On January 18, Okayama University held an award ceremony at the 50th Anniversary Hall to honor on-campus SDGs initiatives and promote their activities. Featured initiatives were awarded the SDGs President Award, which was established in order to raise awareness about on-campus SDGs activities. This year, we solicited applications from initiatives that promote the SDGs across four categories: Education, Research, Workplace and Student Groups. We received a total of 16 applications, of which 6 were commended with Excellence Awards and 5 with Encouragement Awards. The 11 successful applicants also had the opportunity to present their activities at the ceremony.

The following initiatives were commended with Excellence Awards:
Third-year students at the School of Special Needs Education Attached to the Faculty of Education, Okayama University for their “SDGs initiative at a special needs high school”; Okayama University Faculty of Engineering/Okayama Ichinomiya High School/INTEC Education College in Malaysia for their “International high school-university collaboration project in Japan and Malaysia aiming to achieve the SDGs”; Noutoshi Research Team for its "Developmental research project on disease resistance inducer (plant defense activator) in plants to contribute to sustainable agriculture”; Organization for Diversity Management’s Gender Equality Office for its “Mentor program for female researchers”; Okayama University Hospital Department of General Medicine for its “Specialty outpatient clinic for COVID-19 sequelae”; and Environmental Club ECOLO for its “Recycle Market”.

At the award ceremony, President MAKINO Hirofumi remarked, “I hope that by actively promoting these wonderful initiatives, more people will be incentivized to contribute to the university’s SDGs efforts.”

After receiving their awards, the winning groups presented their initiatives, outlining how they operated during the pandemic and adjusted to online activities. Vice Executive Director in charge of SDGs promotion KANO Mitsunobu, who moderated the presentations, interacted with each group and encouraged them to discover a new perspective on the future path of their initiatives.

Finally, Executive Director for Planning and General Affairs TAKAHASHI Kayo took a moment to comment on the initiatives before thanking the members of the university and local community for their various efforts to promote the SDGs. She especially encouraged the young people in attendance to maintain their passion and enthusiasm.

As a research university promoting the SDGs, Okayama University will continue to actively promote campus initiatives and encourage collaboration with the local community with the aim of building a brighter future and achieving the SDGs locally.

Click here for an overview of the award-winning groups and initiatives