2015 Update Session - August 27 (Auditorium)

[Overview]

The Occupational Health and Safety Section will hold its annual Update Session on August 27 (Thursday) and 28 (Friday). The Update Session is an annual seminar hosted by the Occupational Health and Safety Section (OHS) that acts as a supplement to the regular trainings that researchers and students have undergone before starting their research work. The session keeps researchers and students up-to-date with the latest government laws and regulations, OIST policies and procedures, and any other useful information related to safety and health in research activities. It plays an important role in filling in the gaps for researchers who are too busy to keep themselves up-to-date with the constantly changing research environment. The session also includes special seminars on related topics: last year, for example, Associate Professor Kengo Tomita from Osaka University gave a lecture on risks and safety precautions related to chemical materials and earthquakes.

 

[Features of the 2015 Update Session]

In addition to the regular update content, there is a plan to hold a Seminar on Responsible Research Conduct in collaboration with the office of the Dean of Research to promote research integrity at OIST.

 

The STAP cell scandal involving Riken that broke in the spring of 2014 was a loud wake-up call. The Japanese research community is now facing the challenge of regaining public trust. How can we achieve this? One way to figure out how we can build a better research environment and an organizational structure that is resistant to research misconduct is to learn from the past. Ms. Momoko Suda, science reporter from the Mainichi Shimbun* and award-winning author of Netsuzo no Kagakusha (Fraudulent Scientists), will discuss the STAP cell scandal in detail, from the very beginning right up to the present day, including behind-the-scenes insights.

 

We want to give OIST members a sense of how public trust in science is in a state of crisis, and to think collectively about how to uphold and further promote research integrity.

 

The special seminar on August 27 is co-hosted by the Communications Divisions and open to the public.

  *The Mainichi Shimbun is one of the five major newspapers in Japan with a circulation of 3,326,979.

 

[Schedule and Venue]

Date: August 27 and 28, 2015 

Venue: B250 Seminar Room

 

[Agenda (tentative)]

Thursday, August 27 (Day 1): The Special Seminar is open to the public. The venue is the auditorium.                 

                  13:30 -14:40   Update Session: OHS (for those affiliated with the University)

                  14:40-15:00    Break – open the door to the public

                  15:00-15:05    Opening Remarks by EVP George Iwama (Acting Dean of Research)

                 15:05 -16:00   Special Seminar: Lecturer Ms. Momoko Suda, Mainichi Shimbun Newspapers

                                        “The STAP-Cell Scandal: A Journalist’s Perspective” (tentative title)

                  1600 – 16:30   Q&A and Discussion Session

                  16:30             Closing Remarks by TBD

Register from here: https://groups.oist.jp/ja/august-27-update-session-2015-registration

 

Friday, August 28 (Day 2): Exclusively for OIST members. The venue is seminar room B250.

                  14:00-14:05    Opening Remarks by EVP George Iwama (Acting Dean of Research)

                  14:05 -15:00   Update Session: OHS

                  15:00 -16:00   Special Seminar: Lecturer Ms. Momoko Suda, Mainichi Shimbun Newspapers

                                        “The STAP-Cell Scandal: A Journalist’s Perspective” (tentative title)

                  16:00 -16:30   Q&A and Discussion Session

                  16:00            Closing Remarks by TBD

Web-form URL: https://groups.oist.jp/ja/august-28-update-session-request

 

 Note: 1) The sessions on Day 1 and Day 2 will cover exactly the same content.

      2) The Special Seminar will feature simultaneous interpretation (Japanese to English)

 

[A Request from the Speaker]

Ms. Suda has requested to be briefed on the University and to be allowed to conduct some interviews. The Communications Division will be primarily in charge of planning for and catering to this request.

 

[Momoko Suda: Biosketch]

Momoko Suda is a science reporter from the Science Environment Division at the Tokyo Head Office of Mainichi Shimbun Newspapers. She was born in 1975 in Chiba Prefecture, Japan. She earned her Master’s Degree in Physics at the Graduate School of Science and Engineering, Waseda University, before joining the newspaper company in April 2001. After serving at the Mito branch in Ibaraki Prefecture, she was appointed to her current position in 2006, where she is in charge of covering topics such as assisted reproductive medicine, life sciences and the Nobel Prize. Her track record includes reporting on iPS cells, from the development stage in 2006, to 2012 when Professor Shinya Yamanaka of Kyoto University was awarded the Nobel Prize. When the discovery of STAP cells was first announced she reported it as a positive development, having put her faith in Riken’s claim that it was the “discovery of the century.” As doubts started to arise over the authenticity of the research, her insights and personal sources quickly made her a frontrunner in the media coverage, and she released a number of exclusive reports. In 2015, she was awarded the 46th Oya Souichi Non-Fiction Award and the Science Journalist Award in 2015 for her book Netsuzo no Kagakusha (Fraudulent Scientists) that portrayed events surrounding her coverage of the STAP cell scandal.