On September 16th, 2014 HM Ambassador to Japan, Mr. Timothy Hitchens and Ms. Elizabeth Hogben, Head, Science & Innovation at the British Embassy, Tokyo, visited with President Satomi and Executive Vice President Ueki and engaged in active discussions in regards to academic exchanges between Tohoku University the United Kingdom.
Ambassador Hitchens expressed his strong approval of the researcher exchanges between Tohoku University and University College London (UCL) and Cambridge University, as well as the exchange opportunities given to young researchers by the RENKEI* scheme. As HM Ambassador to Japan, he also conveyed his hope that these exchanges between both countries universities will continue and grow in the future.
Following this courtesy visit, Ambassador Hitchens had discussions with the Director of the International Research Institute of Disaster Science (IRIDeS), Prof. Fumihiko Imamura and Prof. Motoko Kotani, Director of WPI-AIMR, where he displayed a strong interest in the research being conducted at Tohoku University
*RENKEI：is a consortium between 12 Japanese and British Universities founded in 2012 with the goal of greater collaborative research, knowledge sharing, cultivation of human resources and additional academia-industry collaborations between the two countries