Professor Hiroshi Abe, Kyoto University Graduate School of Human and Environmental Studies, was awarded the 2017 Philipp Franz von Siebold Award. The awarding ceremony took place on June 29 at Belluvue Palace in Berlin, the presidential residence.
Professor Dr. Helmut Schwarz (President, Alexander von Humboldt Foundation), Mr. Takeshi Yagi (Ambassador of Japan to Germany), Mr. Kiminori Iwama (Minister of Japan to Germany), Dr. Keiichi Kodaira (Director, Bonn Office of JSPS) and 11 other members participated the lunch reception at the Japanese Ambassador’s residence after the ceremony. This award is given annually to a Japanese academic for outstanding services to enhancing mutual understanding of culture and society in Germany and Japan. To respect its spirit, Japanese cuisine was served and German language was used during the reception.
To further enhance and elaborate his research, Professor Abe is currently conducting two research projects, funded by DFG (German Research Foundation). One is an interdisciplinary study group called Nature Time Responsibility (NTR) of which he is a founding member and plans to hold a conference this year in Germany, and the other to publish books based on his joint research with German universities.