IAC News

Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.18
“The Challenges of Construction, Training, and Management for the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport Project to Build an Airport in the Capital of Mongolia”

On May 31, 2021, the Japanese Civil Engineers the Global Leaders Symposium Series No.18 “The Challenges of Construction, Training, and Management for the New Ulaanbaatar International Airport Project to Build an Airport in the Capital of Mongolia” was held by the International Activities Center of JSCE. This symposium had been in the works since last year, but it was held in May this year due to the postponement of the opening of the airport due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Following opening remarks from Mr. Okuda (Technical Deputy Director, Civil Aviation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), and Mr. Ieda (President, JSCE), Mr. Mori, (Director, Civil Aviation Bureau, Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism), Mr. Kondo (Deputy Researcher, JICA Social Infrastructure Department), Deputy Mayor Kihara of Oita City (a former expert at JICA for many years), and Mr. Ashida (Manager, International Affairs Office, Narita International Airport Corporation) explained about the efforts of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism and JICA in the overseas airport sector, the status of support for Mongolia, the progress of projects in Mongolia, and the transfer of skills. In particular, the speakers introduced case studies fitting of the current state of affairs, such as the impact caused by postponing the opening of the airport for one year due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In addition, Mr. Kihara, who stayed in Mongolia for about three and a half years, introduced life in Mongolia and the culture there. It was a content-packed three hours that contained not only information on the airport project but also slides that brought to life the sheer magnificence of Mongolian nature.

The symposium was held entirely online, and the number of participants far exceeded those of previous symposiums, with more than 400 applications received in advance of the event. It seems that the interest in Mongolia, a country most of us are unfamiliar with, and the appeal of a top-class Japan-Mongolia project, which brought together construction and management, sparked many people's interest. I also think that a wide range of people were able to participate due to the symposium focusing on an airport project, which had not been covered in this series so far. I sincerely hope that this airport will flourish as a new gateway to Mongolia. I would also like to thank everyone involved in holding this symposium.

Next time, as a slight change, I am holding a symposium focusing on case studies of ports and roads under the theme of managing an overseas transportation infrastructure project. For further information, please visit the website: https://committees.jsce.or.jp/kokusai/node/234.

 

 

【Reported by Masaru Suzuki (Leader, Project Group, IAC, JSCE)】 
 

 “Enjoy Civil Engineering at Home This Summer”

Sachi Kawakami
(Leader, Civil Engineering PR Group, Citizen Exchange Group, JSCE Communications and Public Relations Center)

At the JSCE Communication and Public Relation Center (Attractiveness of Civil Engineering Group), over the two days of Saturday, July 17 and Saturday, August 21, 2021, we planned and implemented an online event entitled “Enjoy Civil Engineering at Home This Summer - Aim to Become a Civil Engineering Professor of the Future!”

From 2017 to 2019, every July, at the JSCE Communications and Public Relations Center, we held the “JSCE Open Campus” at the JSCE Headquarters (Yotsuya, Shinjuku-ku, Tokyo). To date, we invited a large number of people, including those involved in JSCE, their families, and those who wish to go on to study civil engineering or find work as a civil engineer, to the JSCE Headquarters. Here we provided an opportunity to develop the participants' understanding of “civil engineering” through various activity-based programs and video screening events. However, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, which has continued on from last year, it is difficult to directly invite participants to visit JSCE in person as we have done so in the “JSCE Open Campus” event to date. Consequently, this fiscal year, as a new hands-on online event that replaces the conventional direct participation method, we decided to hold “Enjoy Civil Engineering at Home This Summer - Aim to Become a Civil Engineering Professor of the Future!”

Participants were elementary school students (the event was suggested for 3rd to 6th graders), and although we originally planned to take on 12 people, we received many applications, and ultimately 19 people participated in the event. The duration for one session was set to around 50 minutes to an hour, and each day consisted of two sessions, for a total of four sessions. We sent the experiment kits and report sheets to be used as part of the event to the participants beforehand, and on the day, we delivered a fun, class-based event where the teachers (JSCE members) and the participants (elementary school students) communicated back and forth via Zoom.

The titles of the sessions were as follows: Session (1) “Let’s Protect Our Families from Landslides”, Session (2) “What Is the Difference Between the Shaking of Different Buildings?”, Session (3) “What Shape Makes for a Strong Tunnel? Circular, Triangular, or Square?”, and Session (4) “Civil Engineering Card Game from A-Z”. The first three sessions were experiments and the fourth session was a card game competition using the “Civil Engineering Card Game” produced by JSCE. Those who participated in all four sessions were awarded the “Young Doboku Professor” certificate by JSCE.

As this was the first attempt at an event like this, at the planning stage, I was worried whether the event would go smoothly while communicating well with the participants. However, due to the instructor's thorough rehearsals and the positive that the participants (elementary school students) could use the event as free study during their summer vacation, the event triggered a lot of excitement over the two-day period and receive high praise in the questionnaire taken by the participants a few days later. I hope to make use of this experience for similar online events in the future.

“Enjoy Civil Engineering at Home This Summer” 

 

Report Sheet Used During the Event

“Young Doboku Professor” Certificate

 

Participants Enjoy the Event
 

【Reported by Sachi Kawakami (Leader, Civil Engineering PR Group, Citizen Exchange Group, JSCE Communications and Public Relations Center】

Concrete Committee Webinars
-Frontiers of Concrete Technology (FCT)-

The Concrete Committee of the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) has started the international webinar series “Frontiers of Concrete Technology(FCT)” from 2021. It is intended to hold the webinar 2 or 3 times a year, and this year it was held for the first time in April and the second time in August.

The seminar aims to convey Japan’s cutting-edge research in concrete technology to the world. However, if the lectures are only from Japanese researchers, the number of attendees from overseas will not increase. Therefore, themes are set for the seminars, and one Japanese researcher and one overseas researcher working on the selected theme are invited to deliver the lectures. The seminars provide time for a panel discussion, in which the overall history, the present status, and the future direction of that field of research are discussed. In this way, the numbers of overseas researchers and engineers participating will increase. Also, the seminars are made more attractive by clarifying the themes and providing discussion time. In addition, the seminars provide the Japanese participants with an opportunity to learn the status of world research.

The first seminar was held on April 16 on the theme “Use of FRP Composites for Sustainable Concrete Structures.” The invited speakers were Professor Tamon Ueda of Shenzhen University (China), and Professor Jian-Guo Dai of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University. The number of participants in the seminar was about 270. As it was a webinar, there were participants from throughout the world, mainly from Asia.

The second seminar was held on August 4, on the theme “Aging Management of Concrete Structures in Nuclear Power Plants.” The invited speakers were Professor Ippei Maruyama of Nagoya University and Dr. Miguel Ferreira of the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, Finland. Also, Professor Kenichiro Nakarai of Hiroshima University was invited as moderator to raise the quality of the panel discussion. About 140 people participated in the seminar. Problems of regulations and systems are encountered in the management of nuclear power facilities. 

In the second seminar also the speakers introduced the latest research and its practical application, and the panel discussion covered the status of the research field as a whole and its future direction. The discussion provided an opportunity for the participants to learn not just about the latest research, but also the background to the research themes and the speakers’ ideas.

The seminars can be viewed on the JSCE YouTube channel.
First Seminer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IP65Dudd6tk
Second Seminer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ArU-x-oyGig
 

 

1st & 2nd Seminar Flyers

 

【Reported by Kohei Nagai, Concrete Committee, JSCE (The University of Tokyo)】