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Last date for receipt of abstracts (12:00 noon Japan time of December 8th 2015) will not be extended.
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The 2016 Annual Conference of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology and Agrochemistry
JUN KAWABATA
I would like to take this opportunity to share a few words on the forthcoming 2016 annual conference of the Japan Society for Bioscience, Biotechnology, and Agrochemistry (JSBBA).
The conference will be held in Sapporo and organized by our Hokkaido Branch for the first time in 11 years, since 2005. The conference will be conducted over four days from Sunday, March 27, to Wednesday, March 30. On the first day, March 27, we will host an awards ceremony, award lectures, and the JSBBA Chemistry and Biology Symposium, all of which will be held in the main hall of the Sapporo Education and Culture Hall. Thereafter, the venue will shift to the Royton Sapporo Hotel for a social banquet. The Royton Sapporo Hotel is located at a three-minute walk from the Sapporo Education and Culture Hall, the venue for the awards ceremony and other events. Both venues are a convenient five-minute walk from Nishi 11 Chome Station on the Tozai Line of the Sapporo Municipal Subway.
Similar to last year’s conference, we will hold the Chemistry and Biology Symposium during the time between the award lectures and the social banquet. As one of the guest speakers at this year’s conference, we will welcome Akira Suzuki, a Japanese chemist and Nobel Prize Laureate (2010). Dr. Suzuki will deliver a speech that the senior high school students and members of the general public in attendance will also be able to enjoy. We also encourage JSBBA members to attend.
In the three-day period from March 28 to March 30, general presentations (poster presentations), symposiums, and affiliated exhibitions will be held at the Sapporo Convention Center and the Sapporo Business Innovation Center (both an eight-minute walk from Higashi-Sapporo Station on the Tozai Line of the Sapporo Municipal Subway). All of the general presentations will be poster presentations, and we will adopt a system in which the entire main hall of the Convention Center is used and where posters are replaced daily. Moreover, we will establish core times in the period after the lunch break each day, so we intend that participants will engage in lively discussion. Furthermore, the symposiums (25 topics) will be held in the same convention center in the morning and afternoon of March 28 and 29 and in the morning of March 30, so as to ensure that these events do not clash with the core times.
The underlying theme for this year’s conference will be “Pioneering Multidisciplinary Study,” with a focus on agricultural chemistry, a field that is currently developing in collaboration with a variety of fields. We have identified the invigoration of agricultural chemistry research as a concept for the event by establishing topics contributed by young researchers for the purpose of developing next generation research in agricultural chemistry. The Business Innovation Center, the main venue for our affiliated exhibitions, is located directly in front of the Convention Center, a convenient 30-second walk away, so we welcome participants to also participate in this part of the event. In addition, we will provide rest facilities, including drinks, so participants can rest their tired minds and refresh themselves after the discussions.
As usual, various customary events will also take place. The JSBBA Junior Conference, held on the morning of March 28, will take place in Hokkaido for the first time. Since this event was first introduced at the Kyoto Conference, which was held the year after the Sapporo Conference of 2005, this year’s event will mark the completion of the event’s first rotation among the various regions of Japan. Each year, senior high school students present an impressive range of innovative ideas and formidable achievements. We hope that you will offer your warm encouragement to these enthusiastic young students. The participant schools will also attend the Chemistry and Biology Symposium on the previous day. Thereafter, from the morning of March 28 the students will deliver presentations, attend an awards ceremony, and participate in an exchange meeting, before concluding activities shortly after lunch.
On the afternoon of March 29, we will host the Academic Exchange Forum, which aims to promote a collaboration among the Industry, Academia, and the Government, a prominent feature of the JSBBA. We also plan to hold a mini poster session in the hall at the same time. Additionally, in the evening, we will hold a mixer to provide an opportunity for participants to engage in lively exchanges. As in previous years, the luncheon seminars will also take place. Unfortunately, dining facilities close to the venue are limited, so we recommend that you participate in the seminars. Both of the luncheon symposiums, Gender Equality (March 28) and JABEE (March 30), will be improved and expanded for this year’s event, so we hope that you will actively participate in them.
From the evening of the final day, March 30, to the next day, the Frontiers Symposium for young researchers and students will take place at the Jozankei View Hotel in Jozankei Onsen, on the outskirts of Sapporo. We expect that the event will, as in previous years, provide a forum for lively exchange among young researchers, instructors, and both undergraduate and postgraduate students. From the afternoon of March 31, we plan to hold an excursion for those who intend to participate, so we also encourage you to participate in this.
Many members of our Hokkaido Branch have joined the organizing committee for this year’s conference. Although the Hokkaido Branch is the smallest of our seven Branchs, its members are striving to prepare thoroughly in order to ensure that the first Hokkaido conference in 10 years ends in success. In Sapporo in late March, the chill of winter still remains, and the last event in 2005 took place amid snowy conditions. I am sure that many participants remember how cold it was. Please wear warm clothes and spare some time in your schedule. While the weather is beyond their control, the organizing committee is happy to answer any questions you may have, so please feel free to contact them.
Lastly, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the many enterprises and organizations that have donated funds or will contribute exhibits, participate in luncheon seminars, or display advertisements for the conference. The day prior to the first day of the Sapporo Conference, March 26, will also mark a special event in history: the opening of the initial section of the Hokkaido Shinkansen. The centenary of the JSBBA is also drawing near. The times are steadily changing. We eagerly await your participation in this year’s conference, which we hope will help surmount barriers between generations and specialist fields and serve as a starting point for the development of a new form of agricultural chemistry for the future.
