On September 20,Okayama University held the research symposium for the Okayama University Science, Technology, and Innovation Creation Fellowship (OU Fellowship) at the 50th Anniversary Memorial Hall.
　
The 37 recipients of the OU Fellowship, postgraduate course students at Okayama University, presented their research as poster presenters. In the research symposium, they introduced their research in an easy-to-understand way and engaged in heated discussions on the subject of their research with attendees such as young researchers, faculty, master course students and staff in various research fields.
　
Executive Director for Research/Vice President NASU Yasutomo gave opening remarks, saying that “communication with a variety of people is essential for increasing research skills. I hope that you will take advantage of this opportunity to engage in networking with each other.”
　
At the research symposium, the OU Fellowship recipients voted for the presentation that they thought was uniquely or well designed. The Best Presentation Award was awarded to GOHARA Yuma of the Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, TIAN Weihang of the Faculty of Natural Science and Technology, and MIYAMOTO Ai of the Faculty of Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering in Health Systems, who all received the same number of votes. For the winners, certificates and prizes were awarded by Executive Director NASU.

To close the event, Professor OHTSUKA Aiji of the Organization for Research Strategy and Development and who is a general manager in research for the OU Fellowship, gave a speech. He praised the recipients, saying that “there were only a few votes separating the winners from the other recipients. All of the presentations were filled with passion” and appealed to the room, stating “we were unable to hold these networking sessions in the past due to COVID-19, but I hope that we can create more opportunities like this in future. I ask all of you to propose ideas for this.”

○The OU Fellowship is a research scholarship for the postgraduate course students at Okayama University for recipients that provides research funds and support funds equivalent to living expenses (1.8 million yen per year) while provide support for enhancing research skills and securing a career path through various initiatives.
The Fellowship is scheduled to continue in 2024 and beyond that.