On Friday, March 14th, the Hokkaido University Otsuka Prize award ceremony was held at the university's administrative office.
The Otsuka Prize is an incentive program established in 2005 (Heisei 17) as part of the university's gender equality initiatives, with the aim of fostering outstanding female students who aspire to become researchers. (For more details, see below)CLICK HEREplease look at. )
This year, 10 individuals were selected through a review process based on recommendations from the Deans of the Colleges (including Deans of Graduate Schools). At the award ceremony, President Kiyohiro Takaragi, Professor Emeritus Eiko Otsuka, Executive Vice President Aya Takahashi, and Deputy Director of the Diversity and Inclusion Promotion Headquarters Rika Yano were in attendance, and President Takaragi presented the certificates of commendation.
Following the award ceremony, a social gathering was held at the same venue with the award recipients, Professor Emeritus Otsuka, and faculty members of the university who had previously received the Otsuka Award.
The exchange meeting began with greetings from Deputy Director Yano and introductions of each award recipient, followed by a standing reception. The atmosphere was friendly and the conversation flowed easily, which seemed to help expand the researcher network among the award recipients. The informal discussions with Professor Emeritus Otsuka and Deputy Director Yano, which took place in separate groups, provided a valuable opportunity to talk about their career plans after graduation and their aspirations for future research activities.
Throughout the exchange event, we were able to present female students with diverse career paths and role models, and it concluded with great success.
