From August 26 to 30, the Environmental Management Course of the School of Engineering held the "OU course in the NTU-UR-OU Exchange Program: Research Experiences in the field of SDGs Field Environmental Science." Seven second-year students from the Environmental Management Course participated in this program, along with 8 undergraduate students and Assoc. Prof. Tsai Jui-Pin from National Taiwan University (NTU), 4 undergraduate students, and Prof. Dewpura Acharige Lilisiya Leelamanie from University of Ruhuna (UR), Sri Lanka.

At the opening ceremony, Dean NANBA Tokuro of the School of Engineering gave an opening address, followed by an introduction to the course by KUKI Yasuaki, Chair of the Environmental Management Course, and an introduction to Okayama's culture by Okayama University students. During the 5-day program, participating students attended 8 lectures (lecturers: Prof. MAEDA Morihiro, Prof. CHIKAMORI Hidetaka, Prof. NAKATA Kazuyoshi, Assist. Prof. KATSUHARA Koki, Assoc. Prof. SOMURA Hiroaki, Assoc. Prof. TSUJIMOTO Kumiko, Assist. Prof. Habuer, Prof. KUKI Yasuaki, and Prof. MORI Yasushi), and laboratory tours gave the students an opportunity to experience cutting-edge research activities. At the presentation event, the students introduced what they had learned from the laboratory tours and lectures to the other groups and professors. During the field trip, the groups visited the Kojima Bay embankment construction site, where Mr. SUYAMA Shuji, Vice-Director of the Okayama-Minami Land Improvement Construction Office, Chugoku–Shikoku Regional Agricultural Administration Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, gave a talk about an overview of the earthquake reinforcement work, the students toured the construction site. Also, with the cooperation of the Shikoku Land Improvement Research and Management Office, Chugoku–Shikoku Regional Agricultural Administration Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, they visited the coastal area of the Kagawa Irrigation and Drainage Project, the Kagawa Irrigation Canals/the Doki River. Secretary General ASANO Masaya from the Mannoike Land Improvement District, Chairman HATAOKA Shoichi from Okada-Higashi Community Organization (A one component organization of the Ayauta Community Wide Area Agreement), and Mr. SAITO Mitsuo from WESCO Co., Ltd explained environmentally-friendly construction methods in agricultural waterways, aquatic animal conservation, agricultural water operation, and overview of Manno Pond, a World Heritage site for irrigation facilities.

Prior to the OU course, the NTU course was held in Taipei from August 11 to 17, and the same members of the Environmental Management course participated. After the opening ceremony and campus tour, the participants received lectures on topics such as greenhouse gas emissions and carbon sequestration in soil environments, watershed management, modeling and analysis, circular economy technology and urban green engineering, unsaturated soil water infiltration, water resources management and system dynamic modeling, hydrological spectrum analysis of climate change, and climate change measures in the building environment. They also visited Xiangshan Park and an agricultural waterway facility to see examples of applications of what they learned in the lectures.
Through the above activities, students from 3 universities learned about the concept of environmental research and the latest research activities of another university while enjoying communicating in English. In addition, we showcased the education and research activities at the School of Engineering and the Graduate School of Environmental, Life, Natural Science and Technology, and discussed our future faculty/student exchanges and joint research. We hope to use this opportunity to promote overseas exchanges among students and faculty members.

This is an annual exchange program initiated in 2022 and supported by the Sakura Science Exchange Program, JST (Japan Science and Technology Agency) and WESCO Co. LTD. The detailed program was uploaded at the following URL.
https://sites.google.com/view/sakura-science-2024/top