President Tominaga with UCL President & Provost Spence
From December 10-12, 2025, President Teiji Tominaga led a Tohoku University delegation visit to the United Kingdom. The delegation representatives included Executive Vice President (for General Affairs, International Relations, and Academic Resources) Toshiya Ueki, Vice President (for Education Reform and Global Engagement) Masahiro Yamaguchi, and Associate Executive Vice President (for Global Co-creation) Atsuhiro Nakagawa.
On December 11, the delegation visited University College London (UCL), toured its Institute of Neurology, and met with UCL President and Provost Michael Spence about future collaborations. At the end of the meeting, President Tominaga and President Spence signed a Letter of Intent to strengthen the cooperative relationship between the two institutions. In doing so, they expressed the universities’ agreement to promote academic collaboration, including the establishment of a double degree program in disaster science. They also agreed to focus on neuroscience and quantum science as new key areas for collaboration.
The visit coincided with a joint workshop with researchers, including early-career researchers (ECRs), from both universities. Participants engaged in interdisciplinary discussions spanning a variety of fields including life sciences, data science, materials science, AI and ophthalmology, and innovation. President Tominaga and President Spence expressed their shared hope that the participants, and especially the ECRs in the audience, would play an important role in future collaborations between Tohoku University and UCL.
Later that day, a reception co-hosted by the Embassy of Japan in the UK and Tohoku University was held at Japan House London with about 80 UK-based Japanese researchers and industry representatives in attendance.
At the event, President Tominaga introduced Tohoku University’s initiatives as an accredited University for International Research Excellence. He also conversed with many participants, strengthening the university’s network with the UK’s academic and industrial sectors.
On the 12th, the delegation paid a courtesy visit to the Embassy of Japan in the UK and had the opportunity to share the university’s initiatives with the Ambassador of Japan to the UK, His Excellency Mr. Hiroshi Suzuki.
The ambassador expressed a high level of interest in Tohoku University’s Gateway College and shared his great expectations for the university’s efforts as Japan’s first University for International Research Excellence, which he believes will serve as a model for other universities in the future.
Through this visit, it is expected that the university will see both its strategic partnership with UCL progress to a new stage as well as further developments in international research and human resource exchange with other higher education institutions across the UK.