Crossing Scientific Borders

“Scientific conferences habitually involve science specialists sharing information with other scientists in the same field. However, OIST’s interdisciplinary nature  means that alternative ways that encourage researchers in different fields of research to mingle, need to be fostered,” states Dr. Takeshi Kawashima, co-organizer of the just concluded Junior Researchers Retreat (JRR) held at OIST on December 8th and 9th, 2011.

Time to retreat

OIST’s interdisciplinary nature includes research ranging from neuroscience, molecular sciences, and mathematical sciences, environmental and ecological sciences to the physical sciences. The university prides itself in being a department-free research institute providing scientists with the opportunity to mix and mingle with their peers.

At the JRR, scientists crossed scientific borders by presenting, listening, discussing and debating their respective research. The retreat included presentations from 5 faculty members and 16 non-faculty researchers.

Dr. Laurent Guillaud, co-organizer of this year’s retreat, concluded, “It was good to see many people at this retreat. The presentations and discussions were very interesting. We got to know better what researchers from different research fields are working on and we hope that this retreat and the next ones will eventually encourage collaborative research among them.”