“The First International Symposium on Advanced Soft Matter: Celebrating the Kick-off of the Global Station for Soft Matter” was held on June 13th – 15th, 2016 at Hokkaido University. The symposium started with opening remarks by President Keizo Yamaguchi of Hokkaido University, followed by a guest speech by Mr. Naoki Himiya, Director of the National University Corporation Support Division at the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, Japan.
The top researchers on soft matter from all over the world came to give lectures: from the U.S., the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Duke University, North Carolina State University, and Iowa State University; from France, ESPCI, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, and Université Paris Diderot; and from Japan, the University of Tokyo and Hokkaido University. After the lectures, there was an active discussion involving members in the audience. The poster session was held at the end of the symposium where students and young researchers had the opportunity to present their work and receive face to face comments from the world-leading researchers.
Attended by nearly 150 people, the symposium was a successful kick-off event for Global Station for Soft Matter, and the station aims to continue more international collaborative work in the near future.