2024/03/11-13
The “ElyT” workshop in 2024 was held in Sendai and Yamagata from March 11th to 13th and this is a short attendance report by me, Mohamad Faridafshin.
This workshop is an event related to “ELyT School” which, according to their website “is organized every year (alternating between Lyon and Sendai) with the aim of presenting the partner institutions to students from the other country (mainly Masters students, to encourage the creation of jointly-supervised Ph.D. research projects, and undergraduate students to promote Masters double-degree programs).” The first day of the workshop was held in Sendai, and the next two days in Kaminoyama in Yamagata prefecture. The workshop started by talks given by invited speakers from Japan and France. The first two talks of the morning session were specifically appealing for me because they were related to the topic of my PhD study which is ultrasonic testing. Hearing the advances of the field gave me some ideas for the future direction of my research. The two talks were followed by talks and presentations in the afternoon session given by researchers and students.
On the second day of the workshop, we went to Kaminoyama by the chartered buses provided by the workshop’s organizing committee. The buses departed the Katahira campus on 7:50 in the morning. It was amazing for me to see the mountains getting gradually covered by snow as we moved towards Kaminoyama.
We arrived at the hotel around 10:00, and the workshop started right away with 15-minute presentations one after another. It was a long day with four sessions that lasted until 18:45. We were staying in 月岡 (Tsukioka) hotel that had a private Onsen, to which everyone headed right after the dinner. The dinner was very special for me because of しゃぶしゃぶ (Shabu-Shabu).
My presentation was scheduled to be on the last session of the workshop on the morning of March 13th. Giving this presentation in front of an international audience that mostly consisted of my seniors made me so proud and at the same time, made me so nervous. However, I got some really good questions and encouragements during the Q&A session, and our discussion continued even after the session, was finished.
Then we visited the Kaminoyama castle museum. There were nice statues and pictures in the museum, but the most amazing part for me was the view of Kaminoyama city from the top of the castle; something I do not usually see in Iran.
I also was very surprised to find some very small hand-made brooms in the souvenir shop that was similar to the same thing we have in Iran.
After the visit to the Kaminoyama castle, we got on the bus and went back to Sendai. Similar to the ISEM2023 conference I attended last November, this workshop provided me the chance to meet new people and make new opportunities that will help my self-improvement and the improvement of our laboratory.