg Contacts Media: Jack Ng Director, Communications APRU Email: [email protected] Lester Kok Senior Assistant Director Corporate Communications Office Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Tel: 6790 6804; Mobile: 9741 5593 Email: [email protected] Event photos: link Appendix A — APRU 26th Annual Presidents’ Meeting 2022: Reconnecting in a Sustainable World — Presidents’ Statement July 9, 2022, Singapore Following a substantive exchange of ideas at the Annual Presidents’ Meeting of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), held at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU, Singapore) from 6th to 9th July 2022, we pledge to put our resources to bear by combining the formidable scholarship, research, and innovation on our campuses to help shape a cleaner, safer, more equitable, sustainable, and prosperous world. We build on the momentum generated during the Covid-19 pandemic in which universities made crucial contributions alongside other major stakeholders in the successful development of the vaccine with unprecedented speed and efficacy and the formulation, analysis, and deployment of pivotal public health policies and practices. APRU members will endeavour to continue making transformative changes to education and learning by deploying cutting-edge and appropriate technologies and new approaches to learning suited to a post-COVID world. We are committed to enhancing global health and well-being with game-changing discoveries led by a diverse community of our scholars, innovators, and change-makers. We also pledge to identify more robust pathways and safeguards to prevent the next pandemic. Never has our role been more critical in improving the health of our planet and people. Never has the convergence of education, technology, and innovation better prepared us for this enormous task. As the world faces surging geopolitical tensions, we will strive to keep our doors open for debate, dialogue, connection, and collaboration. We will continue to build on our work to embrace and endorse the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals that include such issues as climate change, health, disaster risk mitigation, mobility of students and researchers, and reducing inequality within and among our communities, in the geographic, societal, and cultural context of each of our institutions. We will strive to build greater trust and resilience among countries and people in the Asia Pacific region and across the world. In new and innovative ways, we will endeavour to find impactful solutions to diminish the risks of climate change and the next global health crisis. With our collective ingenuity and commitment, along with our individual strengths and unique approaches to address local, regional, and global challenges, we will help shape a more sustainable future through our efforts in education and lifelong learning, human talent development, scientific discoveries, technological innovation, and service to society. We take this responsibility seriously and with utmost sincerity and will make every effort to secure the 21st century for future generations to come.

APRU is proud to announce that the APRU Multi-Hazards Program has facilitated the upcoming book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: Considerations for a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis, published by Springer. Higher educational institutions (HEIs) have had to undergo significant transformations during the COVID-19 pandemic, and some countries had to cope with the pandemic and natural hazards simultaneously. However, the situation had a silver lining, as it has allowed HEIs to review their campus disaster preparedness, response, and recovery capacities. The upcoming book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: Considerations for a Post-COVID-19 Pandemic Analysis covers the experiences and lessons learned from HEIs in preparedness, response, and recovery during the COVID-19 pandemic to prepare for such calamities beyond natural disasters in the future. The book has been edited by Takako Izumi, Associate Professor of IRIDeS, Tohoku University, Japan, and Director of APRU Multi-Hazards (MH) Program; Indrajit Pal, Associate Professor, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand; and Rajib Shaw, Professor of Graduate School of Media and Governance, Keio University, Japan. Izumi’s chapter includes a checklist for university preparedness developed under the APRU MH campus safety program. A survey was conducted based on the checklist to assess the current preparedness capacities on campus and identify their challenges to minimize damage from future hazards. “The survey result showed that not many universities conducted even a general risk assessment on campus. It is strongly recommended that universities review their current disaster management plans with proper risk assessment and improve them to be applicable to a wider range of risks,” Izumi said. A chapter co-written by Dr. Mellissa Withers, Associate Professor at the University of Southern California and Director of the APRU Global Health Program, and Elly Vandegrift, Director of Global STEM Education Initiatives in the Global Studies Institute at the University of Oregon, contains fifteen case studies from universities in Canada, Mexico, and the U.S., finding that faculty learned to create online community environments and meaningful assessment and assignment systems. At the same time, students responded to new offerings to participate in global cross-cultural and cross-country event programs. The authors described how the APRU Virtual Student Exchange Program facilitated immersive structural exchange connecting students with peers abroad in projects ranging from exploring the Galapagos islands to picturing Hong Kong through historical paintings and photos. “Although many of these innovations were born out of necessity, they have certainly set the stage for post-pandemic higher education in the future,” Withers said in a webinar held on May 24 in preparation for the launch. In the same webinar, Dr. Pan Tsung-Yi, Associate Research Fellow at the Center for Weather Climate and Disaster Research, National Taiwan University (NTU), presented an overview of the Taiwanese government’s epidemic prevention in the higher education system. Pan explained how NTU swiftly developed a digital learning platform for non-contact teaching while creating a low-cost automated temperature measuring device with a contract tracing system for face-to-face learning by describing the universities’ role. The system successfully handled 26,000 visits to the NTU campus daily, involving 80,000 daily ID card scans to avoid Covid-19 cluster-spreading between the different campus buildings. “Through the sharing of the Taiwan experience, we hope institutions can refer to it to enhance campus safety and resilience for the future,” Pan said. Dr. Ailsa Holloway, a Senior Lecturer in Public Health at Auckland University of Technology, explained that New Zealand’s Covid-19 responses were based on the national risk context of past measles outbreaks, volcanic eruptions, Australian bushfires, and earthquakes. “We learned that higher education governance systems that systematically incorporate disaster risk considerations are better placed for vigorous and coherent emergency response,” Holloway said. “Universities are vital in the frontline response to public health and other emergencies, while also being vulnerable, both externally with respect to exposures outside the institution and internally with respect to students, staff, and the operating system,” she added. Information about the book Safety and Resilience of Higher Educational Institutions: https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-981-19-1193-4 More on APRU Multi-Hazards Program: http://aprumh.irides.tohoku.ac.jp/ https://apru.org/our-work/pacific-rim-challenges/multi-hazards/ About APRU As a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, APRU brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on practical solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. They leverage their members’ collective education and research capabilities into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, their strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking actions on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on critical areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management, and more. To learn more about APRU, please visit www.apru.org Contacts Media: Jack Ng Director, Communications, APRU Email: [email protected]

On June 15, a webinar held jointly by the Hong Kong office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung (HBS) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of leading research universities in 19 economies of the Pacific Rim, highlighted the complexity of data rights for citizens and users, with risks deriving from both under-regulation and over-regulation of AI applications. The webinar held under the theme Protection of Data Rights for Citizens and Users completed a joint hbs-APRU series consisting of three webinars on regulating AI. The series came against the backdrop of ever more AI-based systems leaving the laboratory stage and entering our everyday lives. While AI enables private sector enterprises and governments to collect, store, access, and analyse data that influence crucial aspects of life, the challenge for regulators is to strike a balance between data rights of users and the rights for enterprises and governments to make use of AI to improve their services. The webinar’s three speakers representing an NGO network, academia and the private sector explained that the fair use of personal data should be protected while abusive manipulation and surveillance should be limited. Conversely, regulators should leave reasonable room for robust innovation and effective business strategies and facilitate effective operation of government bureaus to deliver public services. “We not only talk about the use of personal data but also a broader range of fundamental rights, such as rights to social protection, non-discrimination and freedom of expression,” said Sarah Chander, Senior Policy Adviser at European Digital Rights (EDRi), a Brussels-based advocacy group leading the work on AI policy and specifically the EU AI Act. “Besides these rights in an individual sense, we have also been looking into AI systems’ impact on our society, impact on broader forms of marginalization, potential invasiveness, as well as economic and social justice, and the starting point of our talks with the different stakeholders is the question of how we can empower the people in this context,” she added. M. Jae Moon, Underwood Distinguished Professor and Director of the Institute for Future Government at Yonsei University, whose research focuses on digital government, explained that governments are increasingly driven to implement AI systems by their desire to improve evidence-based policy decision-making. “The availability of personal data is very important to make good decisions for public interest, and, of course, privacy protection and data security should always be ensured,” Moon said. “The citizens, for their part, are increasingly demanding customized and targeted public services, and the balancing of these two sides’ demands requires good social consensus,” he added. Moon went on to emphasize that citizens after consenting to the use of their private data by the government should be able to track the data usage while also being able to withdraw their consent. Sankha Som, Chief Innovation Evangelist of Tata Consultancy Services, explained that the terms Big Data and AI are often intertwined despite describing very different things. According to Som, Big Data is the ability to manage the input side of AI and drawing insights from the data whereas AI is about predictions and decision-making. “If you look at how AI systems are built today, there are several different Big Data approaches used on the input side, but there are also processing steps such as data labelling which are AI specific; and many issues related to AI actually come from the these processing steps,” Som said. “Biases can, intentionally or unintentionally, cause long-term harm to individuals and groups, and they can creep into these processes, so it will not only take regulation on use of input data but also on end use, while at the same time complying with enterprise specific policies,” he added. The webinar was moderated by Dr. Axel Harneit-Sievers, Director, Heinrich Böll Stiftung Hong Kong Office. The series’ previous two webinars were held in May under the themes Risk-based Approach of AI Regulation and Explainable AI. More information Listen to the recording here. Find out more about the webinar series here. Contact Us Lucia Siu Programme Manager, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Hong Kong, Asia | Global Dialogue Email: Lucia.Siu [at] hk.boell.org Christina Schönleber Senior Director, Policy and Research Programs, APRU Email: policyprograms [at] apru.org

Original The Fiji Times Twelve students from the Fiji National University’s (FNU) College of Medicine, Nursing and Health Sciences (CMNHS) were part of the Climate Change Simulation Conference in collaboration with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). APRU is a non-profit network of about 60 universities in the Asia-Pacific, with the Secretariat based in Hong Kong. This activity is organized by the APRU Global Health Programme at University of Southern California (US) and the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program at University of Oregon (US). The APRU Student Global Climate Change Simulation is a role-playing exercise in which students will form multi-country, multidisciplinary teams to play the role of delegates to the UN Climate Change Negotiations. CMNHS Acting Dean, Dr Donald Wilson, said the conference allowed the students to participate and learn with the students from different countries on Climate Change. “The global engagement of our students links well with the strategic goal of the university for student experience and also creates an awareness for our students and staff of the international instruments that are critical to demonstrating the importance of staying connected to the global changes in climate,” Dr Wilson said. “We look forward to more conferences where our students can be part of and contribute towards achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 13 to take urgent action to combat climate change and its impacts.” The aim of the conference was to describe what contributes to climate change, explain global climate change efforts, such as the Paris Agreement, the UNCCC and the COP, identify adaptation and mitigation strategies and which will have the most impact on global temperatures, explain how/why climate change affects the most vulnerable populations and why it is an issue of social justice. The conference also discussed the practice of global teamwork and cross-cultural collaboration and communication skills, the complexity involved in countries’ decisions, including consideration of factors such as economic impact, negotiating power and the challenges of negotiations among countries on issues such as climate change and the importance of global collaboration. The CMNHS Head of the School of Public Health and Primary Care (SPHPC), Dr Timaima Tuiketei said the University was grateful to be part of the conference. “We are happy to be part of a global initiative to build the capacities of our students and future leaders in addressing Climate Change. At the same time, the SPHPC is committed to strengthening its Climate Change and Health Programme to the overall university contribution to the national and regional Climate Change Agenda,” she said. Third year Public Health student, Margaret Biliki said she became more knowledgeable after attending the conference. “I am privileged to be joining my fellow colleagues for the APRU Simulation on Climate Change this year as an FNU rep, as Climate change is a global issue affecting our environment and our health,” she said. “I am enthusiastic to be learning from a group of diverse disciplines and experts from across the globe in interactive and informative zoom sessions and discussions on causes, effects, and solutions to address climate change issues. “The event will also help me to learn negotiation skills and to enhance my knowledge on climate change issues, a critically important issue for us, as Pacific Islanders. I am looking forward to learning and interacting with students from other universities as well.” The conference had Guest Speakers who spoke on coastal habitats, deforestation, clean energy, trading and offsets, and diplomacy and negotiation skills.   Find out more about the Student Climate Change Simulation here.

On May 25, a webinar held jointly by the Hong Kong office of the Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs) and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) highlighted that many of the algorithms that run artificial intelligence (AI) are shrouded by opaqueness, with expert speakers identifying approaches in making AI much more explainable than it is today. The webinar held under the theme Explainable AI was the second in a joint hbs-APRU series of three webinars on regulating AI. The series comes against the backdrop of ever more AI-based systems leaving the laboratory stage and entering our everyday lives. While AI algorithmic designs can enhance robust power and predictive accuracy of the applications, they may involve assumptions, priorities and principles that have not been openly explained to users and operation managers. The proposals of “explainable AI” and “trustworthy AI” are initiatives that seek to foster public trust, informed consent and fair use of AI applications. They also seek to move against algorithmic bias that may work against the interest of underprivileged social groups. “There are many AI success stories, but algorithms are trained on datasets and proxies, and developers too often and unintentionally use datasets with poor representation of the relevant population,” said Liz Sonenberg, Professor of Information Systems at the University of Melbourne, who featured as one of the webinar’s three speakers. “Explainable AI enables humans to understand why a system decides in certain way, which is the first step to question its fairness,” she added. Sonenberg explained that the use of AI to advise a judicial decision maker of a criminal defendant’s risk of recidivism, for instance, is a development that should be subject to careful scrutiny. Studies of one existing such AI system suggest that it offers racially biased advice, and while this proposition is contested by others, these concerns raise the important issue of how to ensure fairness. Matthias C. Kettemann, head of the Department for Theory and Future of Law at the University of Innsbruck, pointed out that decisions on AI systems’ explanations should not be left to either lawyers, technicians or program designers. Rather, he said, the explanations should be made with a holistic approach that investigates what sorts of information are really needed by the people. “The people do not need to know all the parameters that shape an AI system’s decision, but they need to know what aspects of the available data influenced those decisions and what can be done about it,” Kettemann said. “We all have the right of justification if a state or machine influences the way rights and goods are distributed between individuals and societies, and in the next few years, it will be one of the key challenges to nurture Explainable AI to make people not feeling powerless against AI-based decisions,” he added. Brian Lim, Assistant Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the National University of Singapore (NUS), in his research explores how to improve the usability of explainable AI by modeling human factors and applying AI to improve decision making and user engagement towards healthier and safer lifestyles. Speaking at the webinar, Lim explained that one of the earliest uses of Explainable AI is to identify problems in the available data. Then, he said, the user can investigate whether the AI reasons in a way that follows the standards and conventions in the concerned domain. “Decisions in the medical domain, for instance, are important because they are a matter of life and death, and the AI should be like the doctors who understand the underlying biological processes and causes of mechanisms,” Lim said. “Explainable AI can help people to interpret their data and situation to find reasonable, justifiable and defensible answers,” he added. The final webinar will be held on June 15 under the theme Protection of Data Rights for Citizens and Users. The event will address the challenges for regulators in striking a balance between data rights of citizens, and the rights for enterprises and states to make use of data in AI. More information Listen to the recording here. Find out more about the webinar series here. Register for the June 15th session here. Contact Us Lucia Siu Programme Manager, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Hong Kong, Asia | Global Dialogue Email: Lucia.Siu [at] hk.boell.org Christina Schönleber Senior Director, Policy and Research Programs, APRU Email: policyprograms [at] apru.org

The Hong Kong office of the Germany-based Heinrich Böll Stiftung (hbs) and APRU successfully concluded the first in a series of three webinars on regulating artificial intelligence (AI). Held on May 5 under the theme Risk-based Approach to AI Regulation, the event constituted a valuable Asia-Europe platform for the exchange of insights on the risks that are associated with AI and the appropriate regulatory responses. The webinar series comes against the backdrop of AI reaching a stage of maturity and extensive application across supply chains, public governance, media and entertainment. While industries and societies are quick in the uptake of AI, governments struggle to develop appropriate regulatory frameworks to prevent immense possible harm resulting from mismanaged AI. APRU has been pursuing debates in the field of AI policies and ethics since 2016, and APRU in collaboration with UN ESCAP and Google has set up the AI for Social Good network. “This joint webinar series comes at the perfect time to bring together experts from Europe and leading thinkers from the highly diverse Asia Pacific region. We are looking to apply what we have learned to actively support the development and implementation of regulatory frameworks and polices that ensure that AI technology is used for the good of society,” said APRU Secretary General Chris Tremewan, emphasizing the importance of collaboration across regional boundaries. The webinar was moderated by Zora Siebert, Head of Programme, EU Democracy and Digital Policy, Heinrich Böll Stiftung European Union. Siebert pointed out that the European Commission has unveiled its draft AI Act (AIA) in April 2021, accelerating an active shaping process in the European Parliament. Siebert noted that policymakers in the U.S. and the EU have been keen to align on AI policy, with both sides wishing to enhance international cooperation. Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence, University of New South Wales, explained that AI can hardly be regulated in a generic way but will require novel regulative approaches instead. “Since AI is a platform, it is going to be much like electricity that is in all our devices, and there is no generic way to regulate electricity,” Walsh said. “The EU AI Act will set an important precedent, but it will depend on how it is going to be implemented and on the sorts of expertise the EU is going to have, because the people who are going to be regulated have vast resources,” he added. Alexandra Geese, Member of the European Parliament for the Greens EFA and coordinator for the Greens EFA in the AI in the Digital Age Special Committee (AIDA), picked up on Walsh’s electricity metaphor, stressing that “we want to be the ones who switch the lights on and off, as opposed to leaving the decisions to the machines.” Jiro Kokuryo, Professor at the Faculty of Policy Management at Keio University in Japan, provided an alternative perspective from East Asia, explaining that the society and the technologies should be allowed to co-evolve rather than be forced into a static process. “Nevertheless, Japan aligns completely with the EU in terms of human rights protection, and the EU’s risk-based approach is also agreeable,” Kokuryo said. The second webinar will be held on May 25 on the topic Explainable AI. The proposals of “explainable AI” and “trustworthy AI” are initiatives to create AI applications that are transparent, interpretable, and explainable to users and operations managers. The final webinar will be held on June 15 on the topic Protection of Data Rights for Citizens and Users. The webinar will address the challenges for regulators in striking a balance between data rights of citizens, and the rights for enterprises and states to make use of data in AI. More information Listen to the recording here. Find out more about the webinar series here. Register for the May 25th session here. Contact Us Lucia Siu Programme Manager, Heinrich Böll Stiftung, Hong Kong, Asia | Global Dialogue Email: Lucia.Siu [at] hk.boell.org Christina Schönleber Senior Director, Policy and Research Programs, APRU Email: policyprograms [at] apru.org

Original post on Tec News Written by: Mónica Torres Five Tec de Monterrey’s professors were selected to participate in a mentoring program of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) to support the empowerment of aspiring women leaders. The School of Engineering and Sciences (EIC) and the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (EMCS) teachers joined the Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Mentoring Program. The five representatives have had the opportunity to work with mentors and people who receive mentoring via Zoom, and who work in more than 60 universities belonging to APRU. “At Tec de Monterrey, we are very proud to participate in what is considered the first formal version of the program,” said Adriana Rojas, leader of Institutional Networks and Alliances at the Center for the Recognition of Human Dignity. As a common goal, the program seeks to provide international and intercultural opportunities for the professional growth and development of women. More than an effort to combat gender inequality From the School of Engineering and Sciences (EIC), participating in this initiative: María Ileana Ruiz Luz María Martínez. On the other hand, from the School of Medicine and Health Sciences (EMCS): Gabriela María Ruiz Nancy de los Ángeles Segura Silvia Lorraine Montes. In the academic and labor world, the opportunity gap is one of the most visible challenges that continue blocking the progress and participation of women in their jobs, explained Dr. María Ileana Ruiz. “As a woman, we cannot question whether or not we are capable of doing something, we have to do it and, usually, we have to achieve it without showing any weakness,” reflected Ruiz. According to the APRU, women from universities in the Pacific Rim have made relatively little progress in gaining access to leadership positions in the last 5 years, despite the presence of institutional initiatives. “On the participation of women in different professional areas, we swept, but it is in leadership competitions where we still see a panorama dominated by men,” explained Professor Silvia Montes. The APWiL pretends to promote change by taking into consideration the several contexts in which this search for gender equity in universities takes place. “We start by seeing what makes us different, but then we realize what unites us, and in the end, we understand that we are part of the same community,” Rojas said. Meet the Tec women who took the challenge To be part of this ongoing initiative, which began in October 2021 and intends to conclude in September 2022, the five teachers from the areas of Engineering and Medicine were invited to apply. These professors joined the experience as part of the 94 participants from 26 institutions that were involved, a noticeable increase from the pilot in 2020, which registered 30 participants from 10 institutions. “Being selected is a distinction. They value your professional career, but also that you can transmit knowledge, strategies, resources, and support to other professors and researchers”, assured Dr. Gabriela Ruíz. After being designated as mentors, these Tec women were paired with different professionals at universities around the world, from the United States to Australia. “Being part of this program as a mentor is a challenge and satisfaction. I have the honor of having two mentees and I am learning a lot from them”, shares Dr. Nancy de los Ángeles. Human relationships that go for long While the teachers have highlighted the honor of being part of this APRU initiative, most of them agree that the real gift of this experience was the professional and personal relationships they formed. “My experience was with a professional in the area of ​​psychology with whom I was amazed. Because of her training, I thought that she should teach me, but we learned together,” said Dr. María Ileana Ruiz. Rojas highlights that, with this mentoring initiative, women can demonstrate how there are different avenues to collaborate on gender equality throughout the world and based on common concerns. “I had the opportunity to meet a teacher from Korea who started a YouTube channel during the pandemic to teach her children to read in a fun way,” said teacher Silvia Montes. “Not only was she an excellent academic, but she cared about supporting other working moms, and it’s these kinds of experiences that made me realize I wasn’t alone,” she reflected. Being able to collaborate with colleagues and students from different parts of the world working for equality and professional growth is a vision shared by Tec mentors for the future of this initiative. “If they find the opportunity to participate in this type of program, I think it is always good to give something back to the community that we have benefited from,” exhorts Dr. Gabriela. “I think the answer to the current environment is these kinds of activities that allow us to get closer to and between women. We can change what we are experiencing, this is my way of fighting”, concluded María Ileana.

Original post on UBC News Gamers often get a bad rap. Critics argue that online gaming is a time waster, exclusionary and male-dominated, even leading to aggression and addiction. In practice, though, virtual games and tournaments connect people across the globe over shared interests, says Zachary McKay, Co-President of UBC Esports Association, an initiative and club. With the motto “where gamers meet UBC,” it is the university’s largest club with nearly 4,000 members, compared to others which average in the hundreds or dozens. UBC Esports aims to build a community of students with no borders, and engage with colleagues and peers worldwide through online video game competitions, social events, tournaments, celebrity meet-ups and their crown jewel, the Legion Lounge where students can play games on campus. Not only does the club want to reverse negative perceptions and attract new people from all walks of life, it is investing in its student members. Case in point: the club and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) recently awarded scholarships to two UBC students through a research paper competition. The Legion Lounge is the crown jewel of the UBC Esports Association and a place for members of the UBC community to connect and play games on campus (video: UBC Esports Association) “The competition is about supporting Esports as an academic area of study, and encouraging students to have innovative and quality research in the field, as well as promote long-term investment in Esports research to enrich students’ and universities’ resources in an emerging field,” says Matthew Tan, UBC Athletics and Recreation Associate Director of Partnerships, and Senator at UBC Vancouver Senate and UBC Council of Senates. Tan collaborates regularly with UBC Esports. At the 2021 APRU Student Esports Paper Competition and Awards, McKay came in first for his piece on Business Models for the Esports Industry, taking home a USD $3,000 scholarship. He is in a fifth and final year at UBC, earning a philosophy degree with a minor in creative writing. Another undergraduate, Kaden MacKay, also won USD $3,000 for first place in the category Esports for Social Good, “writing about different countries and cultures,” MacKay says. “For example, Pakistan winning the biggest tournament ever held: these success stories show that you can’t judge anyone as an Esports player by where they come from – it’s just so diverse.” A club finance executive, MacKay is in year two at UBC, focusing on cognitive systems. Both winning papers will be published in the International Journal of Esports. The students plan to use the scholarship money to pay for university tuition and, because he is in his last term, McKay will use $1,000 of his winnings to establish the first UBC Esports leadership award. UBC Esports is a non-profit, volunteer, student-led organization under the UBC Alma Mater Society umbrella. The club runs as seamlessly as a well-oiled corporate enterprise. And anyone who thinks gamers might be lacking in smarts and motivation need only listen to McKay detail the start-up structure model, workings of its HR department and foundational principles in a manner far more articulate than many CEOs twice his age. Founded 11 years ago, today UBC Esports is internationally recognized – and popular. More than 1,000 entrants have signed up so far for June’s upcoming Smash Tournament “Battle of BC 4,” for example. Club executives of the UBC Esports Association, led by Co-Presidents Zach McKay and Branson Chan, at the UBC Esports Icebreaker event held in person (photo: UBC Esports Association, October 2021) Members can get involved as much, or as little, as they like, McKay says. The action ranges from laidback and leisurely to competitive tournaments in a high-stakes environment, and no prior experience is necessary. The only agenda is getting people excited about and enjoying video games, trying new things and making friends, he says. Some of the most popular games include League of Legends, Valorant and Super Smash Brothers. “We are incredibly approachable,” McKay says. “For myself, I’m not very good at games. I do it for the fun of it. What motivates me is that I’ve been able to make lifelong friendships with people through the club. Our community is really vibrant and the social aspect is a unifying feature.” Busting misconceptions is also part of the club mandate, in particular, leading by example to be diverse, secure and inclusive. Half of the club’s several vice presidents were women in 2021. UBC Esports hosts a women’s night for female-only competitions and boasts a team culture that prioritizes a safe atmosphere for women and marginalized communities. The association also puts on professional development workshops centered on Esports with the goal of preparing students for careers in the video game industry. Topics cover everything from partnerships, project management and event logistics to human resources and graphic design. Prospective students learn more about the UBC Esports Association at their booth on Clubs Day (photo: UBC Esports Association, 2021) APRU decided to get involved when UBC President and Vice-Chancellor Santa Ono first flagged the opportunity back in 2018. Noting the almost 3 billion gamers worldwide, and 2.5 million college and university students likely involved in esports in APRU alone, President Ono voiced his support for UBC to get involved. UBC then became one of 11 founding partners in the APRU Esports Fellowship Initiative, which brought in consultants to advise on what universities could do collectively and individually. An international Esports fellowship and greater support for the club topped the list of recommendations. Along with UBC, founding members of the initiative are Far Eastern Federal University, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Keio University, Nanyang Technological University, National University of Singapore, Tecnológico de Monterrey, University of California, Los Angeles, University of Southern California, University of Washington and Yonsei University. And the movement is growing. Connecting with others from all over the map is at the core, says MacKay. “How rare is it to talk to someone in Chile and Australia at the same time?” he says. “It’s usually very country- or continent-specific, so it’s so cool to do this globally. Everyone who does this is very passionate about what they think Esports can be – and it’s about sharing ideas across the world.” Find out more about the UBC Esports club. Read more about the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). Read the winning APRU Esports research papers. See the recent Ubyssey feature story on UBC Esports.

The annual APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize is now accepting applications for outstanding research work that strives to improve women’s health and economic well-being, and charts the way for more inclusive growth. The winning entry will receive USD 20,000 and the two runners-up will receive USD 5,000 each. The prize, first launched during APEC 2019 in Chile with the support of Merck, aims to encourage the development and usage of sex-disaggregated data and promote gender-based research within APEC. As women across the world were hit especially hard during the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly those who serve as unpaid caregivers, more research is needed to support solutions and advancements that allow women to stay in the workforce as the world rebounds. “We know that women in the region are overrepresented in industries hit hard by the pandemic—food, services, hospitality and tourism, to name a few,” said Renee Graham, the Chair of APEC Policy Partnership on Women and the Economy. “While our focus is to narrow disparity and improve women’s economic participation, we must also ensure that we pay attention to women’s health, safety and well-being.” Thailand, host economy of APEC 2022, is prioritizing inequality and imbalance this year by integrating inclusivity and sustainability objectives in tandem with economic goals. “To ensure an inclusive recovery from COVID-19, which has disproportionately impacted women and girls, we must implement evidence-based, gender-sensitive policies,” said Kannika Charoenluk of Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security. “Original research, backed by data and evidence, will be crucial in ensuring a gender-intentional recovery and future growth model.” Since its inception in 2015, the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies initiative has improved women’s health through public-private partnerships. One key outcome has been the cross-sector collaboration in creating a policy toolkit—a compendium of the issues, actions, and implementing elements for improving women’s health across five areas. The areas are: workplace health and safety; health awareness and access; sexual and reproductive health; gender-based violence; and work-life balance. Applicants to the 2022 APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Research Prize can be individuals or teams, with the stipulation that one official participant must represent an APEC member economy. Applicants do not need to come from academia, as long as the research is evidence-based and addresses at least one of the pillars outlined in the Healthy Women, Healthy Economies Policy Toolkit. The prize winner may choose to present their research to APEC gender experts in the public and private sectors on the margins of the 2022 APEC Women and the Economy Forum, hosted by Thailand. “Now more than ever, we need to promote research that supports our collective effort in alleviating the economic burdens women face in the workforce,” said Hong Chow, Executive Vice President and Head of China and International of Merck Healthcare. “By using science, we can provide evidence-based information to policymakers and business leaders so that the right measures get implemented to improve women’s health so women can join and rise in the workforce,” she concluded. Interested candidates may access the prize application form through this link. The application deadline is Tuesday, 31 May 2022. For more information, please visit the APEC Healthy Women, Healthy Economies website or contact [email protected] with any questions.   For further details, please contact: Masyitha Baziad +65 9751 2146 at [email protected] Michael Chapnick +65 9647 4847 [email protected]

The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean has undertaken a study on virtual exchanges and looked at some case studies including the APRU Virtual Student Exchange Program.  Please see more information about the report “Moving minds: Opportunities and challenges for virtual student mobility in a post-pandemic world” below.    Original post on UNESCO The UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC) launches on 28 February 2022 a major new report entitled “Moving minds: Opportunities and challenges for virtual student mobility in a post-pandemic world”, which addresses how the incredible creativity and innovation shown in higher education during the Covid-19 can be harnessed and further developed so that student mobility becomes possible, not only physically but through virtual modalities. The aim of this report is to ensure that students can continue to benefit from intercultural exchanges through the use of technology. These new forms of learning would make student mobility possible not only face-to-face but also virtually. The report is based on 14 case studies of virtual student mobility that have been implemented by 73 higher education institutions (HEIs) and through partnerships in 38 countries in all regions of the world. Based on the case studies, recommendations are offered to incorporate virtual student mobility as an additional form of student mobility, which can play a key role in reshaping the internationalization of higher education in the post-pandemic landscape. These practical recommendations are addressed to the different groups for whom virtual student mobility should be an important consideration: students themselves; those who develop and implement virtual student mobility (faculty members, staff of international relations offices); decision-makers (HEI leaders, HE alliances, governments); and funders (governments, NGOs). Access the full report here.

Original post on UC Davis Global Affairs The University of California, Davis, and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) launched the second cohort of the Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Mentoring Program, kicking off with 87 participants, nearly three times the number during its pilot year. The program is focused on providing mentoring to aspiring leaders from 25 institutions in the APRU network. Now in its second year, the APRU APWiL Mentoring Program offers leaders—both women and men—at APRU universities an opportunity to grow the pipeline of aspiring women leaders, increase awareness of challenges that aspiring women leaders face within the region, and introduce global and intercultural dimensions to leaders across the APRU network and beyond. The pilot program in 2020-21 served 30 participants from 10 universities. The program is led by co-chairs Sabrina Lin, senior advisor to the president at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and Joanna Regulska, vice provost and dean of Global Affairs and a professor of gender, sexuality, and women’s studies at UC Davis. Along with Global Affairs at UC Davis and HKUST, the Office of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UC Davis is a co-leader of the initiative. This collaboration is also supported by Jackie Wong, director of network and student programs, and Anya Wong, program officer, from the APRU International Secretariat. “The first APWiL Mentoring Program cohort was filled with wonderful connections between mentors and mentees. Now, with almost triple the number of enthusiastic participants in our 2021-22 cohort, we have a tremendous opportunity to continue forming a lasting collaborative network of women global leaders in academia. It is critical for the empowerment of women across the world to engage in intercultural conversations and recognize the commonality of challenges, but also of great opportunities as showcased by the participants. This program aims to create both formal and informal spaces where meaningful dialogues can take place,” said Regulska. A Framework For Success Jessica Bissett Perea, one of the mentees from the first cohort in 2020-21, chose to participate in the APWiL program to explore opportunities for leadership that could help her in her future pursuits. Her meaningful connections have helped further her understanding of the various leadership structures and practices throughout organizations. “I was extremely fortunate to be paired with an experienced and dynamic mentor, Dr. Yvonne Lim Ai Lian (Health Sciences), Director of International Relations and Professor of Parasitology. Her thoughtful and supportive mentorship and guidance helped me to better appreciate the densities of university leadership styles and how these styles do (or do not) align with Indigenous leadership styles. I am very pleased to report that I have significantly expanded my network of women leaders,” said Perea. Building on the success of the inaugural program, APWiL has the potential this year to influence even more participants like Perea. Organizers look to increased programming to give them ample opportunity to encourage networking and dialogue between mentees and mentors. “The pilot program this past year was well received by the mentors and mentees. I am thrilled to see the tremendous growth in the number of universities supporting the program, and a three-times increase in the number of mentor and mentee participants,” said Lin. “With continued efforts in our matching process and in adding more webinars and networking activities, I look forward to a rewarding experience again this year.” The increased growth within the second cohort led organizers to return to some of the infrastructure used in the planning of the first cohort. The individual matching process used this year to pair mentors and mentees is the same method as last year. They brought back a template for a mentoring agreement, allowing mentees to outline goals to help mentors focus on areas of interest and development. Organizers also took significant learnings from their year of hosting remote workshops. Building on this framework, the APWiL team is already seeing connections form across the globe. “We’re off to a great start,” said Chelsey Hawes, study abroad enrollment and operations officer in Global Affairs and program manager of the APWiL Mentoring Program. “Mentors and mentees have met at least once so far and joined us for our orientation program and first seminar, Women’s Representation in Higher Education in the Pacific Rim, in partnership with the American Council on Education and the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College. During this seminar, we heard from scholars from Australia, Hong Kong, and Malaysia on the commonalities and differences in barriers to women’s advancement in leadership and how each country is addressing or not addressing these barriers.” These partnerships between universities, mentors, mentees, scholars and others are the heart of APWiL. For this program, success is greater than the number of participants and events; success is rooted in connections and the positive impact of forming networks. “It has been a pleasure to work with the APWiL program and to be affiliated with other universities in the U.S. and around the world. I believe in the power of collaborative networks, working together for common goals, and connecting across boundaries for mutual advancement. We have so many commonalities across the globe that can unite us. This program provides women with opportunities to be in community with other scholars from other schools, to be encouraged, and to be equipped with additional tips for success that will contribute to their ability to be change agents within their spaces. When we are engaged in work as an international community, we have a chance to see the world differently, to enhance our understanding, and to be more comprehensive in our own jobs, as we apply the new, and broader world perspectives that programs like APWiL provide,” said Renetta Garrison Tull, vice chancellor of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion at UC Davis. To further support the second cohort, APWiL leadership has grown too. Kimberly Bellows, intercultural programs coordinator in Global Affairs, joined the team as the program coordinator for the APWiL Mentoring Program. “I’m very excited to be supporting the APWiL Mentoring Program as it begins its second year,” she said. “From attending the pilot program’s graduation ceremony, I know how impactful the program was on that first cohort, and I’m looking forward to supporting the second cohort’s journey. We’ve heard from current mentors and mentees that their first meetings have gone well, and it’s truly inspiring to see their goals and plans for the coming year.” Carrying The Momentum Forward The success of APWiL continues to spread as its influence extends beyond its participants. Fulfilling its promise of inspiring leadership, the program’s mentors and mentees are having an effect on other connections and communities. “The impact that the program has had on both mentees and mentors is beyond what I could have imagined,” said Hawes. “Following the first cohort, there were mentors and mentees who started women in leadership groups on their own campuses modeled after APWiL, mentees who held networking events and workshops on DEI as it pertains to women’s gender equity at their institution, and a mentor and mentee who formalized the relationship between their two institutions through an agreement where they held a monthly seminar series for folks at both institutions during the fall term.” Time will tell what the 2021-22 cohort will be inspired to develop next. Nearly 90 participants from 25 institutions include six UC Davis faculty and administrators: Cynthia Carter CHING, University of California, Davis (mentor) Jennifer CURTIS, University of California, Davis (mentor) Lisa TELL, University of California, Davis (mentor) Norkamari Shakira BANDOLIN, University of California, Davis (mentee) Christine MCBETH, University of California, Davis (mentee) Cecilia TSU, University of California, Davis (mentee)

Written by Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications, UCLA Original post on UCLA International Institute UCLA participants in the APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Mentorship Program. Top row, from left: Mentors Cindy Fan, Christine Dunkel Schetter, Victoria Sork and Janina Montero. Bottom row, from left: UCLA mentees Derjung Mimi Tarn, Margaret Peters and Yuen Huo. (Photos:UCLA or provided by subject. Janina Montero photo by Jintak Han/ Daily Bruin. Graphic courtesy of APWiL/ APRU.) “The Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Mentoring Program has been invaluable for me,” says Derjung Mimi Tarn, M.D., professor of family medicine at the Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. “The program created a safe space to discuss struggles and successes that are pertinent to women, and provided a wonderful opportunity to learn from prominent female leaders. Unfortunately, the problems faced by women in academic medicine are not isolated to one university or country, but are shared globally,” added the doctor, who also has a Ph.D. in health services. “This mentoring program gave me the opportunity to develop a global support network, to learn about the unique challenges of those from different countries and cultures and to reflect on how to build on the experiences of others in my own leadership roles.” Tarn was one of three UCLA representatives to participate in the initial APWiL Mentoring Program pilot year (2020–21), which paired 15 mentors with 15 mentees at 10 of the 61 member universities of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU).* Margaret Peters, associate professor of political science at UCLA and a member of the current APWiL cohort, comments, “I am greatly enjoying working with my mentor, Mark Edele, who is at the University of Melbourne [Hansen Professor of History and deputy associate dean, faculty of the arts]. He has provided great advice and it is very interesting to learn how different universities function around the world.” APRU, UCLA and APWiL APRU is a network of leading research universities located on both sides of the Pacific that facilitates the exchange of ideas and collaborative research to devise effective solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. UCLA is a founding and active member of APRU. Chancellor Gene Block is the current APRU chair, Vice Provost for International Studies and Global Engagement Cindy Fan is former co-chair of its International Policy Advisory Committee and in 2019, UCLA hosted the 23rd APRU Annual Presidents’ Meeting as part of its Centennial Celebration on campus. APWil Co-Chair Joanna Regulska. (Photo: UC Davis.) The APWiL Mentoring Program was created in 2020 as part of a larger strategy to close the gender gap and give diversity efforts greater traction across APRU member institutions. The program is co-chaired by Joanna Regulska, vice provost and dean of global affairs at UC Davis, and Sabrina Lin, Ph.D., senior advisor to the president of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), former HKUST vice president for institutional advancement and a veteran of the IT industry. (See a recent op-ed by the co-chairs on the impact of the pandemic on women in academia.) Day-to-day program operations are managed by Kimberly Bellows and Chelsey Hawes of UC Davis Global Affairs. APWil Co-Chair Sabrina Lin. (Photo courtesy of APWiL/APRU.) “I am inspired by the conversation among women of APRU member institutions about the challenges we face, but more importantly, by the opportunity to engage in intercultural and collective effort to support women’s leadership in our institutions,” said Regulska. “Advancing women’s empowerment and global engagement are my two most critical commitments, and this program offers both. The fact that just in the second year of the program existence we have tripled participation speaks volumes to the need for such global conversations, but also interest on the part of women and the commitment of their institutions to advance women’s leadership,” she added. UCLA Vice Provost Fan and Christine Dunkel Schetter, distinguished professor of psychology and psychiatry and associate vice chancellor of faculty development at UCLA, participated as mentors during the program’s pilot year. Fan worked with Surabhi Chopra, associate professor of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong, who had worked as an attorney in nonprofit organizations before starting an academic career. “I can honestly say that, without the many mentors in my professional life, both men and women, I would not have aspired to senior leadership in academia,” said Fan at a graduation ceremony for the first APWiL cohort. “I found that listening is the most important criterion in the mentor’s job description. … [And] I’ve found that the most important experiences that I have shared are my own failures. I’ve learned so much from false starts, mistakes and setbacks.” Graphic courtesy of APWil/ APRU. Recognizing the difficulties of gaining traction In remarks to the first cohort of APWiL mentees last fall,** Dawn Freshwater, vice chancellor of the University of Auckland (New Zealand), highlighted the lack of improvement in the number of women university leaders at APRU member institutions in the preceding half-decade (see “2019 APRU Gender Gap Report”). In a similar vein, Fan pointed to findings from a 2017 publication of the American Council on Education, which documented that women have earned more than 50 percent of all doctoral degrees in the U.S. since 2006, but as of 2015, held only 32 percent of full professorships in U.S. degree-granting institutions. University of Auckland Vice Chancellor Dawn Freshwater. (Photo: University of Auckland.) Freshwater — like Fan, a first-generation college graduate who became a university leader — stressed the importance of informal leadership for changing organizational culture. “[I]n my experience, policies are one thing… but their existence alone isn’t enough. Policies must be implemented by their leaders’ commitment to their purpose and they can only be successful where there is an environment and organizational culture that supports them. “[W]hat I have witnessed and experienced is that good intention without meaningful interaction and meaningful engagement across the whole of the institution is irrelevant. So, for me, I focus as a leader on building culture.” Effecting change requires consistent focus, she emphasized. Gender equity in universities is more imperative than ever, given the impacts of the global coronavirus pandemic on young female academics, said Freshwater. “As leaders we must act to ensure careers are not permanently scarred by COVID-19 disruptions. We know that early-stage female researchers are some of the most seriously impacted members of our university communities as a result of the pandemic. “Their work has had to be put on hold as lockdowns forced them home and to full-time childcare and home responsibilities. Research output for women has… decreased, especially for women with children under the age of five, and systemic racism faced by women of color has worsened.” Whether universities are responding to the gender and equity gap, the climate crisis or the pandemic, Freshwater said, “Diverse and inclusive leadership holds the key to meeting these challenges for the future. “This means women. It means women of color. It means young women. It means women with disability. It means people of rainbow communities. It means university leadership within our universities must reflect society.” APWiL co-chair Sabrina Lin identified another key component in advancing women into university leadership: male allies. “Without the advocacy of our male allies, I think it would be very difficult to improve diversity overall,” she said. UCLA participants weigh in on the challenges As APWiL Co-Chair Regulska noted, the mentoring program has tripled in size in its second year, with 87 participants across 26 APRU member universities. UCLA participants in the 2021–22 cohort include mentees Margaret Peters and Yuen Huo, professor of psychology; and mentors Janina Montero, vice chancellor-student affairs emerita, and Victoria Sork, distinguished professor of ecology and evolutionary biology and former dean of life sciences. Several of these participants, together with Vice Provost Fan and Dr. Derjung Mimi Tarn of the program’s first year, shared their thoughts on some of the priorities identified by Freshwater and Lin. APWiL held an orientation for its second cohort of mentors and mentees in early November 2021. Graphic courtesy of APWiL/ APRU. The pandemic has hit women academics in medicine particularly hard, said Tarn. “Female researchers have definitely been disproportionately impacted by the pandemic. Women have had more work-life conflicts than men, and more are suffering from depression. “Among physicians, gender disparities in mental health have increased. Without immediate intervention to mitigate the effects of the pandemic on these young researchers, many who would otherwise have been successful will end up leaving academia.” Peters concurred, “This is a very important issue right now for all academic parents, but especially women, upon whom the burden of caregiving usually falls. “It is great that UCLA is providing more funding and providing clock extensions, but I think more needs to be done,” she continued. “I constantly hear about faculty who are thinking about leaving the profession because they are burned out, having had little time for research. I think the university should think about providing additional sabbaticals for those who have suffered a disproportionate impact due to their care duties during the pandemic.” On the need for male allies, Tarn remarked of her experience in medical academia, “I can’t say enough about them. They are critical to improving diversity and gender equity. My strongest and most effective supporters have been male faculty members who stood up for me and supported me during my career. “I have had strong female allies as well, but often other men were more receptive to the thoughts and opinions of other men [i.e., male allies]. Without these supportive men, I would likely have left academics early in my career.” Huo, a current program mentee, agreed. “This effort should not be a ‘woman only’ issue. Initiatives and policies to support women can be most successful if people at the institution — men and women — work to change norms. “What resonated with me is hearing UBC President Santa Ono (a male ally) mention that men have historically nominated each other for awards and positions and that in his TED talk, he started the hashtag #nominateher to encourage both men and women to promote talented women in higher education. I think that’s an exciting movement.” (President and Vice Chancellor of the University of British Columbia, Ono is the current APWiL presidential champion.) Janina Montero, whose long and distinguished career in student affairs included the creation and management of enduring mentorship programs, noted that one of her greatest mentors was a male professor. “I don’t see women as being the only ones who can provide career guidance and a push to other women. But we have more direct experience — we’re the ones that bear the children, if you will — and that affects the way we do our work,” she commented. “Women who have families or who have both a job and a set of personal responsibilities — there’s a degree of juggling, really wrestling with more than juggling, those multiple demands. “I feel it’s important for older women like me to engage with professional women going through this kind of questioning: ‘How do I take the next step?’ ‘Do you juggle?’ ‘How do you juggle? ‘How do you view particular opportunities?’ How do you seek particular opportunities?’ In its second year, the APWiL Mentoring Program began offering online seminars to current and past program participants and created a private website where they can interact and share information. Gracphic courtesy of APWiL/ APRU. With respect to organizational culture, former UCLA mentee Tarn reflected, “Informal leaders can be instrumental in cultivating supporting environments. Women need trusted informal leaders who they can approach for support and advice.” Montero commented, “I think there has been progress in organizational culture, but I think we all need to be thinking in more inclusive ways. For example, if there are no women or no people of color applying for a position, ‘Nobody applied’ is no longer the answer. “I go back to the structural reality. What do you want your hiring pools to look like? What opportunities do you give your faculty? Who are you giving opportunity to, in terms of conferences, committee work and exposure? Are you paying attention that if today you give it to Peter, are you going to be sure to give it to Sally or Molly the next time? Montero stressed that to be effective, a commitment to equity and diversity must be present at all levels of management of a university — “not only among the obvious leadership, but also among boards and trustees. If they don’t see the value in these goals, that will permeate the pyramid and the culture. “Diversity is never a one-way street. It’s stunning how much a diversity of voices — especially if you give people the opportunity not to be there just as a potted plant, but to contribute — produces an outcome that is infinitely better than a more homogeneous approach.” * APRU member universities that participated in the pilot year were the Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Keio University (Japan), Osaka University (Japan), University of British Columbia (Canada), UC Davis (USA), UCLA (USA), University of Malaya (Malaysia), University of New South Wales (Australia) and University of Sydney (Australia). ** To view the video of the pilot program graduation ceremony, copy and paste this link into your web browser: https://bit.ly/3JrGPcv. Read the APRU article on the second cohort of the APWiL Mentoring Program here.

Written by William Yiu Original post on South China Morning Post Students walk past Widener Library at Harvard University in 2019. Photo: AP A record low of only 280 Hong Kong university students went on exchange programmes overseas or to mainland China in the last academic year, as Covid-19 travel restrictions wrecked plans for these much sought-after trips. That was 95 per cent fewer than the 5,391 students who spent time away in 2019-20 and the record high of nearly 6,700 in 2018-19. Although Hong Kong universities worked with institutions elsewhere to provide virtual exchange programmes, students said these paled in comparison with visiting a new destination and getting to know the people and culture there. A board at Hong Kong International Airport shows flights being cancelled in January. Photo: Dickson Lee Some universities have begun restarting their exchange trips, with more students likely to go this year even though strict travel restrictions remain. The latest figures for exchange students were announced in December by the University Grants Committee, which funds public institutions of higher education. Hong Kong universities have been expanding opportunities for undergraduates to spend a semester or a full academic year at another university, while continuing to pay the local tuition fee. Students apply to universities all over the world, especially in the United States, Britain, Japan and mainland China, which have exchange partnerships with local institutions. For many, the time away allows them to learn to be more independent, improve their language proficiency, make new friends and experience the culture of the place they are visiting. But the pandemic has continued to disrupt travel for everyone since 2020, particularly with Hong Kong’s strict requirement for arrivals from most places to undergo 21 days of quarantine. Most universities switched to virtual exchange programmes, which meant students remained in Hong Kong but attended online lectures and seminars at institutions elsewhere. Various other activities on culture, social skills, leadership and career development enabled them to make friends despite being separated by long distances. Chinese University (CUHK) said 1,400 of its undergraduates enrolled in its Virtual Student Exchange programme, organised since August 2020 and involving 61 institutions belonging to the Association of Pacific Rim Universities. Chinese University says 1,400 of its undergraduates have enrolled for its Virtual Student Exchange programme. Photo: Winson Wong In an opinion piece published in the Post last month, CUHK president Rocky Tuan Sung-chi said the virtual programme had the potential to make global education accessible to anyone with an internet connection, “rather than merely to those privileged few with financial means to jump on a plane and spend up to a year in a foreign land”. Competition is keen for exchange trips, as applicants must have a good academic track record and meet the language requirements at the universities they hope to go to. Not everyone can afford an exchange either. Students have to cover the cost of their air tickets, accommodation, meals, insurance and visa fees themselves. For those who choose universities in the US, the most expensive choice, this can add up to about HK$100,000 (US$12,840) per semester. Kristen Cheung, a fourth-year English major at CUHK, considered herself fortunate enough to attend a two-week exchange programme at Yale University in the US in 2020, before it was suspended because of Covid-19. She did not think a virtual programme could compare. “Students joining an exchange programme aim not only to study, but also to visit the host country and get to know people from different backgrounds. All these experiences cannot be provided in a virtual programme,” she said. Cheung said some students she knew who joined the virtual programme did so only to polish their resume and were not serious during the online classes. Residents in Nagoya, Japan. The country is among popular destinations for students wishing to go on exchange programmes overseas. Photo: Kyodo Alex Lau, a second-year sociology major at CUHK, took part in a two-month summer virtual exchange programme with a Japanese university and had mixed feelings about it. There were online lectures twice a week, from 11am to 3pm, with optional cultural activities in small group sessions. He said the programme helped him meet more people from Taiwan, mainland China, North America and Japan, but he missed out on experiencing the country and the social environment. “If you just want to get to know people from different places and join something for free, you could go for it,” he said. Now he is counting on travelling to Britain next year for an exchange programme at University College London, so that he can soak up the atmosphere and join in various activities. Some universities said their students were beginning to make plans for exchange trips this year. A spokesman for Education University said fully vaccinated students could go on these trips, but it would still offer virtual exchange programmes that included online immersion programmes, online courses, seminars and cultural exchange activities. For its students preparing to teach English and Chinese language, attending a course overseas or on the mainland was compulsory to help them improve their language proficiency and learn about the culture and education system there. The University of Science and Technology and Lingnan University said they had resumed sending students on exchange programmes since the second term this year. Both also offer virtual programmes as an alternative. City University also said it had resumed the physical programme in the 2020-21 academic year “under safe conditions”. Polytechnic University said its students were able to go on exchange trips to limited destinations such as the mainland, Australia or New Zealand during the earlier stages of the pandemic, or opt for the virtual programme.

Original post on HKMB “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players,” wrote William Shakespeare in As You Like It. Substitute “screen” for stage and that quote remains as apt four centuries after the play’s first performance. The interplay between performance and reality was on global display at the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF) hosted by Cyberport in Hong Kong in December. Appropriately for the digital 21st century, the physical show was held in parallel in three centres, with simultaneous events in Hong Kong as well as Los Angeles in California and Vancouver, Canada. Play to learn Organised by APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities), which brings together tertiary education institutions in technology hotspots such as California and Hong Kong, Metagame Conference 2021 emphasised how electronic games and e-sports are boosting education and playing a growing role in solving real-world issues such as emissions-reduction and conservation. “We are all getting used to new ways of communicating in the metaverse,” Sherman Cheng, APRU CFO said, explaining the three-cities format. “We have virtual conferences, meetings and tournaments in the morning, afternoon and evening, with people around the world. In the APRU Senior International Leaders’ Week held in October, we worked with the University of Sydney to create a spatial chat space for networking at the end of each day.” APRU has three members in Hong Kong – the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), University of Hong Kong (HKU) and Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). “Hong Kong being an education centre was definitely one of the key factors for APRU in deciding on the location for our second MetaGame Conference,” Mr Cheng said. “Our first one last year was also in Hong Kong. But more importantly, as a strategic partner of Cyberport and having APRU’s International University Centre opened here in 2021, APRU wants to support and work with Cyberport to create greater impact.” Games business Mr Cheng explained that many universities have incorporated games into their learning – known as gamification – as well as offering courses in games production. “USC Games at the University of Southern California – an APRU member – has one of North America’s top games undergraduate programmes and is paying homage to gaming trailblazer Gerald ‘Jerry’ Lawson by establishing an academic endowment in his name. Lawson was a Black engineer who led the design of one of the earliest game consoles.” Giving an example of using games for the greater good, Mr Cheng pointed to the University of Washington (an APRU member in Seattle), which is participating in the Campus Conservation Nationals, a competition to conserve energy and water on campus. “The competition is part of a gamification trend – using game mechanics to engage people to achieve non-game goals. [The university] views it as education outside the classroom, a catalyst that will change how students think about their lifestyles.” Giving an example from Asia, he referenced the Yong Loo Lin School of Medicine of the National University of Singapore (also an APRU member), which has created an innovation called HEALING, or Health Economics Awareness LearnING, a technology-enhanced simulation game that educates medical students on the importance of healthcare economics. “The main pedagogy in this game utilises information and knowledge in healthcare spending, including the cost of investigations and treatments as well as methods of financing hospital bills, to train players on what constitutes optimal cost-efficient clinical care to patients,” Mr Cheng said. “Through this learning tool, learners are exposed to diverse clinical scenarios involving patients of various demographic profiles which require their decision-making on the ordering of investigations and management procedures.” Turning to Hong Kong, he said: “HKU’s Department of Computer Science offers a course on Computer Game Design and Programming. This course introduces the concepts and techniques for computer game design and development. Topics include game history and genres, game design process, game engine, audio and visual design, 2D and 3D graphics, physics, optimisation, camera, network, artificial intelligence and user interface design. Students participate in group projects to gain hands-on experience in using common game engines in the market.” Multitasking Other examples include CUHK’s Computer Game Development and Video Game and Play Culture courses. Such courses in computer game development touch on many facets of computer science, including computer graphics, artificial intelligence, algorithms, networking, human-computer interaction, music and sound, allowing students to get a hands-on experience in designing and implementing real-world computer games. HKUST offers a similar computer game development course. Mr Cheng said that the Playing for the Planet Alliance, facilitated by UNEP – the United Nations Environment Programme – is a good example of how business and industry can support conservation and wildlife protection through game design. “The Playing for the Planet Alliance was launched during the Climate Summit at the UN Headquarters in New York. In total, the members of the alliance (including the biggest gaming companies) have the ability to reach more than 1 billion video game players. In joining the alliance, members have made commitments ranging from integrating green activations in games, reducing their emissions, and supporting the global environmental agenda through initiatives ranging from planting millions of trees to reducing plastic in their products. “Our speaker at the APRU MetaGame Conference, Sam Barrett, Chief of Youth, Education and Advocacy Unit, Ecosystems Division, with UNEP, founded the Playing for the Planet Alliance as a collaboration with the video gaming industry to nudge gamers’ behaviour and push the industry to use cleaner energy.”

Written by Joanna Regulska and Sabrina Lin Original post on Nikkei COVID-19 has added new challenges for women.   © AP Joanna Regulska is co-chair of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities’ Women in Leadership (APRU APWiL) Program and vice-provost and dean of global affairs, professor of gender, sexuality and women’s studies, University of California, Davis. Sabrina Lin is co-chair, APRU APWiL, and senior adviser to president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. COVID-19 has brought with it the blurring of our personal and professional lives. In the field of higher education, where career advancement depends so much on hitting numbers, including publication numbers, citation numbers, grants earned, students advised, women have been hit the hardest. At the onset of the pandemic, the virus resulted in women’s decreased research productivity. Initial evidence suggests that while women academics working from home are submitting fewer manuscripts and external funding submissions, their male counterparts are submitting more. Despite assuming fewer leadership positions in general, the pandemic has also given rise to the glass cliff effect, or the overrepresentation of women advancing to leadership positions during periods of crisis when the risk of failure is highest. Indeed, COVID-19 has added new challenges for women in academia. But to peg the pandemic as a vacuum out of which these implications arose would be narrow-minded. Social inequities in academia have existed for decades. The field itself emerged at a time when, typically, male academics received the support of their stay-at-home spouses. Once women did enter the field, they were often met with gender-based obstacles to achieving tenure, being granted promotions, or simply earning the same respect afforded to their male counterparts. The pandemic has shone a glaring light on disparities that date back longer than we wish to admit. We can begin to make amends by first acknowledging the full spectrum of complexities that women face, ones that are inextricably linked to other systemic barriers. Women are the backbone of the care economy, what might be better termed as the “actual” economy, and the reality is that most women do not have the luxury of separating work from home. The care economy can be defined as any care — child care, social or domestic services — provided in formal and informal settings. Women around the world, particularly in Japan, were already doing most of the world’s unpaid care work prior to the pandemic, and COVID-19 has only amplified this burden. A report by the International Labor Organization identified unpaid care work as the biggest impediment to women’s formal employment, affecting 21.7% of women compared to 1.7% of men. Such obligations often result in women devoting less time to their career advancement. In some cases, causing them to postpone promotions or leave the field of academia altogether. One step in the right direction could be incorporating care work into teaching evaluations, which tend to disfavor women. As it stands, many academic institutions put too much weight into evaluating professors based on their research output. It is time for us to ditch the publish or perish pretense that has become so prevalent in academia. This method is simply not viable today and especially disadvantages women who are contributing to multiple areas of university life in addition to research. While women make up the majority of undergraduate and master’s degree holders, their representation in research is only 28% globally. Such underrepresentation varies by country and discipline, and while in some cases gender parity in research is almost achieved, in many other instances there is a long path ahead to meeting such a benchmark. How can we better support women in academia? It comes down to dialogue. During the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) virtual annual presidents’ meeting, international experts in higher education came together to discuss the impacts of COVID-19 on women academics. The conclusion we came to was simple: there is no such thing as a best fit solution. Challenges women face in academia are not always plain to see, often materializing in subtle ways, like when women are not considered to serve on certain committees, when their contributions during meetings are appropriated, or when they are silenced by louder voices. Rather than assuming you know what is best for your women faculty, ask them. What do you need? An extra year in your tenure clock? Additional material support? Childcare and mental health support resources? New, nondiscriminatory criteria that make it possible to appreciate the contributions of all faculty members? Commitment to hiring dual career partners? Similarly, not all academic institutions are uniform, with different universities boasting different institutional cultures and access to financial and personal resources. While some institutions maintain an equal footing in research, teaching and service, others are more focused on one cause. We must remain committed to gender, racial and social equity while recognizing the nuanced constraints of each individual institution. We have presented a snippet of the full picture of women academics’ experiences, which differ vastly across racial, ethnic, cultural and other contexts. As exemplified during the APRU senior international leaders’ meeting, which brought together leaders from 18 different countries, it is increasingly important to leverage international networks like APRU in order to adopt global solutions to issues of inequity. And to bear in mind that equity is different from equality.

Written by Professor Rocky S. Tuan Original post on SCMP A lecturer at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University leads an online class on March 17, 2020. Photo: Xiaomei Chen Knowledge has no boundaries. This is especially true in a global society, with more and more students crossing borders to access overseas education. Going abroad to study or on exchange has become a rite of passage for millions of young people around the world. According to an OECD report published in 2020, the number of tertiary students pursuing education in a foreign country reached 5.6 million in 2018, more than doubling over the last 20 years. The Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development also projected that the international student population is likely to reach 8 million by 2025. This phenomenal growth is attributed to the rise of the middle class in developing economies as well as a shortage of high-quality institutions in much of the developing world. The relative affordability and accessibility of international air travel, as well as the rapid development of communication technology, means students can be increasingly mobile while remaining connected to friends and family in their home countries. But the emergence of Covid-19 changed all this. As with so many areas of our lives, the pandemic has massively disrupted the traditional approach to international education; it threatened to erase decades of progress as the world retreated into quarantine almost two years ago. Travel restrictions, border closures, public health measures and pandemic politics have led to a significant decline in international student enrolment levels in most leading host countries. International students in Sydney, Australia, return to China following the outbreak of Covid-19, on August 20, 2020. Photo: Reuters Short-term exchange programmes, which are the backbone of the internationalisation agenda for so many universities, have seen a particularly sharp drop. Short-term overseas experiences are critical for fostering people-to-people links across nations, and provide students with the cultural smarts to forge global careers. Their absence is a potential tragedy for globalisation. Demand for full-degree programmes in top host countries has declined by as much as 20 per cent, but short-term programmes have fallen even further, with demand in many cases evaporating altogether. As universities and analysts think about recovery, it is forecast to take at least five years for international student mobility to return to pre-pandemic levels. What are universities doing about this, and where does a place like Hong Kong fit in? Far from passively waiting for borders to reopen, universities have been reimagining their approach to student mobility and harnessing the power of technology to deliver immersive international student experiences. This is much bigger than putting everything on Zoom or other virtual platforms. The novel approach has the potential to revolutionise access to international experiences and make global education accessible to anyone with an internet connection, rather than merely to those privileged few with financial means to jump on a plane and spend up to a year in a foreign land. According to a survey by the International Association of Universities in 2020, 60 per cent of universities have replaced physical student mobility with virtual mobility or collaborative online learning. Hong Kong is a global city, and its openness to international talent has underwritten much of its development and prosperity – the territory was simply not built to be isolated from the rest of the world. The pandemic could have been catastrophic to its educational exchanges, and indeed to the very fabric of Hong Kong’s people-to-people links with mainland China and overseas. Home to four top-100 global universities and the headquarters of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), an alliance of 61 leading universities from four continents on both sides of the Pacific, Hong Kong has taken a leadership role in developing innovative solutions which allow crucial international student exchange to thrive despite the headwinds of a once-in-a-century global health crisis. One prime example is the Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) programme conceptualised and managed by the Chinese University of Hong Kong under the auspices of APRU. Launched in August 2020, the exchange programme enables students of APRU member universities to take online academic courses on a plethora of topics and participate in culturally enriched co-curricular programmes as well as establish social peer networks, without needing to leave their home countries. Tech-driven and highly immersive, the programme received a commendation at the Times Higher Education’s prestigious Asia awards in 2021. Today, thousands of students from around the world have completed an exchange via the Virtual Student Exchange, and such virtual international experiences look set to endure post pandemic. Students of Chinese University of Hong Kong celebrate their graduation on November 4 last year. Even as we recover from the pandemic, the virtual student exchange platform pioneered during the pandemic is likely to endure. Photo: K. Y. Cheng This has got to be a good thing for expanding access to high-quality university education and achieving one of the UN Sustainable Development Goals – to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all. Academic studies show that students who undertake international exchange outperform their peers in areas such as teamwork, empathy, work ethic and communication – areas essential for the future of work and economies everywhere. It is clear that, as much as we all yearn for the return of quarantine-free international travel, a simple return to physical overseas experiences would mean only those with adequate economic means can benefit from them. As the world thinks about navigating a new normal at the other side of this seemingly endless pandemic, it is fitting that Hong Kong – Asia’s World City – is blazing a new trail for the future of international education.

Written by Marc Arakaki Original post on University of Hawai’i News University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa esports has solidified its standing as one of the top 10 university esports programs in the nation. Now, five students have been chosen for an international fellowship, which will bring more experience and knowledge back to the program. The Association of Pacific Rim Universities is a consortium of 61 universities across the Pacific region, including North America, Asia, Oceania and South America. The second cohort of its esports fellowship program will bring together dozens of students from its member institutions to discuss, share and collaborate on growing opportunities in the esports industry, with a special focus on the Asia region. Students were selected based on a nomination process by their advisors. They will attend monthly meetings virtually with other participants throughout the spring semester. “I’m most looking forward to getting a more global perspective on esports,” said UH Mānoa student Kwan Ho Cheung. “I think my current perspective is all about franchising and less so about what goes on behind the scenes of an esports broadcast, and all the intricate parts required to pull off some of the international events, the pinnacle of esports.” Lana Kawauchi added, “This is such an amazing opportunity and unlike anything I have ever participated in before. I’m looking forward to networking with students from all across Asia and working with them to create healthy environments in the esports community. I’m also looking forward to being placed in jobs and internships with companies that will help us achieve these goals.” The other UH Mānoa participants are Kelsy Padilla, Alohi Tolentino and Micah Tossey. “The fellowship will provide the selected students with an understanding of how the esports industry in Asia (Hong Kong, Japan and Korea) works, with educational, networking, business and internship opportunities. I am excited by the development of the academic and curricular component of our esports program at UH Mānoa,” said Nyle Sky Kauweloa—a communication and information sciences PhD student, head of the UH Mānoa Esports Task Force in the College of Social Sciences and instructor. UH’s position within the Asia esports market is crucial as the State of Hawaiʻi is in a prime location that bridges the East and West. One of the reasons why UH was selected as a host site for the Overwatch League’s summer tournaments, playoffs and grand finals was to improve the online latency difference as teams from North America and Asia competed virtually head-to-head in real-time. Visit the UH esports team’s Twitter and Discord pages. More stories on UH’s esports program. This program is an example of UH Mānoa’s goal of Enhancing Student Success (PDF), one of four goals identified in the 2015–25 Strategic Plan (PDF), updated in December 2020. More info about APRU Esports Fellowship Program 2nd Cohort

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–In partnership with Cyberport, the 2nd Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Metagame Conference will take place within a broader convening titled the Digital Entertainment Leadership Forum (DELF) hosted at Cyberport in Hong Kong, December 10-12, 2021 in hybrid format (virtual and in-person). Focusing on Hong Kong as an emerging esports leader in the region, leading scholars and industry professionals will gather to examine how this captivating industry can further its scope within universities and society from esports as digital entertainment to developing career pathways for students in the esports ecosystem. “The skills that are learned in esports can be applied to any industry. Students are learning how to work effectively in diverse teams, across geographies, how to lead and communicate. Courses relating to esports can be multidisciplinary, across the creative arts, business, computer science and engineering, social sciences, law, neuroscience and many more,” said Dr. Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General of APRU. “APRU connects universities and students across the Pacific Rim through international esports coordination. As an international network, we aim to develop a comprehensive esports platform for APRU member universities to help students develop their skills through fellowship programs, student competitions, tournaments, equity initiatives, career development, and more.” The panel is also expected to touch upon opportunities for esports regarding metaverse, blockchain, digital arts and other emerging technologies. Mr. Peter Yan, CEO of Cyberport, said, “Talent cultivation is one of the three strategic pillars of Cyberport. Our partnership with APRU has allowed us to explore ways to cultivate leaders of tomorrow through the lens of esports and the expansive value chain within this growing industry. With the 2nd APRU Metagame Conference as part of the flagship DELF event, the recent establishment of the APRU International University Centre at Cyberport, and several collaborations in the works, we look forward to further coupling APRU’s international network of universities with the flourishing digital entertainment community at Cyberport to help young talents hone their skills and delve into an exciting career in esports.” The conference will also shed light on how gaming as digital entertainment can play a leading role in solving environmental challenges such as wildlife conservation, decarbonization, and even diversity and inclusion. The discussions will feature case studies from universities and experts, including a keynote address from Mr. Sam Barratt, Chief of Youth, Education and Advocacy Unit, Ecosystems Division, The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). “We want to inspire the gaming industry to think about what role they can play in tackling both the climate and nature crises,” said Sam Barratt.“Gaming is the most powerful entertainment medium in the world reaching some 2.7 billion globally, reaching across all geographies and generations. The awe of landscapes has always been a big part of the back-drop of gaming. Now we want to bring these issues into the foreground for gamers and the industry so that combined, their efforts are harnessed for the good of the environment.” More interesting findings will be offered at the conference along with the signature League of Legends Wild Rift show match to officially kick off the regional tournaments in North America and Asia Pacific with Nexten Esports. To learn more about the future of esports and the opportunities it presents, register today at www.apru.org/event/apru-metagame-conference-2021 About APRU As a network of 61 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia and Australasia, APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities) brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on effective solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. We leverage collective education and research capabilities of our members into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, our strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking actions on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on key areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management and more. For more information, please visit www.apru.org About Cyberport Cyberport is an innovative digital community with around 800 on-site start-ups and technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With a vision to be the hub for digital technology, thereby creating a new economic driver for Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing a vibrant tech ecosystem by cultivating talent, promoting entrepreneurship among youth, supporting start-ups, fostering industry development by promoting strategic collaboration with local and international partners, and integrating new and traditional economies by accelerating digital transformation in public and private sectors. For more information, please visit www.cyberport.hk   Contacts Jack Ng, Director, Communications, APRU [email protected] Diane Chow, Associate Account Director, Gusto Luxe [email protected]

By THE reporters Original Post on Times Higher Education Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology gets leadership prize for ‘volume and range’ of Covid-19 contributions The management team of the Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) has taken the top accolade in a year of record submissions for Times Higher Education’s awards for Asian institutions. KIIT bagged the prize for Asia’s Leadership and Management Team of the Year category at 2021’s THE Awards Asia, whose winners were announced in a digital ceremony on 14 December. The event, which is now in its third year, builds on the success of THE’s long-running UK-focused awards, known as the “Oscars of higher education”. The judges praised the Indian institution, which they said stood out “for the volume and range of its contributions”, including developing free Covid-19 hospitals, “its widespread distribution of masks and sanitisers, and the provision of free higher education for children of parents lost in the pandemic”. In other categories too, universities showed their mettle in tackling Covid-19 challenges. The winner in the Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year category, India’s O.P. Jindal Global University, created a free, cloud-based application to help schools and universities manage data – especially useful given India’s digital divide. Saint Joseph University of Beirut, which is based in Lebanon, received the award for Workplace of the Year for its initiatives responding to two crises: the pandemic and the catastrophic explosion in Beirut’s port in August 2020. THE’s chief knowledge officer Phil Baty praised all the 2021 winners, who faced stiff competition with dozens of universities submitting entries. “We at THE and our distinguished group of guest experts found it a genuine privilege to immerse ourselves in these first-hand reports from all corners of the continent, detailing how universities responded speedily and ingeniously, deploying their resources to support students, staff and local communities,” he said. Times Higher Education Awards Asia 2021 winners Leadership and Management Team of the Year Kalinga Institute of Industrial Technology (KIIT) Workplace of the Year Saint Joseph University of Beirut International Strategy of the Year Hangzhou Dianzi University Highly commended: Chinese University of Hong Kong Teaching and Learning Strategy of the Year National University of Singapore Highly commended: Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS), Centre for Applied Learning and Multimedia THE Datapoints Social Impact Award Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember THE Datapoints Improved Performance Award Universiti Utara Malaysia Excellence and Innovation in the Arts Hong Kong Baptist University Technological or Digital Innovation of the Year O.P. Jindal Global University Outstanding Support for Students Universiti Teknologi Petronas Student Recruitment Campaign of the Year Hanoi University of Science and Technology Highly commended: Shoolini University of Biotechnology and Management Sciences   Visit APRU Virtual Student Exchange Program Webpage

  August 10, 2021 WE ARE CANADA’S ENGAGED UNIVERSITY We move beyond tradition. We go where others won’t.  And we deliver a world-class education. Simon Fraser University (SFU) was founded in 1965 and was known as a radical campus at the time. While maintaining an atmosphere that challenges conventions, celebrates new ideas and embraces unconventional partnerships, we have become Canada’s leading comprehensive university and one of the country’s top research-intensive universities. With three vibrant urban campuses, we host more than 37,000 students, in eight faculties, spanning a broad range of fundamental, interdisciplinary and applied research topics. As Canada’s top comprehensive university, SFU has been ranked first every year by Maclean’s Rankings, apart from 2014, when it was ranked second. Times Higher Education places SFU within the top 10 worldwide for impact on sustainable cities and communities and within the top 50 overall in the 2021 Impact Rankings. SFU placed in the top 10 worldwide for three key Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs): climate action (SDG 13); sustainable cities and communities (SDG 11; and peace, justice and strong institutions (SDG 16). SFU’s Burnaby campus sits atop Burnaby Mountain, overlooking the Burrard Inlet and Rocky Mountains SFU works with communities, organizations and partners to create, share and embrace knowledge that improves life and generates real change. Our commitment to engagement informs how we mobilize knowledge and further our contributions to local communities, across Canada and around the world. By creating and mobilizing knowledge, nurturing partnerships, and harnessing the power of research, engagement at SFU is an instrument for change. SFU has a critical need to collaborate across borders, seek solutions to pressing global problems and develop in our students the competencies needed to be responsible and engaged global citizens. The Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) plays an important role in promoting international collaboration across the Asia Pacific Region. SFU is now Canada’s second APRU member institution and is well-positioned to contribute to APRU’s mission of advancing knowledge and innovation to address the challenges of the 21st century. “We are thrilled to join the APRU network as the second Canadian university member,” says Joy Johnson, SFU’s president and vice-chancellor. “SFU has strong historic and continuing connections to the Pacific Rim region. Our strengths and priorities are well aligned to APRU’s Pacific Rim challenges, and we look forward to working collaboratively with APRU’s members to advance our region’s most pressing challenges.” ENGAGING RESEARCH We deliver academic and research excellence. Building on a solid foundation of fundamental research, we are committed to disseminating knowledge and harnessing new ideas and innovations for the benefit of society. SFU’s Strategic Research Plan positions the university to continue to grow its capacity in research and knowledge mobilization across diverse sectors. It also identifies strengths at SFU that have led to the establishment of four research clusters: Big Data; Health Technology and Health Solutions; New Materials and Technology for Sustainability; and Community-based Research. SFU ranks among Canada’s top 15 research universities and enjoys the fastest growing research income, having surpassed $100 million in 2013 and reached $167.3 million in 2020. SFU students can access academic and research opportunities through research partnerships in over 125 countries. Simon Fraser University is one of Canada’s top research-intensive universities, consistently placing among Canada’s top 15 research universities in global and national university rankings. ENGAGING COMMUNITIES Community engagement is a core component of everything we do. SFU builds and nurtures community connections at home and abroad as an integral part of its academic and research mission. In Canada, we are striving to increase awareness of Indigenous history, culture and knowledge—both within the university and in the greater community. Our faculty, researchers and students collaborate with government, business and community partners worldwide to incubate and accelerate transformative discoveries for positive social and economic impact. Designed around a collaborative research infrastructure, SFU’s Community-Engaged Research initiative promotes principles of participation, cooperation, social transformation and knowledge translation to strengthen the capacity of SFU’s researchers and students, to engage respectfully and ethically with community members. Simon Fraser University respectfully acknowledges the Coast Salish peoples, including the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam), Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw (Squamish), səl̓ilw̓ətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), q̓íc̓əy̓ (Katzie), kʷikʷəƛ̓əm (Kwikwetlem), Qayqayt, Kwantlen, Semiahmoo and Tsawwassen peoples, on whose unceded traditional territories our three campuses reside. ENGAGING STUDENTS SFU offers plenty of ways to learn both in and out of the classroom. We inspire our students to grow their study and research skills and challenge themselves to become better learners and leaders. All of our students—undergraduate, graduate and lifelong learners—are valued members of the diverse and growing SFU community. We offer a wide variety of program options for students to build their own undergraduate degree; we combine majors, minors and certificates to create an experience unique to each student; and all eight faculties offer master’s and doctoral degrees. SFU’s Semester in Dialogue is a one-semester, full-time program designed to inspire students with a sense of civic responsibility and encourage their passion for improving society. SFU RADIUS’s Health Change Lab is a once-in-a-degree immersive program that gives students the opportunity to investigate a local social problem, build a sustainable business intervention to respond to it, and pitch their ideas to community influencers—all in just 13 weeks. And, our new School of Sustainable Energy Engineering prepares students to become global leaders in clean technology. This school’s interdisciplinary program is offered in a new state-of-the-art facility. These are just a few of the many examples of unique programs offered at Simon Fraser University. Our vibrant, diverse and inclusive community welcomes undergraduate and graduate students from all over the world. ENGAGING THE WORLD Together, with our global partners, we make a difference, advancing engagement, learning and research for societal good. The pursuit of knowledge and cultivating dialogue to address global challenges is core to SFU’s vision. Faculty and students conduct research and learn alongside colleagues from around the world. We have one of the highest percentages of international students of any university in Canada. Our global partnerships for research, studying abroad, academic collaborations and development activities ensure our students and faculty are active global citizens. Our Study Abroad programs range from dual degree programs to exchanges, work abroad opportunities and field schools with important considerations in mind due to the current global pandemic. SFU offers international experiences at home and abroad. At Simon Fraser University, students receive a world-class education culminating in a degree that has lifelong value STATISTICS 37,000+ students 6,500 faculty and staff 170,000 proud alumni in 143 countries Canada’s first Fairtrade Gold campus Among the world’s top 50 universities for our commitment to sustainability (Times Higher Education’s 2021 University Impact Rankings) #1 Canadian university for Global Top Innovative Universities (World’s Universities with Real Impact 2021) #3 among world’s top universities for our entrepreneurial spirit, and first in Canada (World’s Universities with Real Impact 2021) #2 Canadian university for international outlook (Times Higher Education 2020)   Learn more about SFU’s performance and rankings. Watch how SFU is on the move. Learn more about Simon Fraser University at www.sfu.ca.  

Original post in The Business Times. More has to be done to ensure that AI is used for social good. A SILVER lining emerging from Covid-19’s social and economic fallout is the unprecedented application of artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data technology to aid recovery and enable governments and companies to effectively operate. However, as AI and Big Data are rapidly adopted, their evolution is far outpacing regulatory processes for social equity, privacy, and political accountability, fuelling concern about their possible predatory use. No matter whether contributing to essential R&D for coronavirus diagnostic tools or helping retailers and manufacturers transform their processes and the global supply chain, AI’s impressive achievements do not fully allay anxieties around their perceived dark side. Public concern about the threats of AI and Big Data ranges from privacy breaches to dystopian takes on the future that account for a technological singularity. Meanwhile, there is fairly strong sentiment that tech giants like Facebook, Amazon and Apple have too much unaccountable power. Amid rising antitrust actions in the US and legislative pushback in Europe, other firms like Microsoft, Alibaba and Tencent also risk facing similar accusations. Despite their advancements, breakthrough technologies always engender turbulence. The pervasiveness of AI across all aspects of life and its control by elites, raise the question of how to ensure its use for social good. For the ordinary citizen, justifiable suspicion of corporate motives can also render them prey to misinformation. Multilateral organisations have played critical roles in countering false claims and building public trust, but there is more to be done. AI FOR SOCIAL GOOD Against this backdrop, APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities), the United Nations ESCAP and Google came together in 2018 to launch an AI for Social Good partnership to bridge the gap between the growing AI research ecosystem and the limited study into AI’s potential to positively transform economies and societies. Led by Keio University in Japan, the project released its first flagship report in September 2020 with assessments of the current situation and the first-ever research-based policy recommendations on how governments, companies and universities can develop AI responsibly. Together they concluded that countries effective in establishing enabling policy environments for AI that both protect against possible risks and leverage it for social and environmental good will be positioned to make considerable leaps towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). These include providing universal healthcare, ensuring a liveable planet, and decent work opportunities for all. However, countries that do not create this enabling environment risk forgoing the potential upsides of AI and may also bear the brunt of its destructive and destabilising effects: from weaponised misinformation, to escalating inequalities arising from unequal opportunities, to the rapid displacement of entire industries and job classes. WAY FORWARD Understanding of the long-term implications of fast-moving technologies and effectively calibrating risks is critical in advancing AI development. Prevention of bias and unfair outcomes produced by AI systems is of top priority, while government and private sector stakeholders should address the balance between data privacy, open data and AI growth. For governments, it will be tricky to navigate this mix. The risk is that sluggish policy responses will make it impossible to catch up with AI’s increasingly rapid development. We recommend governments establish a lead public agency to guard against policy blind spots. These lead agencies will encourage “data loops” that provide feedback to users on how their data are being used and thus facilitate agile regulation. This is necessary due to AI’s inherently rapid changing nature and the emergence of aspects that may not have been obvious even weeks or months earlier. Another important ability that governments have to acquire is the ability to negotiate with interest groups and ethical considerations. Otherwise, progress of promising socially and environmentally beneficial AI applications ranging from innovative medical procedures to new transportation options can be blocked by vested interests or a poor understanding of the trade-offs between privacy and social impact. Governments should also strengthen their ability to build and retain local technical know-how. This is essential, given that AI superpower countries are built on a critical mass of technical talent that has been trained, attracted to the country, and retained. DIASPORA OF TALENT Fortunately, many countries in Asia have a diaspora of talent who have trained in AI at leading universities and worked with leading AI firms. China has shown how to target and attract these overseas Chinese to return home by showcasing economic opportunities and building confidence in the prospects of a successful career and livelihood. Ultimately, for any emerging technology to be successful, gaining and maintaining public trust is crucial. Covid-19 contact tracing applications are a good case in point, as transparency is key to gaining and maintaining public trust in their deployment. With increased concerns about data privacy, governments can explain to the public the benefits and details of how the tracing application technology works, as well as the relevant privacy policy and law that protects data. To deal with the use and misuse of advanced technologies such as AI, we need renewed commitment to multilateralism and neutral platforms on which to address critical challenges. At the next level, the United Nations recently launched Verified, an initiative aimed at delivering trusted information, advice and stories focused on the best of humanity and opportunities to ‘build back better’, in line with the SDGs and the Paris agreement on climate change. It also invites the public to help counter the spread of Covid-19 misinformation by sharing factual advice with their communities. The education sector is playing its part to facilitate exchange of ideas among thought leaders, researchers, and policymakers to contribute to the international public policy process. I am hopeful that universities will be able to partner with government, the private sector and the community at large in constructing a technological ecosystem serving the social good. The writer is secretary general of APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities)

Original post in World Economic Forum Cross-disciplinary research in universities functioning as ‘living labs’ can produce more effective sustainability solutions. The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology has launched around 30 sustainability-related projects. It also aims to be a multistakeholder hub with local, national and global impact. The massive social and economic disruptions caused by the recent pandemic should serve as a wake-up call to anyone who finds a false sense of security in stability and predictability. The pandemic highlighted that in the 21st century, change happens at unprecedented speed, is often unpredictable, and can be fundamentally transformative. This new normal is placing increasing pressure on higher education institutions to accelerate discovery and innovation in the interests of society, especially in the global mission of building a sustainable future. Like many of our fellow universities around the world, The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST) embraces sustainability as an integral part of our strategic development plan. This starts with the recognition that the principles embedded in sustainability thinking – creating the conditions for people to thrive, focusing on long-term value instead of short-term gains, and living within our planetary boundaries while appreciating the varied stages of development of different regions – are the fundamental touchstones that allow us to measure progress in terms of positive global impact. These principles influence hard sciences, engineering, business and policy development, as seen in our leadership of an international team identifying how China can adjust its overall energy mix strategy in order to reach a carbon peak around 2030, a target for the Paris Agreement. Most universities now recognize that training students to be prepared for 21st-century challenges means transitioning away from traditional content-based instruction, and embracing active experiential learning where students gain skills to help them solve the kinds of challenges they will encounter during their careers. A sustainability roadmap is essential: Skills like life-cycle analyses, systems thinking and scenario-planning are cross-disciplinary competencies rooted in sustainability thinking. In 2019, the International Sustainable Campus Network (ISCN) launched a Campus as a Living Lab collaborative to share ideas and case studies as a way to facilitate hands-on sustainability training and skill-building. In the same vein, HKUST launched the Sustainable Smart Campus as a Living Lab initiative in 2018. The concept is simple: We need smart technologies to address sustainability problems, and we need to develop and encourage the right mindset to set the guardrails to create them. This approach has resulted in the launch of 30 or so university-funded projects, including the installation of indoor air-quality sensors to improve well-being, AI-driven tracking systems for inventorying tree and bird species, self-cleaning multipurpose nano-coatings to improve photovoltaic panel efficiencies, autonomous greywater treatment processes that streamline water recycling, and a digital twin of all campus buildings for a digitized platform for streamlined operations. The goals of such projects are two-fold: to move innovation out of research labs to the campus as a testing ground, and to assess the scalability of these ideas from campus to our city and beyond. For students, the projects provide a clear demonstration how to combine innovation with a sustainability mindset. COVID spotlighted our great challenges in view of disparate states of different regions regarding wealth, development, access and technology. We take this to mean that our educational efforts cannot support only HK and the Greater Bay Area, but also other less developed regions in the world. This is an important mission of the university; to transform research into real solutions, and to educate future solution-providers. Universities can act as strong convening forces that connect business, industry, government and entrepreneurs to address challenges collaboratively. We do this by working with local authorities on formulating science-based policies for reducing roadside and ship emissions to improve Hong Kong’s air quality, providing evidence for developing strategies, and being a trusted resource for policy-makers developing our citywide target to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Our contributions to government regulations on pollution controls for ocean-going vessels led to wider influence on similar regional regulations for China’s coastal ports, benefitting 20 million people. These collaborations have the potential to improve lives irrespective of wealth and economic status, and showcase what is possible when using sustainability principles as a lodestar. As institutions where reflection on society takes place, it is the responsibility of universities to empower our students with a deeper awareness of how they can help shape this rapidly changing landscape. Instead of being passive observers, universities can stimulate students to become “activist consumers”, recognizing the power of their consumption patterns to drive markets towards more positive social and environmental outcomes. In collaboration with the seven other publicly funded universities in Hong Kong, we are facilitating an ambitious new initiative called the Sustainable Consumer Program, aiming to engage over 100,000 students to adopt responsible consumption patterns in food, energy, water and other consumables. Similarly, joint programmes developed in partnership with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) and Asian Universities Alliance (AUA) aim to nurture responsible global citizens with an aspiration to safeguard and advance the welfare of all. From food upcycling to urban beekeeping, we encourage our members as change-makers and enablers. This recent pandemic has made it clear how global health hazards impact everyone and can literally bring our global community to a standstill. No country, no society and no one is exempted from these impacts. Similarly, the grand challenges of climate change also force us to focus on the availability of and access to resources, wealth distributions, and equity between regions and societies. Universities are at their best when they engage stakeholders across the spectrum for collaboration and partnership, empower and enable future leaders, and foster novel ideas, innovations and practices. Sustainability is more than a priority for universities; it is a responsibility, a commitment and a key to the betterment of mankind.

Established in 1907 as a German-style medical school in Shanghai, Tongji University has evolved into a comprehensive research-oriented university of national and international repute in the past century. Tongji University’s name in Chinese means “we are on the same boat and sailing unitedly towards the same goal”. Tongji University has always valued the balanced development of talent cultivation, scientific research, community service, cultural inheritance and innovation, and international cooperation. Today, it is home to more than 36,000 students and 3,000 faculty. Its significant research achievements include key technologies for long-span bridges, intelligent transportation systems for urban areas, technologies for anti-seismic structures, development of new energy vehicles, intelligent greenhouse control systems and many other breakthroughs in medical and life science research. The University is also keen to explore new approaches for social services and has created a new model for partnership by collaborating with the local government, for instance, the Shanghai Research Institute for Intelligent Autonomous System, established in 2018 with the support of Shanghai municipal government, is dedicated to tackling cutting-edge research problems as a hub for AI innovations. Sustainability permeates the research and education programs of the university. Tongji aims at cultivating student leaders of sustainable development who are equipped with profound knowledge, hands-on skills, innovative mindsets, global perspectives, and a good sense of social responsibilities. A global leader in green campus and sustainable development, Tongji was the first Asia-Pacific university receiving the International Sustainable Campus Excellence Award in 2012. Building on its historic ties with Germany, the University is dedicated to enhancing its international collaboration and has spread its international network across Europe and further expanded it to North America, Asia and Africa. Today, Tongji has established 12 international cooperation platforms and has entered into partnership agreements with more than 200 universities worldwide and established research centers with multi-national companies. “Tongji University shares the vision of APRU and aspires to work with members across the Asia-Pacific region,” President Chen Jie remarks. “By synergising our international strategies and efforts, to serve the wider community and address imminent global concerns.”   STATISTICS 82 undergraduate majors and 26 master’s programs from 45 academic disciplines 9 professional doctoral programs from 33 academic disciplines 29 colleges and schools, 9 affiliated hospitals, 6 affiliated elementary and secondary schools 31 academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering among its faculty 17 state key labs and research centers 70 provincial and ministerial-level labs and engineering/technology research centers Learn about more Tongji University at en.tongji.edu.cn/index.html  

Original post on The Jakarta Post Both at home and abroad, plastic waste is a mounting problem that is not going to disappear on its own. The United Nations estimates that 8 million tons of plastic is dumped into the ocean worldwide each year, with Indonesia contributing upward of 600,000 tons of marine plastic pollution according to the Indonesian Institute of Sciences. These levels are reported to make Indonesia the second largest marine plastic polluter after China. If this continues unchecked, the problem will only continue getting worse, especially during a pandemic where we rely on single-use plastic items such as takeaway cutlery and essential personal protective equipment gear like masks and gloves. There is no doubt the pandemic places huge pressure on waste infrastructure. According to UNEP, medical waste in the form of disposed COVID-19 tests and IV bags in Jakarta has risen by a staggering 500 percent, far outstripping the capacity to incinerate or sterilize it as required by law. Other Asian cities have reported similar spikes in plastic waste. While the Indonesian government has stated goals to triple the nation’s capacity to collect plastic waste by 2030, local leaders can – and must – take initiative to battle this growing crisis on the municipal level now. As highlighted by key members of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) Sustainable Waste Management Program including program director Yong Sik Ok of Korea University and Tsinghua University’s  Xiaonan Wang, closing the plastic loop rests urgently on the collaboration of governments, researchers and industries toward intelligent design. So how do we begin on the local level? Knowledge sharing is an essential way forward and there are different lessons that can be learned from our neighboring peers. Through the Asia Pacific Mayor’s Academy organized by 6 collaborators including APRU and United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN ESCAP), leaders from different cities across the region came together to discuss urban challenges and share solutions that may be applicable to different scenarios. The stories of a plethora of cities rebounding during unprecedented times sheds light on emerging possibilities to rebuild. Looking toward the Philippines in Ormoc city, multi-stakeholder engagement from different levels of government and the private sector along with NGOs and the public was a key to alleviating the city’s significant waste management issues. The implementation of a more integrated solid waste management system and single-use plastic products regulations ordinance was supplemented with complementary measures such as projects aimed at tackling marine waste to support healthy oceans. Besides launching new programs and engaging stakeholders, Ormoc has also emphasized smart green technology while looking out for new financing mechanisms that can supply the capital needed to fund the city’s burgeoning sustainability programs. Not only is this positively impacting the plastic waste problem, the multifaceted approach is driving a holistic Resilient and Green Recovery Plan focused on realizing a circular economy. This not only creates better livelihoods and standards of living for locals today with a cleaner and more efficient city, the new green infrastructure is seen as a way to help safeguard the city moving forward and secure its longevity. With clearly articulated objectives by the Ormoc mayor’s office, different parties across a range of industries can better understand how to progress their businesses while moving cohesively toward common goals that better society. An example of how industries have been forced to innovate in the wake of COVID-19 while tackling the rising plastic issue can be found in Koh Tao, Thailand. As tourism declined drastically during the pandemic, the island’s dive boats and tour operators lost the lifeblood of their businesses. To assist people seeking work, Koh Tao was able to secure funding that put people from the tourism and transport industries cleaning up the island. In addition to cleaning up marine waste while giving people an income during the height of the pandemic, the program also provided life skills with financial literacy training from company sponsors. This temporary measure is just one solid example of how a cleverly designed initiative can fulfill a variety of needs during a time of need. But while it’s important to tackle immediate problems (such as unemployment), it is also essential to focus on not just restoring the status quo, but doing so in a forward looking manner. Koh Tao leveraged the forced absence of tourists as an overdue opportunity to explore how best to implement a “Smart Island” sustainable tourism model. By factoring environmental impact more prominently into their operations, Koh Tao is forging a path that better manages natural resources and protects biodiversity while providing economic opportunities and stability to its citizens. For an economy that heavily depends on tourism, there was tremendous wherewithal and leadership needed to evaluate how to keep families afloat while also rebooting and rebuilding the economy with a more resilient and sustainable model. With Indonesia taking strides to address plastic waste with ambitious measures, it’s clear that there must be great participation and education across all levels of society and a wave of innovative solutions. There are reasons for optimism. It’s been reported that the Environment and Forestry Ministry has recently pushed producers to upcycle and repurpose waste raw material from trash banks into useful items. Such actions can go a long way towards realizing better waste management in a greener circular economy.

“Building Partnerships for Sustainable Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for All Hazards” is the theme of The 16th APRU Multi-Hazards Symposium 2021 held by the Disaster Risk Reduction Center of Universitas Indonesia (DRRC UI) in collaboration with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) on November 24-25, 2021. APRU is a network of 61 leading research universities around the Pacific Ocean. APRU aims to connect Asia, North and South America, and Australia to work together to address challenges across the region. Through the APRU program, academics across sectors, international organizations, public and private sectors, and communities across borders can collaborate to address global challenges. The symposium was attended by more than 250 presenters who will contribute to strengthening research on disaster resilience. The symposium was held online via Zoom and live on UI Teve’s YouTube channel. UI Rector Prof. Ari Kuncoro, Ph.D., said in his welcoming speech that the symposium is an opportunity to connect various perspectives from across borders for disaster management. According to him, the symposium is a platform that facilitates APRU members, partners, academics, policymakers, government and communities to collaborate in disaster risk reduction and recovery. “This symposium aims to share skills and knowledge on disaster mitigation among some of the most vulnerable countries to build a more resilient region, particularly in the Asia Pacific region. I believe sharing challenges and opportunities related to disaster risk reduction and panel discussions can raise awareness of the current issue of disaster risk reduction,” said Ari Kuncoro. Regarding the theme of the symposium, APRU General Secretary Dr. Christopher Tremewan stated that it is important to take an all-hazards approach to disaster risk reduction. “The occurrence of the Covid-19 Pandemic reminds us that disasters are caused not only by natural factors, human carelessness, or a combination of the two can also be a driving factor in the occurrence of a disaster, so a cross-border approach is important,” he said. The symposium also focused on strengthening resilience and preparedness for future disaster management including natural and biological hazards as we are currently experiencing with Covid-19. “APRU’s multi-disaster program recognizes the importance of implementing an all-hazards approach. This is also what we want to emphasize through our programs,” said Tremewan. Furthermore, he appreciated UI’s commitment and hard work to organize this annual symposium. Prof. Takako Izumi, Program Director of APRU Multi-Hazards & Tohoku University, introduced APRU’s multi-disaster program. The program aims to leverage the collective capabilities of APRU universities for cutting-edge research on DRR and contribute to international and regional discussions to influence the representative council policy-making processes. This is then initiated through research, education, collaboration with practitioners, and contributions to international discussions. “The multi-hazard program continues with efforts to strengthen the research capacity of APRU member universities in disaster science, provide learning opportunities for students and lecturers, as well as work with other stakeholders such as practitioners, government, and the private sector to make the best use of research results in practice. ” said Izumi. The event continued with a panel discussion. Present as the first resource person, Deputy for System and Strategy of the National Disaster Management Agency, Dr. Raditya Jati, M.Sc., said that disaster management is the business of all parties. He explained that Indonesia’s geographical location makes Indonesia prone to disasters. In addition, the direction and description of global disasters tend to increase due to various factors such as increasing population, urbanization, environmental degradation, and the effects of global climate change that hinder sustainable development. The intensity and complexity of modern disasters have caused a lot of losses and casualties both in people’s lives and livelihoods. Therefore, all parties must participate in the disaster management process. “Pentingnya kita memahami resiko dan berbagi peran dan tanggung jawab bersama mulai dari pra-bencana, saat bencana, dan pasca bencana untuk melakukan kolaborasi aksi mengurangi resiko bencana. Melalui perencanaan, dan implementasi pengurangan risiko bencana, kerugian yang memiliki kecenderungan meningkat dapat dikurangi,” ujar Raditya. In line with Raditya, Prof. Dra. Fatma Lestari, M.Sc., Ph.D. as the Director of DRRC UI explained that it is important to build partnerships for sustainable disaster risk reduction with the aim of overcoming all disasters. For this reason, strong collaboration is needed between the government, the private sector, industry, society and the media to overcome disasters from various sectors. This is also what underlies the construction of DRRC UI. DRRC UI is a work unit engaged in service and community service in the field of disaster. To achieve its goals, DRRC UI has four strategies, namely online learning through Edurisk, collaboration, aiming to overcome all disasters, and the principle of “no one left behind”. This post is also available in: Indonesian Click here to find out more about the APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Symposium 2021.

The second cohort sees number of mentor-mentee pairs more than triple HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–APRU celebrated the completion of the first cohort of its APWiL Mentoring Program. The APWiL Mentoring Program Inaugural Graduation Ceremony was part of the APRU Senior International Leaders’ (SIL) Week 2021, hosted virtually on October 19-21 by the University of Sydney. The APWiL Mentoring Program was launched almost exactly one year earlier under the leadership of Prof. Joanna Regulska (Vice Provost and Dean – Global Affairs at the University of California, Davis) and Dr. Sabrina Lin (Senior Advisor to the President at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology). The first cohort matched 15 pairs of mentors and mentees to provide international and intercultural opportunities for the development of aspiring women leaders within APRU. It was created against the backdrop of the World Economic Forum’s 2019 Gender Gap Report ringing alarm bells on the lack of improvement in the previous years. The current cohort, running from October 2021 – September 2022, comprises 47 mentor-mentee pairs, reflecting strongly growing receptiveness of the APWiL Mentoring Program. Participants used the ceremony to report on the program’s impact and introduced the second cohort to Senior International Leaders (SILs). The SILs convene annually to discuss important themes in higher education, advancing the impact of APRU initiatives and programs. “Throughout this year, the mentor and mentee relationships have been sustained by a shared commitment to the future, to higher education and to ensuring women leaders are prepared to be part of higher education’s future,” said Professor Dawn Freshwater, Vice-Chancellor, University of Auckland, in her keynote. “We know there are many complex social and economic barriers to women’s advancement in leadership within our institutions, and we know that it is only with diverse and inclusive leadership that our institutions will be able to navigate the global and societal issues that are confronting us,” she added. Among the mentor-mentee pairs sharing their experiences were mentor Professor Cindy Fan, Vice Provost, International Studies and Global Engagement, UCLA, and mentee Professor Surabhi Chopra, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. Professor Chopra recalled that she entered the APWiL Mentoring Program when nearing her mid-career mark, not being perfectly sure where to direct her attention to in the coming years. The six meetings Professor Chopra had over the course of the year with Professor Fan then facilitated an important process of reflection. “Professor Fan was a coach who drew me out and pushed me to think more concretely,” Professor Chopra said. “That process of having someone engaged, intelligent and experienced was incredibly valuable for me in deciding how I want to engage in academic leadership.” Professor Fan, for her part, underlined that the status quo is far from perfect for aspiring women leaders. She cited findings showing that overall access to higher education for women students has been improving only in a handful of regions of the world, with the picture becoming even patchier in terms of women academics’ access to the highest levels of institutional administration. “The proportion of women in the highest echelons range from 0% in some Asia Pacific countries to about 20% in Australia,” Professor Fan said. “Without many mentors in my professional life, I would not have aspired to senior leadership in academia and become the first female and first Asian American senior international officer in my university.” About APRU As a network of 60 leading universities linking the Americas, Asia and Australasia, APRU (the Association of Pacific Rim Universities) brings together thought leaders, researchers, and policy-makers to exchange ideas and collaborate on effective solutions to the challenges of the 21st century. We leverage collective education and research capabilities of our members into the international public policy process. In the post-pandemic era, our strategic priorities focus on providing a neutral platform for high-level policy dialogue, taking actions on climate change, and supporting diversity, inclusion, and minorities. APRU’s primary activities support these strategic priorities with a focus on key areas such as disaster risk reduction, women in leadership, indigenous knowledge, virtual student exchange, esports, population aging, global health, sustainable cities, artificial intelligence, waste management and more. Contacts Jack Ng Director, Communications, APRU [email protected]

Written by Tessa DeLaquil Original post on University World News The latest International Brief for Higher Education Leaders from the American Council on Education (ACE) and the Center for International Higher Education (CIHE), titled Women’s Representation in Higher Education Leadership Around the World, reveals the “unfinished” business that is achieving gender equality at institutional, national and international levels. The brief includes country cases with new data from Hong Kong (Linda Chelan Li and Iris Chui Ping Kam); Indonesia (Dorothy Ferary); Kazakhstan (Aliya Kuzhabekova); Malaysia (Norzaini Azman); Ghana (Christine Adu-Yeboah, Georgina Yaa Oduro and Dorothy Takyiakwaa); South Africa (Adéle Moodly); Mexico (Alma Maldonado-Maldonado and Roberto Rodríguez Gómez); Australia (Amalia Di Iorio); and Finland (Terhi Nokkala). It also includes international analyses of women’s leadership in higher education by Fanny M Cheung and Joanna Regulska, as well as a section on the diverse dimensions of gender equality, including contributions on the subjects of leadership at women’s colleges (Kristen A Renn) and black women and intersectionality in US higher education (Ashley Gray), as well as a personal reflection on women’s leadership by Lily S Hsu. The brief argues that, while overall access of women to higher education as students has risen in some but not all regions (sometimes achieving more than parity), this development is not uniform and is by and large not paralleled in positions of either leadership and decision-making or at the highest levels of institutional administration. The proportion of women in senior leadership positions in the country cases of the brief range from practically non-existent participation at universities in Ghana or public universities in Hong Kong to 28% of vice-chancellor positions in Australian higher education. Although the barriers and support related to the achievement of women leaders in higher education vary by social and historical context, there are nonetheless certain identifiable commonalities across the country cases examined that make clear the unfinished nature of the project of achieving gender equality in women’s leadership in higher education. Context matters The unfinished nature of the achievement of the human right of gender equality, in terms of representation of women in leadership in general and in higher education in particular, may be understood as partial at three levels in relation to: (i) national or regional context; (ii) historical effects and socio-cultural foundations; and (iii) individuals and the complexity of individual identity, including marginalisation factors. For instance, the general paucity of women in leadership in higher education is visible even in some countries where representation of women in the pipeline (on undergraduate and graduate degree programmes) is reaching parity. This phenomenon varies by regional and national context, by institutional type (for instance, by university ranking and classification) and by societal culture, tradition and the related expectations of women. Intersectionality also determines outcomes, as other markers of marginalisation further restrict representation and participation for women in positions of higher education leadership. Barriers to equality in leadership Barriers to achieving gender equality in higher education leadership occur at each of three levels – national or institutional, cultural and individual. As such, effective support and structural change must be responsive to and present at each of these three levels. According to the cases in the brief, we see that when support is lacking at one of these levels, the overall project for achieving gender equality in higher education seems to stagnate or fails to materialise. Barriers that occur in society also occur within the system of higher education, since higher education institutions may be understood as what Adéle Moodly calls “microcosms of the broader society”, and so are pervaded by historical and cultural aspects embedded within our communities. While we are unable to address every cause of gender imbalance in leadership, the academic community is not powerless. The so-called glass ceiling is maintained at least in part through structural and cultural complacency within our institutions and our academic communities. Through our support for change within our institutions, we work slowly but surely towards social change for the common good in our societies and larger communities. The contributions in the brief raise certain barriers that re-occur at both institutional and societal levels. At national and societal levels, these include culturally and societally defined gender roles, historically and religiously entrenched cultural standards, an unfair division of domestic labour and a lack of recognition of the effects of intersectionality. Both institutionally and societally, barriers include the evident gender pay gap, gendered stereotypes with regard to leadership competency, sexual harassment within the realms of both higher education and society, the leaky pipeline through the fraught pathway of the professoriate, tokenism, hiring biases and the inevitable consequences on the potential for gender equality in the future due to the present under-representation in leadership and decision-making positions. A general lack of sex-disaggregated data further limits effective policy decision-making. The precarity of the gains made in gender equality is palpable in the exacerbation of these trends and barriers during the COVID-19 pandemic. For instance, the persistence of gender inequality in relation to domestic labour and family care is discernible in the decline in academic manuscripts submitted by women during the pandemic period. The idea of the ‘glass cliff’ – a concept describing how women are overrepresented in leadership during periods of institutional crisis – suggests that taking on precarious leadership positions may ultimately discourage other women from pursuing advancement to academic leadership in the future. Towards gender equality Effective support must therefore also address barriers at the three levels of nation or institution, culture and individual. Broad national-level policies explicitly supporting gender equality may encourage cultural and structural change. Institutional policies are necessary in order to ensure procedural justice, for instance, around parental leave, workload expectations, recruitment and hiring and promotion practices. Sex-disaggregated data collection must be set up both within higher education institutions and national systems of higher education in order to support policy decision-making at each level of support. At an individual level, targeted programming for leadership development and other forms of mentorship programming have been put into place in several countries. Also, higher education networks, set up both within and external to institutional or national support structures, that include programmes and processes for finding, mentoring and training women in higher education seem to be a highly effective mechanism for supporting women’s leadership in higher education. However, it is not sufficient to merely support individual women in the navigation of the structures within which they find themselves. Structural injustice must be met by procedural justice through national- and institutional-level policy. Cultural changes can also begin within institutions, for example, through institutional policy changes championed by vocal leadership. Universities have the potential to exist as countercultural spaces – as Renn’s contribution on women’s colleges and universities demonstrates – in which justice can be achieved via a cultural change in our approach to women in leadership in higher education. Support and encouragement for individual women to achieve their career goals can be productive but are generally most useful when accompanied by institutional and national leadership and programming. Indeed, as Regulska asserts in this brief, ensuring that the human right of gender equality is met will require both individual and collective action. In the end, all of the contributions to the brief imply that the most significant barrier to women’s equality in higher education is a tenacious complacency within our academic communities. We have the tools in hand that are required to effect initial change. What is needed now is the will to work towards achieving true gender equality within our academic communities and our institutions, with the hope that these steps will also build towards the achievement of this human right beyond our universities, in our nations and across the globe. To learn more about APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership Program, please visit here.

Written by Joyce Lau Original by Times Higher Education Covid has only widened gender inequalities among researchers, data show Universities in places like Japan and Hong Kong are trying to combat vast gender gaps with carrots such as departmental hiring incentives and sticks such as quotas and budget “punishments”, institutional leaders told the Times Higher Education Asia Universities Summit. According to a 2020 THE analysis, none of the top 10 Asian universities had female vice-chancellors or presidents, while women make up only 15 per cent of senior management. Sabrina Lin, senior advisor to the president of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, said that her institution enacted HR practices to encourage the hiring of female staff. “All departments have an open invitation: if they find female faculty they wish to hire, they can go ahead,” and it would not count against their normal limits, she told the event, held virtually in partnership with Japanese medical institution Fujita Health University. But she said that the promotion of STEM careers had to start years earlier, to combat deeply ingrained cultural views. citing studies showing that girls and boys performed similarly in math and science. “However, parents and teachers discourage girls from pursuing certain fields, like engineering,” she said. Professor Lin also co-chairs the APRU Asia Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) programme, which offers mentoring for young women, including on skills such as managing interpersonal relationships with male colleagues. Seiichi Matsuo, president of Nagoya University in Japan, stressed the need for men like himself to become “male allies.” Under his leadership, Nagoya is one of only 10 UN HeForShe IMPACT Universities in the world, and the only one in Asia apart from the University of Hong Kong. It has poured resources into facilities such as on-campus nurseries and workshops to give women “self-confidence,” so they can “get out of their comfort zone and not feel isolated”, he added. “Some women suffer from ‘imposter syndrome’, in which they feel doubt and fear,” Professor Matsuo said. “They might think that to be a ‘leader’, they need to be someone other than themselves. And that’s not true.” He has set a goal of women making up 20 per cent of university leadership. “We would like to aim later for 30 per cent, although I admit that is still low,” he said. Nagoya also launched a “penalty system” in which allowances would be based on whether departments met gender goals. The enormous problem of gender inequality has been exacerbated in the past two years, as women took on disproportionate childcare and household burdens during Covid lockdowns and school closures. Ann Gabriel, senior vice-president of global strategic networks at Elsevier, presented data showing that “Covid has thrown the research gender gap into even greater relief”. “This is a critical and global issue that we must tackle,” she said. Elsevier’s numbers show that women submitted proportionately fewer academic papers in 2020, although the total amount of research created during this period increased. Women were less represented among grant recipients and patent-holders. The move to gender equality was also slower in the physical sciences, such as engineering and computer science. According to Elsevier data comparing 16 nations, Japan was the farthest from parity in terms of research publishing, with only 18 active female authors for each 100 men. “It’s today’s graduate students and researchers who will be tomorrow’s HE leaders. So we first need to invest in increasing the female representation at the research level,” Ms Gabriel said. More information about Asia Pacific Women in Leadership

Original by Cyberport, Media OutReach Workshop Organised with APRU Teaches How to Win Heavyweight Brand Sponsorships for Esports Development HONG KONG SAR – Media OutReach – 30 April 2021 – Hong Kong Cyberport and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a consortium of 58 leading universities in the Pacific Rim region, today held the APRU Esports Fellowship Workshop on the Cyberport campus and online. Talon Esports, a Cyberport incubatee and well-known organiser of esports leagues, shared its perspective on the esports business ecosystem and how marketing and business sponsorship can benefit the industry’s development. 30 students from universities in Hong Kong and the Pacific Rim, including the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the School of Professional and Continuing Education of the University of Hong Kong (HKU SPACE) and the Open University of Hong Kong, joined the workshop and exchanged views with fellow students who share their passion for esports. Participating students conducted a mock sponsor pitch to enhance their knowledge of the esports ecosystem. Eric Chan, Chief Public Mission Officer of Cyberport, said, “Cyberport is committed to cultivating local young talent and providing them with diversified entrepreneurship and career opportunities. As a high-growth emerging industry, esports and digital entertainment present younger generations with a rich array of opportunities, from content development to team management and training, and from event planning to brand marketing. Through this workshop, participants learned about the esports industry’s business models and the unique advantages of Hong Kong’s esports companies. Those aspiring to a career in esports could also broaden their horizons and enjoy fruitful exchanges via the APRU network with their counterparts from other universities in the Pacific Rim.” Industry Leader Shares Tips on Winning Sponsorships According to the latest forecast from industry research institute Newzoo, the global esports market’s value will reach USD1.084 billion in 2021, representing year-on-year growth of 14.5%. Business sponsorship will account for USD641 million, close to 60% of the total value. This demonstrates that business sponsorship is the esports industry’s bread and butter. As a Cyberport incubatee, Talon Esports is well-known for its League of Legends team, PSG Talon, as well as for the successful esports events it has staged, such as the VALORANT competitions in Hong Kong and Taiwan which have attracted lucrative sponsorships from a wide variety of businesses including sportswear company Nike, KFC Thailand, Hong Kong virtual bank Mox and gaming seat developer Recaro. Today’s workshop tutor, Sean Zhang, CEO and Co-founder of Talon Esports, noted: “Everything begins with the fans. Esports fans typically represent a very valuable consumer segment for many brands, but they are also notoriously difficult to reach through traditional channels. So the most important thing for us to understand from a partnership perspective is what our partners are looking to achieve, from both a business and a branding standpoint, and then our job is to work out how we can best help them bridge that gap between them and the gaming community in a way that is authentic and adds value for our fans too.” Sponsor Pitch Simulations Each participating university, including the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, HKU SPACE, the Open University of Hong Kong, the Far Eastern Federal University, the National Taiwan University, the National University of Singapore, the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, the University of British Columbia, the University of California, Los Angeles and the University of Washington, arranged for two to three representatives to join the workshop. Grouped into five teams, the students were required to conduct a sponsor pitch for a popular esports league. To enhance their knowledge of the esports ecosystem, feedback and suggestions were provided by the tutor. Organising inter-university tournaments and academic competitions Dr Christopher Tremewan, APRU Secretary General, said, “Empowering future Esports leaders in the Pacific Rim brought APRU and Cyberport together to create the APRU Esports Fellowship Program. Through Cyberport, the new generation will have access to the resources they need to develop skills and build networks for careers in the thriving Esports industry, including access to over 140 Esports start-ups. A perk of our program is that students will have the exclusive opportunity to pitch to industry leaders after learning about sponsorship relations and insider tips that cannot be found in textbooks. Going forward, we will forge ahead with this partnership and offer more opportunities for students to learn through student-led inter-university tournaments, academic competitions and fellowships.” APRU is a premier alliance of research universities, established in Los Angeles in 1997 by the presidents of UCLA, Berkeley, Caltech and the University of Southern California. It aims to foster collaboration between member universities to promote economic, scientific and cultural advancement in the Pacific Rim. APRU now has a membership of more than 50 leading research universities. Organised by Cyberport in partnership with APRU and the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education, the APRU Esports Fellowship Program is a one-year programme dedicated to the esports industry. Cyberport’s session in Hong Kong is the programme’s third workshop, with the first two hosted by the National University of Singapore and the University of California, Los Angeles. The next workshop is planned for May, and will be hosted by the University of British Columbia. In addition to workshops, the programme also includes competitions which aim to boost the student’s esports skills and techniques. About Cyberport Cyberport is an innovative digital community with over 1,650 start-ups and technology companies. It is managed by Hong Kong Cyberport Management Company Limited, which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong SAR Government. With a vision to be the hub for digital technology thereby creating a new economic driver for Hong Kong, Cyberport is committed to nurturing a vibrant tech ecosystem by cultivating talent, promoting entrepreneurship among youth, supporting start-ups on their growth journey, fostering industry development by promoting strategic collaboration with local and international partners, and integrating new and traditional economies by accelerating digital transformation in the public and private sectors. For more information, please visit www.cyberport.hk.

Original from Yesports Grooming and supporting the next esports generations of all parts of the world, Yesports announces its recipient for its FIRST Yesports Esports Apprenticeship. After reviewing a pool of remarkable applications, we are thrilled to announce that Samuel He from the University of British Columbia of Canada will be awarded the USD$10,000 apprenticeship to support his college education and esports dream. He was selected out of hundreds of applicants around the world after displaying exceptional academic achievement, extra-curricular participation and passion for esports. Samuel is a former professional Starcraft2 player under the premier organization Complexity Gaming. His experience in esports spans over 8 years and has played on the top stages such as Red Bull Detroit and MLG Anaheim. Furthermore, he has trained in the Invictus Gaming team house and was also a student of Sasha “Scarlett” Hostyn. He has also been sponsored by NCSoft to compete in England for the Blade and Soul World Championship Qualifiers in 2018. He is studying a Masters of Music under world-famous clarinetist Jose Franch-Ballester and is a recipient of the prestigious British Columbia Graduate Scholarship. “Thanks so much to Yesports and APRU for hosting this amazing initiative! I believe that the increased involvement of esports within our educational institutions is a strong step forward in popularizing esports as an industry, legitimizing it as a career path, and integrating it as part of our modern-day culture” Samuel said. Funded by Yesports, the apprenticeship program enables youth to continue their education at the collegiate level while developing their hobbies. The organization has been actively taking part in nurturing all-rounded talents and future leaders in the blooming and dynamic esports communities. This fund helps support those who exhibit the same commitment. Applications were accepted from students who are planning to further pursue their studies in colleges and universities. “Building on that commitment, in the coming year, Samuel will be our ambassador promoting esports and our brand in his local communities and schools by holding various events and networking with different esports societies,” says Yesports’ Apprenticeship Coordinator, Ms. Ariel Chu. “He will as well show up on our social platforms a lot as he will be creating content for us.” On the other hand, the recipient will be offered a 4-6 weeks work term at Yesports office based in Hong Kong, a chance to gain invaluable exposure to the esports industry that can give him a competitive edge. “With Yesports, Samuel will get a taste of how an Asian esports company operates, as well as the chance to help organize both online and offline world-class tournaments and events,” Ms. Chu further commented. Lastly, Yesports welcome all interested students to apply our new series of the Yesports Apprenticeship 2021-2022 which is now opened for application. We want to cater to students of all aspects; therefore, we have created 5 types of scholarships targeting applicants with different talents and skills. Please visit our website for more information. We look forward to seeing more all-round students like Samuel having the opportunity to glow in the esports world. Congratulations! For more information, please visit: https://yesports.asia/ Apply for Apprenticeship: https://www.yesportstalents.com/scholarship https://www.facebook.com/yesports.asia For further enquiry, please contact: Ms. Ariel Chu [email protected] +852 6514 9262 Natalie TT Wong [email protected] +852 5622 4680     About Yesports Yesports, the global O2O hub for talents to meet and connect to international employers and sponsors for unlimited career and business opportunities. Yesports is a global “esports +” social media platform where gamers meet celebrities for fun and opportunities to show their talent! It connects game lovers to a dynamic world of resources and people. Yesports Talent showcases talents from around the world and provides a platform for connecting to the corporates to maximize marketing synergies. Additional Important Information Yesports does not guarantee any of the applications will be successful in attaining the apprenticeship grant nor does the final amount offered. As the apprenticeship grant is provided by Yesports, the recipient(s) maybe subjected to additional terms and conditions, not currently presented in this document, as implemented by Yesports. The University does not have any input nor control over any of the terms and conditions as required by Yesports. The nominated recipient(s) should independently decide his/her acceptance of the apprenticeship grant.

We are pleased to welcome the following presidents who will serve on the APRU Steering Committee, the executive body of the network which oversees its strategy, policy, programs and finances, for the year 2021-22. Steering Committee members (in alphabetical order of the name of universities): Chancellor Gene D. Block, UCLA (Chair) Vice-Chancellor and President Rocky S. Tuan, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Vice-Chair) President Bundhit Eua-arporn, Chulalongkorn University President Jin Taek Chung, Korea University President Subra Suresh, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore President Zhongqin Lin, Shanghai Jiao Tong University President David Garza, Tecnológico de Monterrey Vice-Chancellor Dawn Freshwater, The University of Auckland President and Vice-Chancellor Santa J. Ono, The University of British Columbia President and Vice-Chancellor Xiang Zhang, The University of Hong Kong Vice-Chancellor and President Deborah Terry, The University of Queensland Chancellor Carol T. Christ, UC Berkeley President Aiji Tanaka, Waseda University Dr Christopher Tremewan, Secretary General, APRU Mr Sherman Cheng, Chief Financial Officer, APRU Comprising elected presidents representing various regions of Asia-Pacific, the Steering Committee is responsible for driving the activities of the association and giving direction to its impact and advocacy work across the region. Click here for the biographies of Steering Committee members.

By Christopher Tremewan December 31, 2020 Original post in SCMP. Concerns about the predatory use of technology, privacy intrusions and worsening social inequalities must be jointly addressed by all stakeholders in society – through sensible regulations, sound ethical norms and international collaboration. In September, it was reported that Zhu Songchun, an expert in artificial intelligence at UCLA, had been recruited by Peking University. It was seen as part of the Chinese government’s strategy to become a global leader in AI, amid competition with the US for technological dominance. In the West, a new US administration has been elected amid anxiety about cyber interference. Tech giants Apple, Facebook, Amazon and Google are facing antitrust accusations in the US, while the European Union has unveiled sweeping legislation to enable regulators to head off bad behaviour by big tech before it happens. Meanwhile, Shoshana Zuboff’s bestselling book The Age of Surveillance Capitalism has alerted social media users to a new economic order that “claims human experience as free raw material for hidden commercial practices”. In addition, the public is regularly bombarded with dystopian scenarios (like in Black Mirror ) about intelligent machines taking control of society, often at the service of ruling elites or criminals. The dual character of AI – its promise for social good and its threat to human society through absolute control – has been a familiar theme for some time. Also, AI systems are evolving rapidly, outpacing regulatory processes for social equity and privacy. Especially during a pandemic, the urgent question facing governments, the private sector and universities is how to promote public trust in the beneficial side of AI technologies. One way to build public trust is to deliver for the global common good, beyond national or corporate self-interest. With the world facing crises ranging from the current pandemic to worsening inequalities and the massive effects of climate change, it is obvious that no single country can solve any of them alone. The technological advances of AI already hold out promise in everything from medical diagnosis and drug development to creating smart cities and transitioning to a renewable-energy economy. MIT has reportedly developed an app that can immediately diagnose 98.5 per cent of Covid-19 infections by people just coughing into their phones. A recent report on “AI for Social Good”, co-authored by the UN, Google and the Association of Pacific Rim Universities, concluded that AI can help us “build back better” and improve the quality of life. But it also said “the realisation of social good by AI is effective only when the government adequately sets rules for appropriate use of data”. With respect to limiting intrusions on individual rights, it said that “the challenge is how to balance the reduction of human rights abuses while not suffocating the beneficial uses”. These observations go to the core of the problem. Are governments accountable in real ways to their citizens or are they more aligned with the interests of hi-tech monopolies? Who owns the new AI technologies? Are they used for concentrating power and wealth or do they benefit those most in need of them? The report recommends that governments develop abilities for agile regulation; for negotiation with interest groups to establish ethical norms; for leveraging the private sector for social and environmental good; and to build and retain local know-how. While these issues will be approached in different ways in each country, international collaboration will be essential. International organisations, globally connected social movements as well as enhanced political participation by informed citizens will be critical in shaping the environment for regulation in the public interest. At the same time, geopolitical rivalry need not constrain our building of trust and cooperation for the common good. The Covid-19 crisis has shown that it is possible for governments to move decisively towards the public interest and align new technologies to solutions that benefit everyone. We should not forget that, in January, a team of Chinese and Australian researchers published the first genome of the new virus and the genetic map was made accessible to researchers worldwide. International organisations such as the World Health Organization and international collaborations by biomedical researchers also play critical roles in building public trust and countering false information. Universities have played an important role in advancing research cooperation with the corporate sector and in bolstering public confidence that global access takes priority over the profit motive of Big Pharma. For example, the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca will be made available at cost to developing countries and can be distributed without the need for special freezers. Peking University and UCLA are cooperating with the National University of Singapore and the University of Sydney to exchange best practices on Covid-19 crisis management. Competition for international dominance in AI applications also fades as we focus on applying its beneficial uses to common challenges. Global frameworks for cooperation such as the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development or the Paris Climate Agreement set out the tasks. Google, for example, has established partnerships with universities and government labs for advanced weather and climate prediction, with one project focusing on communities in India and Bangladesh vulnerable to flooding. To deal with the use and misuse of advanced technologies like AI, we need a renewed commitment to multilateralism and to neutral platforms on which to address critical challenges. Universities that collectively exercise independent ethical leadership internationally can also, through external partnerships, help to shape national regulatory regimes for AI that are responsive to the public interest. Find out more about the UN ESCAP-APRU-Google AI for Social Good project here.

Written by Reethu Ravi Original post on JUMPSTART With the global esports market valued at US$1.1 billion in 2019 and expected to grow to US$6.81 billion by 2027, esports is beginning to offer serious potential as a career option for young gamers. Market growth has received a jolt from the increasing popularity of video games, awareness around esports, audience reach, engagement activities, and mobile usage in emerging countries. Technological infrastructure for league tournaments has also improved. Furthermore, esports also experienced a triumphant rise in viewership and audience engagement amid the pandemic. Amid this shift, universities and colleges are beginning to offer esports programs and fellowships to turn out skilled professional gamers. In the U.S., several universities are offering esports degree courses, and over 100 high schools have started esports programs. Meanwhile, offering students a curriculum that goes beyond the technical know-how, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), a network of leading universities linking the Americas, Asia, and Australasia, launched the first and largest global inter-university Esports Fellowship Program on December 12. With a vocational scope beyond just the gaming, the program will expose students to a wide range of possibilities in terms of career and employment in esports, according to APRU Secretary-General Christopher Tremewan. Speaking to Jumpstart, Tremewan adds that along with the technical aspects of the industry, the program will also provide “exposure to some of the issues that are not normally dealt with, within the more technical side or the player side.” Meanwhile, the research side will explore the psychological impact of gaming and esports and ways to make it “a more healthy industry with elevated ethics on diversity, inclusion, and dealing with the issue of addiction.” Christopher Tremewan, Secretary-General of APRU At the end of the year-long program, each student will also have to come up with an original project. Unlike a typical undergraduate program, the APRU fellowship is “an establishment of an international community of professionals who are concerned with the broader shaping of the industry in the future,” adds Tremewan. “I think the fellowship is a way of starting to provide leadership and the students themselves are already providing leadership in their own settings. But how can institutions then pick up this wonderful leadership and elevate it or give it more influence internationally? And that’s what we’re trying to do,” he says. How universities can help make the esports industry more stable Akin to how industries and new technologies go through a hype cycle, followed by downturns and eventual stability, esports is currently at the top of the hype cycle, explains Tremewan. He notes that “there’s a lot of investment going in, but not a lot of profit being made.” However, the industry is growing, he adds. “It’s a medium shaping the way we interact socially, especially the current generation. So, it’s here to stay, but has a means to become a more stable industry.” And universities and colleges can go a long way in achieving this. One way, Tremewan says, is by shaping the future of esports through research. “Looking ahead 10 years – and you can only do that through research – looking at the ways in which we can deal with some of the negative side, but also the positive side. For example, researching what happens to the brain when you’re playing these team sports at a high level and making decisions that split second as a team,” he explains. In addition to this, business schools are engaged with the business aspects of the industry and how to make it more sustainable, and there are students looking at the therapeutic benefits of gaming. For instance, there’s a lab at UC San Diego that is engaging with autistic people making their own games and looking at how this helps them, Tremewan says. Furthermore, there are simulation games which look at global issues and ways to solve them. “As 5G and more virtual reality comes into the picture, the technical aspects of the game will also change radically,” he adds. Stressing the importance of shaping the industry positively, Tremewan says, “We need to be in on the ground floors, in research institutions [and] educational institutions, making sense of this, and making sure that we shape it in a positive way that contributes to society.” Not enough universities are providing esports programs According to Tremewan, a third of the world’s population are watching or playing some form of online game. While most universities are finding out that their students are fully engaged in gaming, not enough universities are “influenced by this new environment into responding.” Echoing this, Gabriella Leung, co-founder of Hong Kong Student Esports Association (HKSESA), says that there are not many esports programs available in Hong Kong currently. The ones that exist are mostly facilitated by private companies. Leung is enthused about the idea of universities providing a different kind of support. “That will be very great, because they will do some research, and they’ll have some academic support for it,” she says. Gabriella Leung, co-founder of Hong Kong Student Esports Association (HKSESA) Many universities in the Asia-Pacific region are taking up the opportunity, including Yonsei University in Seoul, which has an esports department. While some universities have research groups, others have started to put in place ecosystems that provide academic pathways in esports from high school to tertiary education. There also diversity courses and projects involving women students, because research suggested that young women who play sports are more likely to study medicine. So universities are exploring programs like the APRU fellowship which can help the students move into another phase of their careers. Tackling the misconceptions surrounding esports Tremewan says that while there are several misconceptions about the esports industry, there is also a “real negative side to the industry.” So the key, he says, is to make it clear what the benefits to the society are and to play an active role in dealing with the negative aspects early on. Taking the example of Facebook, which began in universities, Tremewan says that universities ignored what was happening in their own institutions, and lost out on opportunities to shape and cultivate the social phenomenon Facebook has created. So, rather than waiting until esports has positive and negative effects, as in the case with Facebook, Tremewan suggests that universities need to “recognize it as a huge area of social interaction that we can turn to the benefit of society – economic productivity, education, research, and so on.” According to Leung, one of the major challenges that gamers in Hong Kong face is the public perception towards esports. “In Hong Kong, especially for parents and schools, they usually think gaming equals to poor academic performance. And they also think that gaming is very unhealthy – that if we’re promoting esports, we are promoting video game addiction,” she says. Additionally, Leung says that Asian parents, for whom earning is important, don’t believe that students can earn money through the esports industry. Leung believes that esports fellowship programs can help change the public’s perception towards this space. Echoing this, Tremewan says that universities engaging with new professional disciplines tends to advance learning and enhance the reputations of such activities. “For example, if we had any university esports league, it would have very clear ethical standards instead of leaving it just to the publishers of the industry,” he explains. Compared to traditional sports fellowships, Tremewan says that esports fellowships “are not trying to incentivize top players to come into the university and win games for the university.” Instead, the fellowship plans to take an active role in facilitating employment and “[shaping esports’] future in a responsible way.” Challenges in Hong Kong In addition to issues of public perception, gamers in Hong Kong also struggle with the dearth of professional teams in the city. Opportunities are thin on the ground for local gamers to get involved. Leung adds that universities and high schools haven’t introduced esports programs or scholarships. For gamers who want to be an organizer or a caster (a play by play announcer) there are not many ways to learn the techniques. “[There is] basically no education program for this. So, it is very difficult for them to get a job in the esports industry and get involved in that,” she says. As a solution, Leung says that it is important for the government and the university to take the lead in educating the public. “The fellowship program will be a good start. It will be better if there will be a degree program in esports in the universities of Hong Kong. I think the most important [part] is to educate them, and to tell them what esports truly is,” she says. Furthermore, the networking opportunities that fellowships provide can help promote cross border learning. “For any sports, it is always good to connect people from different countries, because we can improve ourselves [and] we can know what they’re doing in the industry,” she says, adding that for Hong Kong gamers, it will be beneficial to learn from countries like Taiwan or Korea. The future Tremewan says that once the presidents or vice chancellors of universities understand how they can play a role which benefits the university as well as society, “we can see some movement pretty rapidly.” When universities start to engage with student gamers through education and research, and then engage with the industry and with government, the entire ecosystem will reap the benefits, he adds. Tremewan says that he’s optimistic about Hong Kong, as the government is supportive of esports. In addition, it is also surrounded by countries which are deeply engaged in esports, such as South Korea. “We’ve all been sidelined a little bit by the pandemic. But esports is one of the things that has been able to continue, because of the virtual nature,” Tremewan says. “But we’re pretty sure that things again are going to develop quite quickly and Hong Kong could be an important base for shaping a responsible industry internationally.” Images courtesy of HKSESA and APRU

Dear Colleagues and Friends, Warm greetings from the team at the APRU International Secretariat. 2020 was a year of uncertainty and crisis which tested the resilience of our network and stimulated many innovative responses. As we look forward to better times in 2021, I want to share with you a summary of our achievements together (see below.) 2021 will mark a new phase for the APRU International Secretariat. In January, the Secretariat will relocate to the Cyberport on the south-west side of Hong Kong Island. On behalf of the APRU community, I would like to express my gratitude to The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, especially President Wei Shyy, for hosting the Secretariat in the past five years on their scenic campus and for their support throughout. In the coming year, we will increase our efforts as your super-connector to facilitate collaboration within and beyond the network with international organisations, governments, policy-makers, industry partners and media. The re-alignment of our strategic focus, coupled with our upgraded communications capabilities, will strengthen the international impact of our work together. All of us in the International Secretariat look forward to working with you in the year ahead. With best wishes for the festive season, Christopher Tremewan Secretary General   Our Achievements Together in 2020 Member Collaborations While the pandemic and travel restrictions prevented in-person contact, our connection with members did not diminish but grew stronger. We welcomed six renowned research universities from Australia, China, Colombia and the US to the APRU family. The collaborative strengths of 56 leading research universities across the Pacific Rim reinforces the network’s capability to address pressing challenges of the 21st century. We are proud that around 150 presidents and senior administrators joined the virtual Annual Presidents’ Meeting in June. Over 450 people participated in the Senior International Leaders’ Week, Acting Together in the New Abnormal, in October. Our research programs also kept up their momentum by shifting their scheduled activities into virtual or hybrid format. The Global Health Conference 2020 hosted by Fudan University, the first program conference which was conducted virtually, reached a record audience of 1,500 across 53 economies. The Multi-Hazards Program hosted by Tohoku University converted the regular Summer School to virtual format and offered it free to participants worldwide. This enthusiasm will continue until the end of the year with the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference Virtual Conference and PhD Symposium to be held from December 14-18 and the Sustainable Waste Management Winter School scheduled for January 2021to kick start the year. To address critical issues as a result of the pandemic, the online site APRU Plus was launched to address challenges of COVID-19. Since May, over 20 webinars led by subject experts from member universities and knowledge partners have been held which provide a channel for information exchange and experience sharing to enable the APRU community to stay ahead of the game in the new normal. APRU members have collaborated in managing the global crisis and sharing the lessons learnt and knowledge to inform policy makers and academic-governmental partnerships. Convened by Peking University, the crisis management group comprising also UCLA, The University of Sydney and the National University of Singapore, has organised a series of four interdisciplinary webinars open to the public.   Network Programs The conception of the Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) Program attests to the network’s innovative and collective response to the disruptions brought by the pandemic. Led by The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the program provides students an exclusive opportunity to connect with peers from around the world to learn new knowledge and skills, exchange ideas and cultures, and develop connections vital for success. The pilot program was started in August with remarkable success, featuring 13 participating universities in 10 economies and 409 applications from 11 universities sending students. Nine participating universities also offered 28 co-curricular programs to complete the virtual student exchange experience, attracting over 400 participants from our member universities. The pilot phase continues with the next semester with exchanges beginning in January 2021. In July 2020, the Quarantunes Student Music Competition brought international university students together by sparking creativity and sharing positivity during the pandemic. The competition has attracted 108 impressive video entries with 200K views by 400 students from 24 APRU universities and 13 economies which reflected an incredible breadth of APRU student talent. View the highlight video and winning entries. APRU has continued efforts to cultivate an esports community across our participating universities. We have offered opportunities to students and experts in industry, academia and government to work with us. The inaugural APRU MetaGame Conference was held virtually on December 12 which featured policy discussions, an international esports tournament with leading APRU members, and next generation learning. During the Conference, President David Garza of Tecnológico de Monterrey announced the launch of the APRU Esports Fellowship in collaboration with Cyberport Hong Kong. The Fellowship Program is an international network of student leaders engaged in next-generation learning experiences that support the growth of healthy, vibrant esports communities and are seeking to become the future leaders of the Esports industry. After months of preparation, the Asia-Pacific Women in Leadership (APWiL) Mentoring Program Pilot was launched in August 2020. The program hosts 15 pairs of mentors and mentees from 10 participating member institutions across the region. Through the mentoring program, we are able to focus on addressing gender imbalances, and the work that is being done by APRU members to create more equitable and inclusive campus communities. The program provides international and intercultural opportunities for the empowerment, professional growth and development of our mentees. This year, especially, has shown us that supporting women leaders has never been more important as the challenges of COVID-19 are amplifying the obstacles that women face.   International Partnerships In partnership with UN ESCAP and Google, we released the 300-page report Artificial Intelligence for Social Good (co-published with Keio University) which explores the impact of AI on societies in the Pacific Rim and offering research-based recommendations to policymakers. With the support of Rockefeller Foundation, the AI for Social Good Month was held from October to November which featured seven policy-focused discussion sessions with faculty, government and industry leaders. The results of the report are reported by global media including Times Higher Education, Asia Times, The Hong Kong Economic Times (1st & 2nd articles in Chinese) and more. From November 2020 to April 2021, the Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy for Sustainable Urban Development will again organize six virtual modules to equip city mayors with the knowledge and capacity to respond to the impacts of COVID-19 and to work towards building green, resilient and inclusive cities. Led by the Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program and held in collaboration with UN ESCAP, UN Habitat, UCLG-ASPAC, UNU-IAS, and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES), experts from the University of Oregon, University of Washington and The University of Auckland are developing and supporting delivery of key academy modules.   Extending Global Impact This extended impact was amplified by our dedicated effort to strengthen our media outreach and digital footprint. Since September, APRU’s initiatives have been reported in more than 340 pieces of media coverage worldwide and we have generated more than three million impressions on social media channels. We have been seen in media outlets with over 200 million unique visitors per month including the Associated Press, Agence France-Presse, NewsWire, MarketWatch, Morningstar®, Observatory, Business Wire (Japan, China, Hong Kong, International), Fox, Sina Finance, Baidu, Antaranews (Indonesia), JIJI (Japan), Yahoo! Finance (Australia, Canada, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Singapore, UK, International), GNN, HK01, ET Net News Agency, HiNet, Esports Insider, Taiwan News, The Central News Agency and more.

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–APRU launches the first and largest global inter-university Esports MetaGame Conference and Fellowship Program to introduce some of the only international pilot Esports programs with curriculum for students that go beyond technical knowhow. In partnership with Cyberport, the virtual conference consists of 3 elements – gaming, policy discussions and next generation learning – creating a platform for global gamers to compete while inviting Esports scholars and industry leaders to discuss the emergence of Hong Kong in the international Esports landscape and other Esports topics, such as entrepreneurship, diversity and inclusion, and career pathways. From gamers and industry partners to students and governments, the MetaGame Conference incorporates the full Esports ecosystem with an aim to expand the purview of the Esports landscape. With Esports’ high economic potential evidenced by its US$1.1 billion in global revenue in 2019, there is tremendous opportunity for career development. By establishing this program from the Hong Kong headquarters, APRU can facilitate the international collaboration of Esports leaders in the Pacific Rim by connecting students and communities across borders. Hong Kong is the first host city of the MetaGame Conference as an emerging regional Esports hub, future conferences will rotate so that APRU universities can demonstrate their unique capabilities within the Esports ecosystem. Chris Tremewan, Secretary General of APRU said, “Students are leaders in creating the ecosystem of Esports. It is not just a game but a new way of interacting which is changing society (like social media). Esports holds out opportunities in employment, industry development, education and personal development, public policy leadership and cutting-edge research. The Asia-Pacific region is the dynamic core of the development of a global Esports ecosystem and with APRU’s 56 member universities around the region, we can help establish a sustainable and ethical industry with spinoffs for health and social equity as well as economic productivity.” “Working with business and government, we are excited to bring a new Esports learning experience to students that not only builds a more sustainable industry but widens employment opportunities far beyond it: business and management, technology and design, performance and health, and socio-economic well-being and appropriate public policy.” Fellowship Program Tecnológico de Monterrey, APRU and Cyberport joined in partnership to launch the year-long virtual APRU Esports Fellowship Program today which will foster the growth of critical skills for future Esports leaders by contributing to outcomes for students such as internship and job placement opportunities and activities such as hackathons, pitching competitions and industry networking. The curriculum goes beyond the technical training related to Esports and focuses on ethical leadership, industry connections, community building, design thinking, entrepreneurship, and cultural awareness. Students will be deeply connected to the entire Esports industry – publishers, leagues, and its technological advancement – for a greater opportunity to develop their Esports skillset and career.

HONG KONG–(BUSINESS WIRE)–To bring international university students together by sparking creativity and sharing positivity during the pandemic, the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU) recently launched its Quarantunes student music competition. Attracting 108 impressive entries by students from 13 economies across Asia-Pacific, the Quarantunes competition was organised by APRU Plus, an online hub launched specifically to address challenges during COVID. The winning teams reflected an incredible breadth of international student talent, with the leading entries emerging from student teams in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mexico, the Philippines, California (USA), Colombia, and South Korea. With virtually no international student mobility and physical classes halted, students are facing unprecedented disruptions to their studies and university experience. A study conducted this past summer by a higher education research consortium that includes APRU member University of California, Berkeley found that 35% of undergraduate students were positive for major depressive disorder, while 39% had generalized anxiety disorder, a much higher rate than years past. With anxiety prevalent across universities worldwide, APRU Plus provides innovative opportunities for collaboration to bridge the gap created by social distancing. Conceived as a way to foster creativity and discussion around the importance of mental wellness during this challenging time, the Quarantunes competition gave students a new way to cope with isolation and come together to produce musical works that spread positivity. Each of the students’ submitted songs tells a unique COVID story that helps us see beyond the current difficulties to inspire hope for the future. “‘Get Down’ is a song that combines dancy, hopeful music and reflective lyrics about the happenings right now. We hope to present an honest yet playful version of the world, inside which people acknowledge the flaws of the society but remain optimistic for a brighter future.” – National Taiwan University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong team View highlight video and winning entries : 1st Prize (Tied) “Get Down” – National Taiwan University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong “Sonos Más” – Tecnológico de Monterrey 3rd Prize “Six Feet Apart” – University of the Philippines Special Prize “Golden Girl” – University of Southern California “Homenaje a Lucho Bermúdez” – Universidad de los Andes “We’re All Heroes” – Yonsei University To further connect students internationally, APRU also offers the APRU Virtual Student Exchange (VSE) Program, an exclusive opportunity to connect with peers from around the world to learn new knowledge and skills, exchange ideas and cultures, and develop connections vital for success. Visit here to learn more. Contacts APRU: Jack Ng [email protected] PLUG: Marisa Lam [email protected]

By Joyce Lau Original post in THE. Academics urge governments to set up frameworks for ethical use of technology and reaffirm the need for greater multidisciplinarity Asia-Pacific universities could use artificial intelligence to harness their strengths in combating epidemics and other global problems, but only if there were regulatory frameworks to ensure ethical use, experts said. Artificial Intelligence for Social Good, a nearly 300-page report by academics in Australia, Hong Kong, India, Singapore, South Korea and Thailand, was launched the same day as the event, held by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) and Google. The research, co-published by APRU and Keio University in Japan, laid out recommendations for using AI in the region to achieve the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs). While the report outlined the great potential for AI in the region, it also said that risks must be managed, privacy concerns must be addressed and testing must be conducted before large-scale technology projects were implemented. Christopher Tremewan, APRU’s secretary general and a former vice-president at the University of Auckland, said that Pacific Rim universities “have incredible research depth in the challenges facing this region, from extreme climate events and the global Covid-19 pandemic to complex cross-border problems. Their collective expertise and AI innovation makes a powerful contribution to our societies and our planet’s health.” However, he also said there were potential problems with “rapid technological changes rolled out amid inequality and heightened international tensions”. “As educators, we know that technology is not neutral and that public accountability at all levels is vital,” he said. The APRU, which includes 56 research universities in Asia, Australasia and the west coast of the Americas, is based at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. In answering questions, Dr Tremewan drew on his own observations in New Zealand and Hong Kong, two places where Covid responses have been lauded. “The feeling in Hong Kong is that there is tremendous experience from Sars,” he said, referring to a 2003 epidemic. “The universities here have capability in medical research, particularly on the structure of this type of disease, and also in public health strategy.” Meanwhile, in New Zealand, “confidence in science” and the prominence of researchers and experts speaking out aided in the public response. “Universities are playing key roles locally and internationally,” he said, adding that expertise was also needed in policy, communications and social behaviour. “The solutions are multidisciplinary, not only technological or medical.” Soraj Hongladarom, director of the Center for Ethics of Science and Technology at Chulalongkorn University in Bangkok, and one of the authors of the report, said their work had “broken new ground” in Asia. “We’re trying to focus on the cultural context of AI, which hasn’t been done very much in an academic context,” he said. Professor Hongladarom, a philosopher, urged greater interdisciplinarity in tackling social problems. “Engineers and computer scientists must work with social scientists, anthropologists and philosophers to look beyond the purely technical side of AI – but also at its social, cultural and political aspects,” he said. He added that policy and regulation were vital in keeping control over technology: “Every government must take action – it’s particularly important in South-east Asia.” Dr Tremewan said that, aside from crossing disciplinary boundaries, AI also had to cross national borders. “Universities have huge social power in their local contexts. So how do we bring that influence internationally?” he asked. Find out more about the UN ESCAP-APRU-Google AI for Social Good project here.

Hong Kong, November 10, 2020 – APRU partners with UN ESCAP and Google to launch the AI for Social Good report. This is the third project exploring AI’s impact on Asia-Pacific societies to offer research-based recommendations to policymakers that focus on how AI can empower work towards the 2030 UN Sustainable Development goals. With COVID-19’s ongoing social and economic fallout, the role of AI is even more pronounced in aiding recovery. Researchers’ insights underpin the report’s recommendations for developing an environment and governance framework conducive to AI for Social Good – a term encompassing increasingly rapid technological changes occurring amidst inequality, the urgent transition to renewable energy and unexpected international tensions. Chris Tremewan, Secretary General of APRU commented, “APRU members have incredible research depth in the challenges facing this region, from extreme climate events and the global COVID-19 pandemic to complex cross-border problems. Bringing their expertise and AI innovation together in a collective effort will make a powerful contribution to our societies and the health of the planet.” Jonathan Wong, Chief of Technology and Innovation, United Nations ESCAP said, “We designed the 2030 UN Sustainable Development Goals with a strong commitment to harness AI in support of inclusive and sustainable development while mitigating its risks. Public policies play a critical role in promoting AI for social good while motivating governments to regulate AI development and applications so that they contribute to aspirations of a sustainable future.” Dan Altman, AI Public Policy, Google shared, “Google and APRU share the belief that AI innovation can meaningfully improve people’s lives. Google introduced the AI for Social Good program to focus our AI expertise on solving humanitarian and environmental challenges. Google is excited to be working with experts across all sectors to create solutions that make the biggest impact.” The report’s multidisciplinary studies provide the knowledge and perspectives of researchers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, India, and Australia. Combining local understanding with international outlook is essential for policymakers to respond with regulation that enables international tech firms to contribute to the common good. Here are the key recommendations: Multi-stakeholder governance must push innovation to realize AI’s full potential In addition to overseeing major players controlling data, governance must take manageable risks and conduct controlled testing before large scale tech implementation. Establish standardized data formats and interoperability Information asymmetries create inequities, therefore standardized data formats and interoperability between systems is critical. Address data privacy concerns and protect individual dignity Data needs anonymization, encryption, and distributed approaches. Governments must enforce privacy and individual dignity protection. Incorporating the Asian values of altruism in data governance can also help encourage data sharing for the social good. November is “AI for Social Good Month” featuring investigative discussions, conversations, and policy briefings with leading AI thinkers and doers from Asia and beyond. Visit the Summit here. View the original release here. Media contact: [email protected] / [email protected]

By Jeff Hou See the original post here. This series of articles represents the outcomes of a two-part webinar, titled Bottom-Up Resilience and hosted by APRU Plus in July 2020. Through a partnership between Pacific Rim Community Design Network and the APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Hub, the discussion brought together a group of activists, organizers, and researchers across the region to critically reflect on their ongoing work in supporting the local communities during the COVID-19 pandemic. Learning from Civil Society and Civic Resilience What exactly can we learn from these different types of civil society responses during the pandemic? What do these cases tell us about social and community resilience from the bottom up? What do they reveal about the longstanding disparities in society? What can we look forward to in terms of sustaining these networks and momentum? Contrasting responses Besides the disproportionate impacts on the mainstream society and the marginalized communities, the contrasting responses from the state and the civil society groups present another parallel across the different geographical contexts. In Manila, Tessa Maria Guazon found the state’s bureaucratic response to daily emergencies like food supply, mass testing for the virus, and the provision of public transport to be, as usual, delayed and inadequate. As a result, communities turned to self-help and mutual aid as a way to address urgent needs, a pattern also found elsewhere. The experience in China offers a different scenario. In Wuhan, the local government did react relatively quickly but failed to account for the less privileged. Yang Bao and Shuyun Cao argued that “as the pandemic spread, the government’s one-size-fits-all directives could not respond to the detailed needs of all sectors of society.” It was in this context that the self-organized civil networks have emerged in response to the urgent needs of those who have not been helped. In Tokyo, the support from the government in terms of temporary accommodation for the homeless was critical but short-lived. After seven days during the crisis, “people were back on the streets,” said Mago Yoshihira. She went to note, “we were worried about them and that was why we started free ‘food delivery’ to homeless people […] so we can visit them directly and conduct short interviews each time.” “Face-to-face conversation is best to feel empathy,” said Yoshihira. YUI Associates also began to accept people who had newly become homeless due to COVID-19 and assisted them in finding jobs, according to Yoshihira. In other cases, the government response has been a source of longstanding challenges. In Hong Kong, Michelle Wong described the dilemmas faced by the homeless and social service organizations, “even before COVID-19, they stay in tunnels; they stay on the streets, or they stay in McDonald’s.” “They move around quite often, and the reason why they need to move is that the government would remove their stuff in the tunnel or park frequently,” said Wong. This has made the work of volunteers and social service organizations difficult because they cannot locate the homeless, build relationships, and provide support for them. Trust and empathy As a discussant on the first day of the webinar, Kian Goh of the University of California, Los Angeles highlighted the presence of place-based and historically informed local experiences as illustrated by the speakers. Goh noted that many community self-help and mutual aid practices “really have to be built on trust and empathy […] developed among close-knit circles.” Indeed, local practices that built trust and empathy appeared to have played an important role in engendering community responses during the COVID-19 crisis. In Manila, Tessa Maria Guazon pointed out the notion of Namamangketa as “a way of life” and “a manner of thriving” among the community members she worked with. Asked about how empathy was developed, Guazon noted that empathy among the women partners was built from shared experiences, particularly the struggles with local law enforcement and government. Working with the women partners through the SEANNET project, she learned that a way to live together was “to be with another, to feel the pain of another, to empathize with others.” In the case of LuMo Road Rescue in Wuhan, Yang Bao found trust was already established and deeply rooted in the group, “making the rescue, their donation [drive], and mobilization of resources [go] quite smoothly.” Iderlina Mateo-Babiano also found community resilience to be underpinned by trust in the case of Life Cycles PH. She noted that many of the transactional activities, including the borrowing of bicycles, were based on trust and community spirit or Bayanihan. “There was no money involved; transactions were just purely made on trust and generosity within the community Facebook group,” said Mateo-Babiano. Asked about how trust was developed for Life Cycles PH, Mateo-Babiano suggested that the transactions became a form of relationship building. Following the online transactions, “the group would go and meet up with people to exchange bicycles,” said Mateo-Babiano. The social media platform also allows the group to build trust by being transparent about their actions. Reciprocity and Scalability As place-based and locally-specific actions, Kian Goh wondered about the potential of looking across scales to include different community groups and different levels of government, and if these efforts are bound to one place and one community. In other words, are these civil society responses scalable? In Singapore, Tan Beng Kiang found an untapped resource of people who are interested in helping: “I think there are a lot of people during the lockdown who were at home and they all want to do something [to help] but they can’t get out,” said Tan. Tapping into the potential of these individuals presents opportunities for scaling up. In Manila, Tessa Maria Guazon found evidence of “a cycle of generative reciprocity” in the example of a chef who converted her restaurant kitchen into a community kitchen and came up with a set of guidelines for establishing community kitchens and for making them safe. A colleague from the university then translated the guidelines into Tagalog or Filipino so they can be widely circulated. “It keeps these efforts going. Some of us may fall out because of fatigue but I think others will be interested to help,” said Guazon. In the case of Life Cycles PH, beyond facilitating the lending and borrowing of bikes, Mateo-Babiano found the group to have expanded their advocacy to create a culture of cycling, “a culture of just and sustainable mobility for everyone.” This includes pushing the government to build more bike lanes and cycling infrastructure to make cycling safe. She found that the conversation has moved from short-term emergency response to long-term needs for expanded infrastructure for more equitable and safer mobility. In the migrant worker community in Hong Kong, Cecilia Chu and Marta Catalán Eraso came across additional actors that served to bridge multiple scales. For instance, they highlighted the role of banks in lending technical support to the workers as they might become future clients. “This suggests that self-help is not really entirely independent […] there is a kind of intricate relationship between institutional engagement and community self-help,” said Chu and Catalán Eraso. Solidarity and collaboration The answer to scalability perhaps already exists in the way that many of these groups and initiatives operate, through collaboration and acts of solidarity. In answering my own question about how organizations adapted to crises and how such adaptation can sustain in the long run, Iderlina Mateo-Babiano sees the sharing paradigm as key, particularly when “fueled by the ongoing advocacy and solidarity of like-minded individuals,” and “a common concern for social justice and human connection.” Michelle Wong had a similar response, “as an organizer I always go back to solidarity as a solution.” For instance, the COVID-19 crisis has led ImpactHK to consider forming a network of homeless advocacy organizations in Hong Kong to address the problem effectively and to lobby the government. “At the end of the day, the government is the resourceful, powerful kind of machine that can do much more than a small organization like us,” said Wong. Collaboration already played a critical role in the ongoing work of ImpactHK. During the crisis, the organization hosted around 200 homeless individuals by partnering with guest houses for travelers. In another instance, to learn about the issues facing the street cleaners and to better support them, Fixing Hong Kong organized a learning session for volunteers with the Hong Kong Cleaning Workers Union so they can “understand more about the difficulty that these street cleaners face,” said Bernard Lee. In Singapore, during the crisis, some of the existing NGO groups have formed a coalition because their work is similar. Instead of everyone trying to replicate others’ activities, “they are combining,” said Tan Beng Kiang. According to Tan, the groups are also partnering with the government because during the crisis, “there are things you can’t do unless you get permission, such as entering the quarantined migrant worker dormitory.” As a result, “there’s now a partnership going on between the government and the NGO groups,” said Tan. Spontaneous solidarity can also take place across borders. In Tokyo, where masks were in short supply during the COVID-19 outbreak between March and June of 2020, YUI Associates received donations of masks from regular customers of their tourist hotel in Sanya. According to Mago Yoshihira, more than 1,200 masks were sent from Shanghai and Hong Kong where the number of infections had declined at the time. YUI members brought these donated masks to rough sleepers and the homeless populations in Sanya as well as a terminal care facility for homeless individuals and a hospital. In answering the question about how civil society responses can be sustained, Tessa Maria Guazon suggests that this can be supported through multi-nodal efforts: “When people work at various scales, if one group suffers fatigue, then another catches them.” Similarly, Masato Dohi, co-founder of ARCH, reflected on the voluntary effort of Tokyo Street Count: “[with] just a small group of two or three people, we can only count a small part of the city and small part of the homeless population, but with hundreds of people we can count the homeless people in Tokyo.” (Nao Kasai further notes that the robustness of the count is not the focus of the argument, but rather that societal inclusivity starts from “I recognize you” at the grassroots level. “Our Tokyo Street Count is an effort to scale up this ‘I’ to ‘we,’ so we can say ‘we recognize you all’ as a society,” said Kasai.) Collaboration and solidarity are indeed keys to how responses of civil society, albeit often modest in scale and capacity, can have a greater collective impact during a crisis and in the long run. They enable groups to maintain autonomy and self-manage while working toward a common goal. By pooling together resources of different kinds, it creates efficiency and allows groups to adapt to changing needs and circumstances and scale-up. Barriers to Civil Society Responses With lockdowns and other extraordinary constraints during the COVID-19 pandemic, civil society responses have their share of challenges and difficulties as well. In Tokyo, Nao Kasai noted that because of limited capacity, the work of ARCH on street homelessness had to shrink. “Many street support activities rely on volunteers, and service providers had to redesign or stop their activities without volunteers during the pandemic,” said Kasai. As a social enterprise, YUI Associates faced a financial challenge during the crisis. With almost no guests by April, they had to close one of the hotels to reduce costs even though the demand from the homeless population has increased, including people who require special care. Other aspects of the widespread lockdown during COVID-19 posed additional difficulties. In Manila, residents from San Roque, an informal settlement in Manila’s northeast protested against the local government during the lockdown. They were dispersed and later arrested as they were deemed by the police to be defying the law against public gatherings. In Hong Kong, where there was already a ban on public gatherings issued by the government to rein in the civil unrest, volunteers handing food to the homeless in the park received warnings from the police because of the restrictions against public gatherings. “I know that some of our homeless friends. They get tickets. They get warnings and tickets from the police,” said Michelle Wong. She suspected that the police were using the ban to “scare them off from the park.” “I think they make use of COVID to get what they want right now because of the protests and also for the homeless; they don’t want them,” said Wong. Faced with this challenge, volunteers of ImpactHK resorted to a flash mob tactic to continue serving food in the park next to their office. Physical and mental fatigue came up as another important issue in the conversation. Tessa Maria Guazon described her experience in Manila, “after what we did for our women partners, I was totally just exhausted.” In her concluding thought on the first day of the webinar series, Shuyun Cao suggested, “we should not over-emphasize contribution or devotion to a great goal […] I think in that way individuals will be swallowed by those great goals.” Instead, she suggests attention to self-care and individual mental health, “then the empathy fatigue will not be that serious,” said Cao. Besides fatigue, it is also important to critically reflect on other challenges facing mutual aid and self-help. Cecilia Chu argued, “all these self-help practices [by migrant workers] when we presented them seemed very positive and enlightening, but in Hong Kong, it’s been really not seen as part of the civic engagement in the eyes of most of the local residents.” Furthermore, she suggested that the community self-help was in fact a reflection of their marginalized position “that so far has not been really breached.” Lastly, Shu-Mei Huang suggested that even with all the focus on the marginalized groups through civil society responses, some groups might still be left out. For instance, while we have better understood the struggles of the domestic workers, we still know rather little about factory workers and fishers, “migrant fishermen […] really can’t make it to public space over the weekend because they don’t have a weekend.” Implications and Lessons for Planning and Design Practices A key question on both days of the discussion concerns the implications and lessons of civic resilience for planning and design professionals, the main audience of the webinars. Iderlina Mateo-Babiano responded with a reflection on her training as a planner, “when I hear the stories […] I think that’s one of the learnings that as a planner we should take on.” “Sometimes we think that we know what are the lived experiences of those for whom we provide public spaces, but actually what we have thought of as the right solution, the right public space, may not really be the right one for the users,” said Mateo-Babiano. For Tan Beng Kiang, a key lesson from the civil society responses was simply to act. She thinks that as designers or as educators, “we can encourage our students to act, even if they are locked down at home or with limited access to visit [a site], etc., what is it that they can do to help? What is it they can do within their community?” Indeed, the cases presented by the webinar speakers would not have been possible without the actions and initial responses. Whether there have been pre-existing networks or not, the most critical aspect of community self-help has been the will and ability to act. While the focus of the urgent and immediate relief was critical, in the grand scheme of things, it’s also important to identify how civic resilience can be supported and cultivated on an everyday basis before and beyond the moment of crisis. As suggested by the role of pre-existing networks and organizations, it is important to engage these networks and organizations in the planning and design of neighborhoods, districts, cities, and regions, and ensure such engagement can help build capacity and strengthen relationships among the groups. Opportunities also need to be provided for those without formal affiliations. As evident in the outcomes of the pandemic, social disparities have been an acute form of vulnerability that threatens not only the underserved and underprivileged but also the society at large. As these social and economic disparities are often reinforced by the built environment, planning and design professions, by and large, have been accomplices to a structure that produces and reproduces these inequalities. Addressing these disparities and closing the gaps requires the built environment professions to play a more self-critical role and reflect on longstanding assumptions and practices. As we rebuild cities and communities to avoid future outbreaks of infectious diseases, we must ensure that the voices of the less privileged are not left out. As evident from the cases highlighted in the webinars, a seemingly insignificant change in the everyday environment and everyday life can have a significant impact on the vulnerable populations. Additionally, a well-intended policy or measure can have unintended consequences especially if the concerns of those who are not at the table are not accounted for. We must avoid the pitfalls that have plagued the rescue, relief, recovery, and rebuilding efforts in the past that have deprived rather strengthened the communities in need. Finally, as Kian Goh noted during the webinar, “mutual aid community self-help is not a cure-all.” There are structural issues that will require much more substantial effort and perseverance. But as the experiences highlighted through the webinar have indicated, seemingly robust structures can fail and when they do, civic resilience can play an important role in saving lives and supporting communities in need. Furthermore, changing and rebuilding the structures will also require the efforts of civil society in holding the state and institutions accountable. A deeper and more critical understanding of civic resilience is the first step toward the long-term safeguarding of cities and communities beyond the pandemic.

AI For Social Good, a partnership between APRU, UN ESCAP and Google, released a new report exploring the impact of AI on societies in the Asia-Pacific region and offering research-based recommendations to policymakers. Providing perspectives of multidisciplinary researchers from Singapore, Hong Kong, Korea, Thailand, India, and Australia, each chapter of the report presents a unique research-based policy paper offering a set of key conclusions and policy suggestions aiming to support and inform policy makers and policy influencers. The report seeks to inform the development of governance frameworks that can help to address the risks and challenges associated with AI, while maximizing the potential of the technology to be developed and used for good. It also furthers understanding for developing the enabling environment in which policymakers can promote the growth of an AI for Social Good ecosystem in their respective countries in terms of AI inputs (e.g., data, computing power, and AI expertise) and ensuring that the benefits of AI are shared widely across society. The AI for Social Good network was launched in December 2018 under the academic lead of Keio University Vice-President, Jiro Kokuryo. It aims to provide a multi-year platform to enable scholars and experts to collaborate with policymakers to generate evidence and cross-border connections. “We worked very hard to come up with a set of recommendations that will make AI truly contribute to the well-being of humankind. I hope this voice from Asia will be heard not only within the region, but by people around the world.” ‘Governments are encouraged to invest in promoting AI solutions and skills that bring greater social good and help us “build back better” as we recover from the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.’ said Mia Mikic, Director of the United Nations ESCAP’s Trade, Investment and Innovation Division. To share the report’s findings with policymakers, industry leaders, and academics from around the region, the Virtual AI for Social Good Summit will be held in November. The series will feature  working and policy insight panels with details to be shared on apru.org soon. Find the full report here. See a press release from Keio University here.

Pictures: Archive pictures of Frida Rangel and Rubén Villicaña Written by WENDY GUTIÉRREZ |MEXICO CITY CAMPUS Original post in The news site of Tecnológico de Monterrey With the song “Somos Más”, Frida Rangel and Rubén Villicaña have won first place worldwide in the Quarantunes Music Competition, a virtual event organized by the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU). According to the organizers, the students from Tec de Monterrey’s Mexico City campus were given the prize for the song which revealed the positivity that is needed in these uncertain times caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. The composition won first place in the national ‘Songs of Peace and Hope’ competition organized by the Tec and tied for the title of global champion with the song “Get Down”, by students from the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). “This contest consists of composing songs that express the feelings we have experienced as students, during the pandemic, but also shows how we can inspire others through our song and strengthen the hope that a better future will come,” explained Frida. The students mentioned that they felt very happy and fulfilled in getting first place. “We’re very satisfied with all the work we did and the results that we got. But, mostly, we’re extremely grateful and inspired by all the support we’ve received,” declared the winners. A SIGNIFICANT ACHIEVEMENT Having reached first place in an international composition competition is a significant achievement, as it reaffirms that they are on the right track. According to the songwriters, their participation in the contest inspired them to continue looking for similar opportunities, and to keep entering more contests. “We want to make more music, and to improve more and more. We know that we still have a lot to learn and that excites us a lot,” said Frida, who’s studying Music Production. The prize was a cash sum, which they intend to invest in equipment to improve the quality of their music, and thereby generate new knowledge and opportunities for themselves. The Tec students received the invitation to participate in Quarantunes through the Leadership and Experience (LiFE) department on their campus and decided to compose a song with a positive message. The LiFE program focuses on students’ development through sports, arts, leadership, and includes their nutritional, psychological and emotional well-being.   Frida and Ruben shared that the Tec has greatly influenced both their lives and their professional careers. “We’ve both been members of the Contemporary Music Ensemble on our campus, and participated in the National Song Festival, so we’ve acquired many skills and experiences that have influenced the path we want to take both in our careers and our lives. “These experiences have deeply affected us. In fact, it was in the ensemble where we met and, thanks to that, we’ve achieved many things together”, they said. The champions thanked the department of art and culture at the Mexico City campus for all the support they were given during the two weeks of the contest. “We want to thank all the people who shared our video, and who were encouraging and supporting us. This wouldn’t have been possible without the support of all these people. We especially want to thank our families, who never gave up. Really, thank you for helping us share our art. You’ve inspired us to keep going,” the winners concluded. Listen to their song by clicking here.

APRU is pleased to announce the winners of the Quarantunes Student Music Competition designed to inspire hope for the future. We have received 108 impressive entries, over 400 students from 24 leading research universities and 13 economies of the Asia Pacific participated. The top winners have been selected from a shortlisted of  entries by popular vote. Top entries reflect highest responses on Facebook and the voting form. All participants were subject of review according to competition Terms and Conditions. The Quarantunes student music competition offered students a chance to inspire each other and our communities by making music. Students were challenged to help us see beyond current difficulties, come together in mutual support, and strengthen the determination and hope for the future. We thank all of the participants for sharing their talent, creativity, and collaboration which has inspired our communities across the Asia Pacific to have hope for the future even during this uncertain time. 1st Prize (tied): “Get Down” National Taiwan University and The Chinese University of Hong Kong Prize: USD 2500 Team Members: Chaichon Wongkham, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Yen Wei Kuang, The Chinese University of Hong Kong Tsou, Yi-Hsu, National Taiwan University Hsu Tung, National Taiwan University 1st Prize (tied): “Somos Más” Tecnológico de Monterrey Prize: USD 2500 Team Members: José Rubén Villicaña Ibargüengoytia Frida Berenice Rangel García 3rd Prize: “Six Feet Apart” University of the Philippines Manila Prize: USD 2000 Team Members: Alicia Bracamonte Victor Ablan Kyle Delfin Special Prize: “Golden Girl” University of Southern California Prize: USD 1000 Team Members: Ben Ragasa Maddie Wu Special Prize: “Homenaje a Lucho Bermúdez” Universidad de los Andes Prize: USD 1000 Team Members: Gabriel Collazos Didier González Miguel Ángel Hoyos Jhon Jerez Sergio Meneses Ian Middlenton David Pérez Manuel Pinto Santiago Prada Valeria Rocha Andrés Sabogal

By By Peggy McInerny, Director of Communications, UCLA A group of Bruins minoring in the global health met during the APRU Global Health Student Case Competition. They are now planning careers in the field. The APRU Global Health Student Case Competition gives students an opportunity to practice critical-thinking and problem-solving skills to help solve global health challenges. The competition has brought together young and creative teams of university students to tackle many pressing global health problems with out-of-the-box ideas in helping to facilitate real changes in society.     Originally published by UCLA International Institute.   UCLA International Institute, April 9, 2020 — UCLA students today have an enviable capacity to use multiple communication methods simultaneously when collaborating on a project. It is a skill that will serve them well in the coming months, as all UCLA courses continue remotely due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.The “Gamechangers Team,” a group of global health minors who designed a social media–based health intervention and produced a video about it, have a unique view on the value of communications technology in global health. Over the course of roughly six weeks in spring 2019, six undergraduates (two of whom have since graduated) met once a week in person, exchanged ideas regularly via a smart phone chat room and shared research on project components via Google Docs.The students came together to participate in the annual Global Health Case Competition of the APRU (Association of Pacific Rim Universities), whose 2019 challenge was: “Social Networking Intervention to Promote Physical Activity among Young People in Urban Environments.” The team was comprised of Julia Houshmand (UCLA 2020, molecular, cell, and developmental biology), Franklin Leung (UCLA 2019, microbiology, immunology & molecular genetics), Vera Ong (UCLA 2020, psychobiology), Rene Rosas (UCLA 2019, international development studies), Wendy Tang (UCLA 2021, economics) and Sahej Verma (UCLA 2020, global studies). “I remember that [student counselors] Katie Osterkamp and Magda Yamamoto said, ‘You will be competing with medical students and Ph.D. students.’ — And I thought, ‘Great!’” said Julia Houshmand ironically. “I remember watching some of the past videos — we were very intimidated,” said Vera Ong. “But we just gave it our best shot.” That best shot won the Gamechangers team a place among the three finalists — the first time a UCLA team had placed in this APRU competition. (Bruins have won and placed in several APRU health poster competitions in the past). Building on one another’s ideas and skills The team eventually designed a campus-based intervention that would use competitions between individuals, colleges and professional schools of UCLA (and with other universities in Los Angeles) to build community, increase physical activity and encourage healthier eating. One key idea was to showcase star UCLA athletes interested in pursuing careers in fitness by livestreaming their workouts. Although the International Institute was set to cover the students’ travel costs to attend the 13th APRU Global Health Conference last November, the conference was eventually cancelled due to demonstrations in Hong Kong. In the end, the UCLA team came in third. Surprisingly, the students were remarkably upbeat about the outcome, stressing they had learned so much from the collaborative process. “We went into this not to win the competition, but because we wanted to,” said Houshmand. “It sounded like something that was fun and interesting.” “Stressful, but fun!” added Ong, noting that the team developed their case on a compressed timeline that ran into spring quarter finals. “It was interesting how we all came up with the idea. It wasn’t just one person. Honestly, it was all of us sitting on Kerckhoff Patio and using the Socratic Method, asking: ‘What about this?’ ‘No, no, no, no.’ ‘What about this?’” said Ong. As they progressed, the students divided up research and tasks such as budgeting the hypothetical funding. Franklin Leung, a runner, suggested that the intervention use a Strava application to measure physical activity. He also ended up editing the final case video. “We wanted to create an intervention where people would actually have discussions about exercising together, eating healthier foods and so on,” explained Verma. “We set it up in a competition environment so that if, for example, I and Julia were roommates, we could compete with one another to see how we are doing. The goal was to use those friendly elements to live healthier lives.” A shared interest in global health policy The team members are deeply interested in the social determinants of health, equitable access to health care and health policy. Whether pre-med students, future economists or future health activists, their educations and career goals were a great fit with the video project. Houshmand, for example, is a pre-med senior whose interest in global health was sparked by significant travel and the experience of living between France and the United States for most of her life. “The two countries have very different medical systems,” she remarked. “My classmates in both countries came from a lot of different backgrounds, including refugees and people who were undocumented, and on the other hand, people from the highest levels of society,” she continued. “So I saw a lot of these differences, not just at the level of health, but at the level of access to health care.” “Since I became interested in medicine, I’ve always seen it in a global framework,” explained Houshmand. “When I started taking classes in my global health minor, I realized that I love thinking of solutions and interventions for a health issue not just from a biological standpoint, but also taking into account the historical context, the cultural context, the political climate, etc.” Ong also has significant experience in two countries, having been born in the Philippines before moving to Silicon Valley at a young age. She subsequently traveled frequently to see family in the Philippines. “What really got me into global health was growing up watching my uncle, who is a general surgeon there, serve his community,” she remarked. “Similar to Julia [Houshmand],” she adds, “I have experience of different health care systems and have seen that same lack of access to care,” she adds. Both her interest in global health and her volunteer work in the UCLA chapter of Global Medical Training (2018–2020) deepened her intellectual engagement with health policy. For example, she joined the Health Equity Network of the Americas, where she helped organized international conferences that address topics such as universal health, gender inequality in health access and immigrant health. Doctor in provincial hospital in Bulacan, Philippines. (Photo: ILO Asia-Pacific via Flickr). CC BY-NC-ND 2.0. Ong, who plans to become a doctor, eventually came to evaluate potential medical schools partly on the basis of whether they incorporated courses on global and public health in their curricula. “That is a big factor for me in choosing a medical school and in what I want to do in the future,” she said. Houshmand, who is also going to medical school, shook her head in agreement. Verma approaches health policy from a social development perspective, but with insider knowledge of health care — he comes from a family of doctors. An internship for a pharmaceutical lobbying group in Geneva, plus subsequent biotech work experience, helped him define a health policy career direction. Specifically, he seeks to combine health policy with new therapeutic and diagnostic technologies to achieve better health outcomes. To do so successfully, however, requires effective communication. “I’ve had the opportunity to work with a few health economists in the Fielding School of Public Health,” he said, “and I’ve seen how they work to communicate the value of therapeutics and life sciences products to different policy makers to help them devise solutions that will both improve people’s lives and health outcomes.” COVID-19 and its impacts The COVID-19 pandemic has, if anything, increased the interest of the Gamechangers team in global health policy. The race to develop a vaccine to prevent COVID-19 infections, for example, directly bears on Verma’s senior thesis. The global studies senior, now an undergraduate research fellow, is researching the role of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturers in developing vaccines against diseases of poverty that are prevalent in low- and middle-income countries. Verma may, in fact, temporarily delay plans to pursue a Ph.D. in health policy and economics so that he can work for the Indian ministry of health as it develops the regulatory infrastructure to speed the development of safe, efficacious and affordable pharmaceuticals. The pandemic is a wake-up call for the United States, said Verma. “Whether it is the inequitable distribution of materials — think therapeutic tools (vaccines), sanitary equipment (masks), life-saving infrastructure (protocols for medical staff in hospitals) or social rigidities (young people not following social distancing norms, while older folks are scared to shop for essential groceries and medicines) — America needs to rethink where its priorities lie as a society,” he continued. An image of the global pandemic in the shape of a COVID-19 molecule. (Image by Miroslava Chrienova courtesy of Pixabay.) “Post–COVID-19 will be a time not only to reconstruct infrastructure, but also to reconcile a communal attitude with productivity arguments,” he remarked. The UCLA student believes that the pandemic will lead many young people to study health policy in order “to challenge existing rationales about mechanisms of healthcare in the USA.” Ong has been struck by how much the pandemic has highlighted pre-existing flaws in public and global health policy. “It exposed just how much our current systems were unprepared for a pandemic such as this, and how much we need to improve as global and local communities,” she commented. “COVID-19 definitely shows the importance of global communication, teamwork and transparency, as well as the importance of forming pre-planned protocols to minimize potential consequences,” she said. Ong, who is currently working with the UCLA Learning Assistants Program to help professors navigate Zoom and better engage their students remotely, is seeing firsthand how time-efficient and useful such interactions can be. “With an increased focus on telemedicine, I can see similar benefits within the medical field,” she said. “By decreasing overall waiting time and providing more scheduling flexibility, telehealth could encourage patients to be more active in consulting physicians overall, increasing doctor-patient interaction and treating illnesses early.” Verma also believes that one outcome of the pandemic will be a revival of doctor-patient interaction. Yet the barriers to effective telemedicine remain significant, with equitable access to communications technologies at the top of the list. “The COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting the gaps in communications infrastructure, with restricted broadband speeds amid increased usage,” he pointed out. How regulators and the government support the adoption of these technologies will be the true litmus test of their efficacy in serving community health needs, insisted Verma. Ong points to additional barriers that must be addressed before telehealth can become a reality, including lack of technological literacy among physicians and patients, hacking dangers and lack of a robust protocol. As for the immediate future, Ong — like Houshmand — heads off to medical school in the fall. Verma will begin working as a research assistant at University of Michigan’s Institute for Healthcare Policy and Innovation. Expect these Bruins to make their mark on global health policy in the coming decades.   Published: Thursday, April 9, 2020  

The Asia-Pacific Mayors Academy for Sustainable Urban Development successfully completed its first cohort with its third session held February 9-11 at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. Twelve mayors participated in sessions on financing, project bankability, and frontier technologies for sustainable urban development. The Mayors Academy was launched jointly in October 2019 by APRU, UN ESCAP, UN-Habitat, the United Nations University’s Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), United Cities and Local Governments Asia-Pacific (UCLG ASPAC), and the Institute for Global Environmental Strategies (IGES) to assist newly-elected and newly-appointed city leaders in the Asia-Pacific region to promote sustainable urban development. APRU is a member on the academy advisory board and supported the delivery of the inaugural cohort. APRU experts engaged in APRU’s Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program (SCL) contributed to the overall curricular development as well as the academy’s Boot Camp on Urban Management. “The outcome of traditional urban planning is often too narrow or too grand in scope, ineffective, imbalanced, and exclusionary,” said Yizhao Yang, SCL Hub steering committee member and associate professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Planning, Public Policy and Management, who developed the curriculum’s Sustainable Urban Planning part. “By contrast, vision-driven sustainable urban planning can create sustainable, healthy, and economically vibrant cities that deliver a high quality of life to residents,” she added. The Academy’s third session involved mayors presenting real case studies of their own cities and their initial concepts applying key learnings. Cities covered were Sipalay and Bauang (Philippines), Nili and Kabul (Afganistan), and Tawau (Malaysia). Guest presentations were delivered by the Asian Development Bank, World Bank, United World Infrastructure, Gateway Global LLP, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the International Society of City and Regional Planners, Cisco Systems, ADB, World Bank, Habitat for Humanity International, and Mastercard City Next. The Academy’s preceding two sessions took place at the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in Malaysia’s Penang in October 2019 and the UN Conference Centre in Thailand’s Bangkok in December 2019 respectively.

We are delighted to announce that Shanghai Jiao Tong University (SJTU) has joined APRU. We welcome SJTU President Zhongqin Lin and his colleagues to our association and look forward to a valuable and productive partnership. Established in 1896, SJTU is one of the oldest and most prestigious universities in China. SJTU has six Shanghai campuses with 31 departments, 47 research platforms, and 13 hospitals affiliated to its medical school. The 123 years of its history, SJTU has nurtured more than 300,000 talents for the country and the world, including Jiang Zemin, a former president of China, and Tsien Hsue-shen, China’s “Father of Space Science.” Other famous SJTU scholars include Wu Wenjun, a great master of mathematics and winner of the first National Supreme Award for Science and Technology, as well as Wang Zhenyi, winner of the Kettering Prize for cancer research. Over 200 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Engineering are SJTU alumni. Reflecting SJTU’s research prowess, twenty-five subjects ranked among the top 100 and ten made it into the top 50 in the QS World University Rankings. In 2019 SJTU has topped for the 10th consecutive year in the total number of projects awarded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Currently, SJTU has students from 116 countries and more than 150 institutional cooperation agreements with well-known universities around the world. SJTU has established a number of joint institutes with overseas universities and institutions, such as the China Europe International Business School (CEIBS), The University of Michigan-Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute (UM-SJTU JI), and the USC-SJTU Institute of Cultural and Creative Industry. “Internationalization has always played an important role in the development of SJTU, as reflected by SJTU’s existing research partnerships with a number of APRU members,” said APRU Secretary General, Dr Christopher Tremewan. “By joining APRU, SJTU will help us strengthen institutional partnerships and develop new partnerships with like-minded universities in the network,” he added. SJTU President Lin, in his initial expression of SJTU’s interest in joining APRU, noted that the university undertakes research in most of the APRU research themes. He highlighted the SJTU’s cross-university platform for Urban Governance, where researchers of technical background, urban planners, designers, and policy experts are engaged to work out sustainability solutions for mega cities, such as Shanghai.       Lin also pointed out that ocean engineering and ocean science have long been priority areas for SJTU, aligning it closely with APRU’s own focus. “APRU has a lot of potential for leveraging the quality of research and impact, playing an important role by engaging with APEC and tackling the complex challenges faced by the Asia Pacific region,” Lin said. “I am confident that SJTU could make its contributions as a member of APRU and look forward to membership,” he added. SJTU Website: en.sjtu.edu.cn Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sjtu1896/ Twitter：https://twitter.com/sjtu1896 Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/shanghai_jiao_tong_uni/  

We are delighted to welcome Universidad San Francisco de Quito (USFQ) as one of the most recently added members of APRU. We welcome Rector Carlos Montúfar and his colleagues to our association and look forward to a valuable and productive partnership. Founded in 1988, USFQ is the first private university of Ecuador.   USFQ has ten academic colleges with approximately 9,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 80 countries (including 500 indigenous students and 1,000 international students annually), and 967 teachers and staff. The USFQ main campus in the Cumbayá valley next to Quito features a hospital, specialized dentistry clinic, six restaurants, and the largest academic library in Ecuador with 1 million titles. USFQ has much-noted research stations in the Galapagos Islands (GAIAS) and in the Amazon Rainforest (Tiputini Biodiversity Station). There are plans to expand operations in the Cloud Forest and the Coast of Ecuador. Reflecting USFQ’s research prowess, it is ranked #1 in Ecuador and #51 in Latin America in the 2019 QS World University Rankings. “USFQ’s research center in the Galapagos Islands provides a unique site for research in the life sciences while the Tiputini Biodiversity Station is located in the most biodiverse places on the planet, so I am sure that professors from APRU member universities will be interested and find value in going to Ecuador or developing joint courses,” said APRU Secretary General, Dr Christopher Tremewan. USFQ Rector Montúfar thanked APRU for the formal invitation to join, pointing out that it aligns perfectly with USFQ’s core strategy of expanding internationalization at home. Specifically, USFQ aims to develop new research partnerships, joint research and grant proposals, as well as new curriculum that includes international components. USFQ furthermore plans to increase the number of visiting faculty to USFQ through the development of joint courses led by a USFQ professor and an international partner. “APRU offers an exciting opportunity for USFQ. A young, research oriented and private liberal arts University,  seldom has this window to the frontiers of education and innovation. Strategically located in one of the most biodiverse places on the planet, it offers APRU researchers and students a new dimension to current world challenges. We look forward to an increasing number of joint projects bringing to this region fresh insights like those of previous travellers such  as Humboldt and Darwin. Exciting times lie ahead!” Said Dr. Carlos Montufar Phd., USFQ President. “It is with great promise that we join such a prestigious network of Universities. Our role is to bring the Latin American perspective to ensure the Health of the Pacific Rim that ties us all together.” Said Alexandra Velasco MBA., Strategic partners and innovation for internationalization. APRU also welcomes Senior International Officer, Alexandra Velasco, Faculty lead programs and Deputy Director: Alex Rendón, and Research and partnership opportunities, Director for International Relations, Mateo Saenz. Please find additional resources from USFQ below. Research Stations: USFQ is the only university in Ecuador with research stations in Galápagos, Tiputini, and we are currently looking for a partner for Mindo (tropical forest). Please take a look at the following links in order to find more information. Tiputini (click here) Galapagos Science Center (click Here) USFQ Basic Information USFQ Brochure: You will be able to find information about USFQ areas of interests and classes students can take as undergraduate USFQ International Programs Office website (click here) USFQ video: (click here) USFQ Galápagos video: (click here)  

APRU is pleased to announce the new release of the book “AI for Everyone: benefitting from and building trust in the technology.” Published on January 28, 2020, the book was written by Jiro Kokuryo, Catharina Maracke, and Toby Walsh.  The project was led by project co-chairs and AI-experts Professors Jiro Kokuryo (Keio) and Toby Walsh (UNSW). The open-access book features APRU’s project and introduces its findings. The project is the result of a discussion series organized by APRU and Google. “Experts from APRU universities greatly contributed to this foundational project in which we built upon for projects such as the Transformation of Work and AI for Social Good,” said Christina Schönleber, APRU Senior Director (Policy and Programs). “It enabled us to actively pursue opportunities to interact with policymakers, businesses, and leaders in society to address major AI-related fears, such as of ‘black box’ machines manipulating human society, unethical uses of AI, and that AI may widen the gap between the rich and the poor,” she added. The project’s first meeting was held in late-2017, laying the groundwork for the crafting of a series of working papers and their resulting policy recommendations. As many as twelve of these AI-related working papers were reviewed at the second meeting in September, reflecting eager participation by APRU members. An accompanying project workshop took on key questions, such as how to establish more trust in AI and how to amplify human intelligence through the use of AI toward beneficial ends. The project’s preliminary outcome was prominently featured by the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council’s State of the Region Report 2018-2019, which fed into the 30th APEC ministerial meeting held in the following month in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. “The title of our book reflects the belief that access to the benefits of AI should be transparent, open, and understood by and accessible to all people regardless of their geographic, generational, economic, cultural and other social background,” said Kokuryo. “We wrote it to strengthen awareness about the nature of the technology, governance of the technology, and its development process, with a focus on responsible development,” he added. The book is available as a paperback edition at cost price. Please see the project overview and policy statement here. Keio and UNSW are the APRU member university leads of this project.  Other involved APRU member institutions include: The Australian National University (Australia), Far Eastern Federal University (Russia), Peking University (China), The Chinese University of Hong Kong, National University of Singapore, Technologico de Monterrey (Mexico), Fudan University (China), University of California Irvine (USA),  Universidad de Chile (Chile), UNSW Sydney (Australia), and The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology.

APRU Global Health Program released its latest report on Workplace Wellness (WW) finding that although many universities have implemented a range of programs designed to promote employee health and well-being, these programs are often not designed in a strategic or comprehensive way. The report was initiated at the Global Health Conference 2016, a special workshop on workplace wellness was held on the first day of the conference. A Sydney Statement on Employee Health and Well-being was announced and called on our universities to fulfil the responsibility to their employee’s health and well-being. Responding to this call, the report is based on an online survey conducted by the APRU Global Health Program (GHP) and completed by 29 universities in 13 Asia-Pacific economies in 2018. The survey aimed to assess the range and scope of employee health and wellness programs at universities in the Asia-Pacific; evaluate gaps and challenges; and facilitate the crafting of recommendations. “We identified a number of innovative and successful workplace wellness programs that our member universities offer, such as fitness challenges and health screenings, but programs relating to mental health, violence, and smoking cessation are especially lacking,” Prof Mellissa Withers of USC says. “The results demonstrate that the main perceived challenge of workplace wellness programs is lack of employee participation,” she adds. The survey suggests that participation suffers from a lack of protected time for employees to engage in WW programs. It also found that few universities offered financial rewards (such as discounts for health insurance or salary bonuses) for employees who have healthy lifestyles. The report moreover cited universities’ insufficient usage of social media or mobile phone messaging to disseminate health information to employees. Among the commendable case studies highlighted are The University of Hong Kong’s Walking Challenge, which entails a goal number of steps for the HKU community to walk together. In October 2018, the challenge expanded to involve over 1,500 people from more than 17 countries and amassed 463,447,412 steps—equivalent to walking 7 times around the world. Another case study is the Domestic Violence Support Policy by The University of New South Wales (UNSW) Sydney, which supports members who are directly or indirectly experiencing domestic violence, including by offering paid domestic violence leave of up to 10 days. The University of Southern California, for its part, offers an attractive reward scheme for smoking cessation, with staff and faculty who do not use tobacco or commit to enroll in a tobacco cessation program receiving a $25 reduction per month in paycheck contributions for their medical plan.   Download the report >> The APRU Global Health Program, launched in 2007, is hosted by the University of Southern California and is led by Program Director, Professor Mellissa Withers. By facilitating collaboration and enhancing regional dialogue, the APRU Global Health Program works to bridge health divides, promoting and protecting population health and meeting shared health challenges.

Published in United Nations University, Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability UNU-IAS, the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP), UN-Habitat and other partners have launched the Mayors Academy for Sustainable Urban Development in the Asia-Pacific, a new initiative to create and support a network of local leaders who will be committed to sustainable urban development in the region. The academy provides participating mayors with tools, strategies, and models to improve their capacity to achieve the SDGs in their constituencies, through appropriate city planning and management approaches. It fosters exchange, peer-learning, and cooperation between city leaders to enhance their leadership capacity, and provides a framework for short- to medium-term planning and action towards adoption of more sustainable development pathways. The academy comprises training sessions and ongoing peer-learning, and is organised in collaboration with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), and the United Cities and Local Governments-Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC). Launched on 15 October 2019 at the Asia-Pacific Urban Forum in Penang, Malaysia, the academy will run until December 2020. In February 2020 participating mayors will present proposed work plans at the World Urban Forum in Abu Dhabi. Background In 2015, UN Member States adopted the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. This agenda and its seventeen Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are designed to put the world on a path towards a more sustainable, equitable, and prosperous future. On the current trajectory, it is estimated to be difficult for Asia and the Pacific to achieve any of the 17 SDGs by 2030. Accelerated progress is required on all fronts. It is crucial that local governments are enabled to contribute to the implementation of the 2030 Agenda. For example, local ownership needs to be fostered to ensure support for this transformative action plan. Moreover, transformative local implementation is dependent on the availability of sufficient knowledge, capacities, resources and appropriate multi-level governance arrangements. In addition to translating the SDGs and their targets into concrete local policies, actions and programmes, it is important for local governments to develop appropriate follow-up and review processes to track progress on implementation. As most of the projected urban growth in Asia and the Pacific will occur in intermediate cities, their role will continue to expand, with the mayors of these cities and other subnational authorities quickly emerging as potential leaders to promote sustainable urbanization throughout the region. In this context, the Mayors Academy will mainly target mayors, especially those who are newly-elected or appointed, to provide better access to information, greater awareness of regional resources, and a support network to assist in the acceleration of urban sustainability initiatives.   UNU-IAS is engaged in this initiative as part of its Governance for Sustainable Development (GSD) project, which addresses the policymaking processes and governance structures needed for achieving the SDGs.

By the end of 2017, around 68.5 million people were forcibly displaced, about half of which were children. Of this figure, over 25 million people escape to other countries, and as a result become refugees. Most refugees do not live in camps – forced displacement is now an urban phenomenon which creates a range of challenges. To address this global challenge, the Cities and Refugee Student Design Competition was hosted by the Rapid Urbanisation Grand Challenge at UNSW Sydney, with Australian Red Cross, ARUP International Development, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the APRU – Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Program Hub (APRU SCL). The opening night of the APRU SCL Conference 2019 at UNSW Sydney featured a public keynote address from Brett Moore, Head of Shelter and Settlements at UNHCR. His talk titled “Cities & Refugees: Complexity and Conflict: how can we deliver inclusive and sustainable urban development in challenging contexts?” served as a prelude for the announcement of the competition winners. Twenty-eight entries from fifteen economies took the challenge. We thank all judges for the incredibly difficult task of choosing the winners.   Prize winners 1st place (AUS$5000) Merapatkan Selayang: A Bridging Intervention for Social Integration Yale-NUS College Lucy Madeline Davis, Sharan Kaur Sambhi, Ernest Tan Sze Shen, and Nguyen Ngoc Luu Ly Physical Sciences (Chemistry), Anthropology, Urban Studies, and Urban Studies 2nd place (AUS$2500) Welcome to the Agora Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture et de Paysage de Bordeaux & Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Architecture de Strasbourg Cécile Elbel & Ipek Erker 3rd place (AUS$1000) Threshold Conditions UNSW Sydney Samuel Jones Masters of Architecture Honorable mentions University of Auckland Dennis Byun, Angela Lai, Harry Tse, Todd Min, Sungoh Choi, John Woo, Scott Ma, and Jingyuan Huang Bachelor of Architectural Studies (BAS) representing Portal Studio Project title: Train-sition Shahid Beheshti University Solmaz Arzhangi, Sara Arzhangi, and Narges Rajaeipour Post-disaster reconstruction in architecture and urban study, Master of Architectural engineering and Master of Architectural engineering Project title: Towards a New Life University of Technology Sydney Allan Soo Project title: Case Study: Sydney

AI Policy for the Future: Can we trust AI? Date & Time: August 23 from 9 am to 5 pm Venue: Korea Press Center, 20th floor, International Conference Hall   Seoul National University Initiative will host a one-day conference focusing on AI trust for the future. The conference will invite AI experts and scholars from academia, industry, and government to address the current concerns on accountability and enhance social beneficial outcomes related to AI governance through technology, policy, and law. Considering the critical issues such as fairness and equity will be analyzed on both a macro and micro level to develop key recommendations on the responsible use of AI. Find out the program here.

The United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UN-ESCAP) and the United Nations Human Settlements Programme (UN-Habitat) – in cooperation with the United Nations University- Institute for the Advanced Study of Sustainability (UNU-IAS), the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), and the United Cities and Local Governments-Asia Pacific (UCLG-ASPAC) – invite newly elected or appointed city mayors/governors in the Asia-Pacific region to join the Mayors’ Academy for Sustainable Urban Development. The deadline for submission is August 23, 2019. [Objectives] This fellowship is to create and support a network of local leaders and mayors in Asia-Pacific committed to sustainable urban development through annual weekly intensive “boot camp” and ongoing peer-learning. The expert-formed academy will: Develop capacity to increase the leaders’ ability to address urban sustainability issues; Assist mayors to become knowledgeable of cities’ contributions to climate and sustainable development goals (SDGs) and targets to strengthen commitment to global development; Increase the use of sustainable urban development tools, resources and technical solutions by newly-elected mayors in the region, as well as city-to-city cooperation opportunities; Facilitate and strengthen the regional resources available to mayors and local authorities in support of the implementation of sustainable urban development; Establish a network of informed mayors and local leaders to serve as regional advocates for sustainable urban development in support of global development agendas. [Eligibility] A newly-elected or appointed mayor/governor, typically in the first third of the term. Must commit to attending the training sessions on October 15-17 at Penang, in December 2019 at Bangkok, and tenth session of the World Urban Forum in February 2020 at United Arab Emirates. Selected candidates’ expenses will be paid. [Deadline & Contact] Find out more information on the website. Fill in an application form and submit it by August 23, 2019. For application-related clarifications, applicants can write to [email protected] with copy to [email protected]

APRU members participated in the APEC Closing the Digital Skills Gap Forum, held in Singapore in mid-July. The forum gathered representatives from 16 APEC economies to explore policy options that can strengthen digital skills and the digital economy, with Project DARE taking central stage. APRU members participating in the forum were Bernard Tan, Senior Vice Provost of the National University of Singapore; Fidel Nemazo, Vice Chancellor for Research and Development of the University of Philippines (UP); Eugene Rex Jalao, Associate Professor of University of the Philippines; and Kar Yan Tam, Dean of the School of Business and Management of The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). “With the imminent need to facilitate the transition of workforce in the age of disruption, Project DARE provides a tripartite platform for governments, academia and business across the APEC economies to discuss human capital development in data science and analytics,” said Kar Yan Tam. “This platform connects all of us closely together to manage the transformation wisely,” he added. Project DARE (abbreviation of data analytics raising employment) is an APEC initiative seeking to facilitate development of a data science and analytics (DSA)-enabled workforce across the APEC region to address the skills shortage in DSA. The Closing the Digital Skills Gap survey launched by the forum and prepared by Wiley, an education and professional training solutions provider, showed that 75 per cent of respondents – comprised of employers, government officials, and academics – perceive the existence of a significant skills mismatch. At the forum, participants finalized a roadmap to support and scale-up skills development and reskilling programs carried out by employers, governments, and educational institutions across APEC. Tam explained how HKUST has leveraged the Recommended APEC Data Science & Analytics Competencies to inform curriculum in data science and technology, including a full undergraduate degree track. Fellow APRU member Jalao highlighted Philippine projects in high-impact investments in digital upskilling and reskilling, including an ambitious pilot model to train 30,000 workers over three years led by the Analytics Association of the Philippines (AAP). Indeed, the pilot project has been one of the first models to implement the Recommended APEC Data Science & Analytics Competencies. The Project DARE timeline for 2018 entailed more than 60 participants sharing models how to bridge the digital skills gap, as well as the development of case studies on Recommended APEC Data and Science & Analytics (DSA) Competencies. On the 2019 timeline are the presentation, finalization and beginning implementation of a collective version and roadmap in APEC to support efforts to upskill and reskill at scale. Implementation of the roadmap is envisioned for the 2020-2025 period.  

On Wednesday, June 5, a kick-off meeting for the “AI for Social Good ― a United Nations ESCAP-APRU-Google Collaborative Network and Project” was held at Keio University’s Mita Campus. The project brought together 8 scholars from all across Asia Pacific under the academic lead of Keio’s Vice-President Professor Jiro Kokuryo for the meeting, with the support of UN ESCAP and Google, and organization by the APRU-Association of Pacific Rim Universities. The scholars, encompassing a wide range of academic backgrounds from technical aspects of AI such as computer science to ethical views including philosophy, had lively discussions on their research plans as well as providing mutual feedback, alongside representatives from the project organizations ― UN ESCAP, Google, and APRU. Their work at meetings set to take place over the coming year will be published as a policy recommendation paper for government policymakers and other stakeholders including those in industry, NGOs, and academic institutions. Originally published by Keio University  Vice-President Professor Jiro Kokuryo Chairs Meeting of AI for Social Good ― A United Nations ESCAP-APRU-Google Collaborative Network and Project                          

With youth unemployed rising in the Asia Pacific in 2017, policymakers have to bridge the gap between a critically low supply of highly skilled professionals and the urgent demand among employers for a skilled workforce. By 2020, the global shortage of highly-skilled workers is expected to reach 38-40 million. Current advances in the digital age require the collection and interpretation of big data. Employees with the ability to gather, analyze and draw practical conclusions from big data, as well as communicate these findings to others are forecasted to be among the most in demand. Labor markets are in dire need of professionals trained in data science and analytics, and shortages are severe enough to constrain economic growth. In response to APEC’s policy goals on human capital development, Project DARE – Data Analytics Raising Employment – was created to address the current shortage of employees skilled in data science and analytics, which has resulted in billions of dollars in lost revenue annually. The project brought together business, government and academic leaders to develop a set of ten Recommended APEC Data Science and Analytics Competencies to serve as a resource to equip academic institutions and training providers across APEC economies to align curricula, courses and programs to fill this gap between skills and employer demand. APRU Experts joined the Project Advisory Group Meeting taking place in Singapore to actively supported the development of the APEC Data analytics Competencies. At the inaugural APEC University Leaders’ Forum, in Dan Nang, Vietnam, Dr. Christopher Tremewan, APRU Secretary General, and Mr. Clay Stobaugh, Vice President of The Wiley Network and Co-Chair of APEC Project DARE announced a new partnership committed to bridge the projected skills-gap in the Asia Pacific. See more details about the here recommended APEC DAS Competencies here Find out more about the project here Download attachments: APEC_Project_DARE_2018_Workshop_Agenda_2_October  

Thirteen selected international students from APRU’s member universities participated in a two-week design field school in Indonesia led by HKU faculty staff and local partners, from August 27 to September 9, prior to the commencement of 2018 APRU Sustainable Cities and Landscapes Conference. The school explored the uncertain landscape complexities, caused by urbanization, through examining a recent study that focused on the rapid modernization of landscapes and communities in East Java. A group presentation was given by the students during the conference’s dinner, addressing topics on eco-tourism, Gundih village, and marine debris in Indonesia. See travel blogs from Stuart and Mayeesha who just came back from the trip. Find out more about the field school here.  

The APRU Multi-Hazards Program (MHP) was actively involved in the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (WCDRR) in Sendai in March 2015. Centered on the theme “Science and Practical Disaster Risk Reduction – The Role of Universities and Academia”, the APRU MHP organized three panel discussions at the public forum of the conference. Prof Fumihiko Imamura (Tohoku University), Dr Christopher Tremewan (Association of Pacific Rim Universities) and Dr Shuaib Lwasa (Integrated Research on Disaster Risk) welcomed the audience. All speakers highlighted the importance of the cooperation between higher education institutions, private sector, public administration and the civil society for successful disaster risk reduction in theory and practice. The first panel presented initiatives, ideas and solutions to “Bridging the Gap between Science and Practice”. Prof. Supot Teachavorasinskun (Chulalongkorn University) and Prof. Reid Basher (Victoria University of Wellington) were discussing with Rowan Douglas (Willis Research Network), Dr Yoshiko Abe (Kokusay Kogyo) and Masaaki Miyamoto (Pacific Consultants) and highlighting positive developments with the implementation of the Hyogo Framework of Action. The development of technology was highlighted in the second panel discussion. Prof John Rundle (University of California, Davis), Dr David Green, Dr Gerald Bowden (both National Aeronautics and Space Administration), Margaret Glasscoe (California Institute of Technology), Prof Shinji Toda (Tohoku University), Prof Yih-Chi Tan (National Taiwan University) and Prof Hui Zhang (Tsinghua University) introduced new developments in science that could help to strengthen emergency preparedness, disaster management and disaster recovery. Finally, DRR was reviewed from the social science perspective. Prof Hugo Romero, University of Chile, Prof Rajib Shaw, Kyoto University, Prof Karl Kim, University of Hawai’i at Manoa, Prof. Takako Izumi, Tohoku University, Dr Manu Gupta, Asian Disaster Reduction and Response Network and Dr Badaoui Rouhban were presenting on the positive development of the international disaster risk reduction community. They also highlighted the political and economic impact of disasters and climate change on local and indigenous communities. Dr Tremewan was also invited to speak at the panel discussion of the Asian University Network of Environment and Disaster Risk Management (AUEDM) and Partners Enhancing Resilience for People Exposed to Risk(Periperi-U) to share APRU’s vision of successful collaboration among higher education institutions on DRR strategies. His presentation attracted a lot of questions and interest in APRU. In addition, the MHP was able to strengthen the ties with other university networks and we were able to exchange experiences of research collaboration networks working on DRR.

The Report of the APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014 is now available on our website.  Have a look on what the very active and imaginative class of 2014 has discussed.  Please download it from the link below. Download attachments: Report – Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014

APRU member universities are warmly invited to send a graduate/post-graduate student and/or faculty member to the second summer school for of the APRU-IRIDeS Multi-hazards Program: Multi-Hazards Summer School for Graduates, Post-Graduates and Researchers: Prepare for high-impact disasters: towards the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Tohoku University, Sendai/Japan, 22-25 July 2014 To mark the second anniversary of the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami, APRU and Tohoku University launched the APRU-IRIDeS Multi-hazards Program in April 2013. The 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 now provides secretariat services as the regional program hub harnessing the collective capabilities of APRU universities for cutting-edge research on disaster risk reduction (DRR) and recovery, shares strategies to cope with campus disaster risk management, and contributes to international policy making processes on DRR. The  2nd APRU – IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School (July 22-25, 2014) is hosted and organized by IRIDeS, Tohoku University. The 2014 Multi-hazards Summer School objectives are to: Understand the mechanism of the international disaster risk reduction strategy; Learn from the experiences and recovery process of the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami; Discuss the recommendations towards the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction (UNWCDRR) in March 2015 in Sendai, Japan Develop an action plan for the preparedness capacity on campus. Program The Multi-Hazards Summer School consists of a 3-day seminar and a site visit to the affected area impacted by the Great Eastern Japan Earthquake and Tsunami. The summer school topics will include: Hyogo Framework for Action ~ International framework for DRR ~ Lessons-learnt from the Great East Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Good practices of DRR initiatives from overseas Campus safety Recommendation towards the UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction Travel Costs The usual practice for APRU events is for participants to fund their own travel and accommodation. Where university funding is limited or not available, some funds for students have been set-aside by the APRU Secretariat and Tohoku University to assist with travel costs subject to applicants meeting certain requirements (students only). Please submit all requests for travel support to [email protected]. No registration fee is required for this summer school. Confirmation We hope your university will participate in this summer school. If so, please send the name, title, research interest/experience and contact information of your representatives by email to [email protected] with copy to [email protected] no later than May 16, 2014. We will accept the nomination/application only from the university, not from an individual student/faculty. Additional information More information on the 2nd APRU – IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014 and the report of the APRU – IRIDeS Summer School 2013 can be downloaded below. If you have any queries regarding the summer school, please contact Dr Takako Izumi (APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Program Coordinator) at IRIDeS, Tohoku University at [email protected] with copy to [email protected]. Download attachments: APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School 2014 – Leaflet APRU-IRIDeS Multi-Hazards Summer School 2013 – Report

The APRU symposium series on Multi-Hazards around the Pacific Rim hosted its ninth symposium from 28 to 29 October 2013 at National Taiwan University in Chinese Taipei. The 9th APRU symposium was 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/  A video link to the symposium can be found here.   Welcome 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.   Call for papers (closed) The abstract submission is now available at http://www.apru2013.com/ All papers will be peer reviewed by an international scientific committee.   Themes & Topics Multi-hazards induced by extreme weather Multi-hazards induced by earthquake Multi-hazards induced by volcanic activity Air pollution and haze related issue Disaster risk assessment and impact analysis Advanced research on monitoring, sensing, nowcasting and forecasting Disaster management and education Post-disaster recovery and reconstruction Disaster health and emergency management Key dates (updated) 5 May, 2013 Abstract submission 31 August 2013 Deadline for abstract submission 7 September, 2013 Notification of review results / abstract acceptance 14 September, 2013 Deadline for early‐bird registration 30 September, 2013 Deadline for late online registration 5 October, 2013 Final Program to be released online 28-29 October, 2013 Symposium period 30-31 October, 2013 Field trip   Download attachments: 2013-0709_APRU_Invitation_En_1.pdf 2013-0709_Flyer_En_1.pdf

John Rundle is a Distinguished Professor at the University of California, Davis, and a thought leader in earthquake sciences. He is also an External Professor at the Sante Fe Institute, New Mexico; Director of the California Institute for Hazard Research of the University of California; Executive Director of the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulation (ACES); and Chairman of the Open Hazards Group, a team dedicated to reducing the impacts of natural disasters. Prof Rundle attended the APRU Multi-hazards Symposium at Tohoku University, Japan. Being situated in the Pacific Ring of Fire, all APRU universities face the common threat of earthquakes and tsunamis. What do you think are the opportunities for APRU universities to partner to address this shared threat? The APRU universities are the world’s leading repositories of knowledge and expertise for strategies, technologies, and data for confronting these devastating natural hazards. In addition, these universities will train the great majority of the next generation of intellectual leaders in the required areas of science and technologies. That being said, no university by itself has all of the needed expertise. For that reason, collaboration is mandatory. Where one university is comparatively weaker, another may be stronger. What has been missing is the scientific and technological framework, together with the institutional structure to allow this collaboration to develop and succeed. This is where the APRU contribution will be critically important. What do you think is the potential utility to APRU universities if projects like www.openhazards.com website was expanded around the Pacific Rim as a collaborative APRU project? The openhazards.com site is an open-access web site offering apps (applications) for personal seismic hazard forecasting, residential risk assessment, and other types of information and personal risk management utilities for the global public. Recently we have introduced social networking on the site, so that site visitors can define their own groups, upload photos, and originate discussion threads among groups of people. While intended as a disaster reduction resource for the general public, it is also highly useful as a means for collaboration among professional groups such as the APRU multihazards initiative. Unlike sites such as Facebook, which is not available in some APEC economies including China, and which has other aims, openhazards is meant to be a site primarily for those interested in disaster mitigation and reduction, providing apps in the form of tools and information to a global audience. While initially built as a site with disaster related apps, openhazards is now evolving into a social networking platform that is hosting and will host an increasing number of disaster-related apps for information and mitigation. We believe that a site such as openhazards can significantly and positively impact the problem of collaboration among these far-flung groups, and lead to modes of remote cooperation and collaboration not previously possible. Given the global trends in severity and frequency of natural disasters over the past decade – from the Aceh tsunami, to the Haiti earthquake to the Japan tsunami – do you think we are at an academic crossroads where knowledge generation in natural hazards should become an integral part of higher education strategies, rather than an option related to specific disciplinary backgrounds? Natural hazards affect all of us. As human populations increasingly move into at-risk areas, due to population growth and economic factors, human society is increasingly vulnerable to catastrophes. An example of these is global warming, which will put coastal areas at risk due to rising sea levels. Another example is tsunamis, such as the events of March 11, 2011 and of December 26, 2004. And since more than 30% of the worlds’ populations will live within seismically active zones within a few decades, it is clear that knowledge about natural disasters needs to be far more widely disseminated and understood than it has been to date. Who would have thought that New York city would be devastated by hurricane Sandy? It is clear that everyone needs to be aware of the destructive potential of natural events. And who would have thought that the Tohoku earthquake would make a measurable (negative) impact on the global economy? So yes, knowledge of natural hazards is no longer optional, but rather needs to be a strong component of higher education strategies. Can you share with us your experiences working with the APEC Cooperation for Earthquake Simulation (ACES) and how such collaborations are influencing regional earthquake/hazard policy with APEC? ACES (http://quakes.earth.uq.edu.au/) was proposed by Peter Mora at the University of Queensland in 1997, and was approved at the APEC ISTWG meeting in Singapore that year, having been sponsored by the Australian economy. The original partner economies, along with Australia, were China, Japan, and the United States. Since then, the economies of Canada, Chinese Taipei, and New Zealand have joined and regularly participate. Officially sanctioned meetings have been organized by the various economies since 1998, the most recent being in Maui, HI, Oct 23-26, 2012, hosted by the United States. In the years ACES group has been meeting, we have found that we have a great number of common interests and there have been exchanges of codes, scientists, and students. However, one of the modes that needs some further consideration and development is the mechanisms of collaboration , inasmuch as the research groups are separated by many thousands of miles around the Pacific Rim. Travel among these locations has been and will always be a significant detriment to collaboration among these far-flung groups. This has led our group to develop a new approach, utilizing new social networking ideas, as described below. Another requirement that has become apparent is the need for a more permanent, overarching structure or umbrella organization under which to operate. This requirement motivates the ACES interest collaborating with the APRU muiltihazards initiative to move both research organizations forward. We know that climate change already poses unprecedented threats to the global population and environment. On top of this, what impacts can earthquakes have on the broader adaptation/mitigation debate, based on your studies of earthquake behavior? It has been said that because climate change is gradual, it may be possible to adapt in certain ways. However, great disasters such as the Tohoku earthquake have often been unanticipated, making disaster response extremely challenging. While humans may be able to adapt to climate change, they can only respond to sudden great disasters, and must therefore rely on mitigation strategies. Within the next decades, more than a third of the world’s populations will live in seismically active zones. As the great Tohoku earthquake indicated, these great disasters will have an increasingly measureable impact on the global economy, not to mention the considerable loss of life and property. Many of these seismically active regions lie along global coastlines, and are thus economically critical to the continuation of international trade and economic development. Coastlines cannot be abandoned, so new types of strategies must be developed that allow economies to grow and respond to great coastal and earthquake disasters. Only the APRU universities have the intellectual capability to develop and formulate strategies to implement these approaches. Can you tell us a bit about new approaches that you and your research group are taking in forecasting or managing hazard and risk? Our forecasting approaches are explained in a series of publications in the peer-reviewed literature over the past decade, the most recent of which has been published in the prestigious journal Physical Review E* [1]. Basically we use small earthquakes to forecast the probability of large earthquakes. In addition, a more general and probably more accessible description can be found at http://www.openhazards.com/topics-forecasts. *J.B. Rundle, J.R. Holliday, W.R. Graves, D.L. Turcotte, K.F. Tiampo and W. Klein, Probabilities for large events in driven threshold systems, Phys. Rev. E, 86, 021106 (2012)