The Partnership between Norway and Japan for excellent education and research (NORPAN) entails most of the major institutions in the vicinity of Tokyo that educate PhD students in climate sciences. In total, more than 25 PhD and master students and around 46 scientists are involved. The main Japanese partner is the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, together with three further partners, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tsukuba, and the National Institute for Polar Research.
NORPAN's training focuses on improving our understanding of the coupled climate system in the present, past, and future. It aims to establish an internationally recognized research-training environment for PhD candidates working in the realm of meteorology, atmosphere-ocean interactions and climate dynamics that can provide the participants with in-depth knowledge in their specific study field as well as training on interdisciplinary research. Furthermore, NORPAN strives to internationalize research activities between Norway and Japan and provide the necessary platform for enhanced exchange and joint training among Norwegian and Japanese graduate students.
In order to strengthen the research training network, we continued to coordinate activities in the last 5 months of the project. During 5-7 December, two senior scientists and two PhD students from the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology (RCAST) at The University of Tokyo visited the Geophysical Institute and Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research for a workshop on air-sea interaction processes along the western boundary currents. After the workshop, they stayed an extra day for some more discussions and exchanges.
On 12-15 February 2019, we concluded the project with the NORPAN Closing Workshop and Meeting nearby Tokyo. This biggest NORPAN event was attended by a total of 56 participants, including some international guests from UK and USA. The workshop was closed with speeches by two project leaders, reflecting on what has been achieved in the past three years of intensive collaboration between the Norwegian and Japanese partners. Both expressed their strong wish to continue the collaboration and will actively pursue upcoming opportunities for funding to continue to support the activities initiated by NORPAN.
After the concluding meeting, a few Norwegian scientists stayed extra few days to 3 weeks to visit University of Tokyo for more scientific discussions and collaborations. Overall, the exchange visits of NORPAN scientists provided very valuable and fruitful chances to discuss and identify further topics for research collaboration and highlighted the added value of exchange of ideas within the NORPAN project and the international network.
To enhance exchange and joint training among Norwegian and Japanese graduate students, we invited a Japanese PhD student from NORPAN to attend the Diabatic Winter School from 3-8 March. This school was organized by research school CHESS and was international in nature, thus providing a valuable opportunity for fruitful scientific discussions and international networking.
NORPAN has successfully enhanced, intensified, and extended the collaboration and research training among Norwegian and Japanese leading educational and research institutions via a range of activities: (1)A total of 12 workshops and trainings which brought together climate scientists from Norway and Japan;(2)Joint supervision of Norwegian and Japanese PhD students which is resulting joint publications; (3)NORPAN had supported 10 Japanese and 8 Norwegian scientists for short research stays, which had resulted in 2 published scientific articles co-authored by NORPAN scientists; (4)NORPAN had successfully contributed to the signing of a MoU between UiB and JAMSTEC.
NORPAN has established a foundation for a long-term collaboration beyond the project period. Some partners have already submitted or plan to submit competitive proposals to relevant national and international calls.
The Partnership between Norway and Japan for excellent education and research (NORPAN) is a direct response to the INPART call. With one main partner, the Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, and three further partners, the Research Center for Advanced Science and Technology, the University of Tsukuba, and the National Institute for Polar Research, NORPAN entails most of the major institutions in the vicinity of Tokyo that educate PhD students in climate science. In total, more than 25 PhD and master students and around 46 seniors scientist will be involved.
Climate change and detailed understanding of the climate system, has led to an increasing demand from society on the climate research community for process understanding, reduced uncertainties, and more reliable data for mitigation and impact studies. To meet this demand, fundamental research on the physics of the various components of the climate system (e.g. atmosphere, ocean, and cryosphere), and their mutual interactions is pivotal. This requires a new generation of researchers that have strong in-depth knowledge in their specific parts of the climate system, but at the same time are equipped with a broader knowledge to comprehend the overall picture in the coupled Earth System. Furthermore, the demand from society to be informed about changing climates can only be met when researchers are able to communicate with experts from other disciplines as well as with a layman person.
In order to strengthen the research training network, we will coordinate a wide range of activities, including (1) short, intensive courses with international expert lecturers; (2) Specialized workshops and summer schools; (3) Support international exchange among the partners and promote outreach activities; (4) Focus on network building and gender related issues; (5) Strive for a sustained collaboration between the main partners the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research in Norway and the Atmosphere Ocean Research Institute in Japan.