Okayama University’s Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences teamed up with the Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy on November 3 to 4 to hold the “International Clinical Research Designing Workshop 2017” in Hai Phong, Socialist Republic of Vietnam, as a workshop for learning about how to design for improved implementation of clinical research within an international framework.

These days “designing” has become important when conducting research in medical treatment settings. Through systematic theory obtained from a comprehensive examination of problems identified in clinical settings and ways of extracting data and hypotheses and analyzing them, better clinical research can be conducted. Teaching staff from both universities served as facilitators for the workshop, pointing out goals to be aimed for and promoting discussion of the problems assigned to each group based on design thinking. Workshop participants solved the problems while helping each other overcome unfamiliar points.

The Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy concluded a Faculty-Level Agreement with Okayama University’s Dental School in 2010, followed by a University-Level International Exchange Agreement in 2015. Also, in 2014, Okayama University dispatched a dental surgeon from the Dental School to Hai Phong University of Medicine and Pharmacy, to help open the International Dental Center there. In addition, we are making use of our university’s “Okayama Dental Study Abroad Program for Undergraduate Students” (ODAPUS) for third-year Dental School students,the Japan Science and Technology Agency’s (JST’s) Japan-Asia Youth Exchange Program in Science “Sakura Science plan” and similar initiatives, to actively foster human resources in educational research. Through additional exchanges in the future, we will put effort into producing “medical men and women with high-level practical experience” who can play an active part in international society.