icon. 
Secretary General of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) Dr. Kai Sicks paid a visit to Kyoto University on 20 April accompanied by Mr. Axel Karpenstein (Head of DAAD Tokyo Office) and Mr. Pascal Kim-Wenz.
For this occasion, University Research Administrators in charge of Europe organized an informal round-table meeting at the Kyoto University’s beautiful Izumi-dono. In this meeting, DAAD and Kyoto University staff sat together with four Kyoto University students and young researchers, who have or will be funded by the DAAD-Kyoto University Partnership Programme towards SDGs. This funding scheme is a cooperation between KURA and DAAD and supports the mobility of Kyoto University members with German universities and research institutes and vice versa.
To open the event, Professor Mika Yokoyama (Director of Kyoto University European Center) gave a few introductory remarks. The students and young researchers followed with presentations of their research. They also talked candidly about their experiences in Germany and their future prospects. This led to a vivid discussion with the DAAD members. In this way, the event – once more – showed the significance of this program for international exchange and mobility of researchers at an early stage of their careers. Additionally, it provided a lively feedback by young researchers and their needs, which will facilitate further improvements.
