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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Norwegian-Japanese Aluminium alloy Research and Education Collaboration - Phase-2

Alternative title: Norsk-japansk samarbeid for forskning og utdanning innen aluminium - Fase 2

Awarded: NOK 3.3 mill.

This project is a continuation of an earlier INTPART project from 2015 to 2018 called 'Norwegian-Japanese Aluminium alloy Research and Education Collaboration' (NJALC), with the partners NTNU, University of Toyama, Tokyo Institute of Technology, SINTEF Industry and Hydro Aluminium. The content and objectives of the INTPART project is i) Research collaboration , ii) student exchange and collaboration on education, including joint supervision of MSc and PhD candidates and joint courses, iii) Internships in aluminium industry which connect education, research and innovation. In the earlier project we built a solid network within aluminium industry and academia in Norway and Japan and obtained international recognition through three joint workshops, one summer school, and ten student exchange and industry internships. Industry internships have been at Hydro Aluminium in Norway and the four Japanese aluminium companies YKK, Kobelco, UACJ and Nippon Light Metals. The objective of this project (NJALC II) is to consolidate and further develop relations and collaborative activities, within academia and industry in Japan and Norway, as a basis for stronger and more formalized collaborations. In addition to the two Universities in Toyama and Tokyo, a third University, Kyushu University is involved. The main activities in the collaboration are research collaboration within alloy development and characterization, internships, student exchange and development of joint intensive MSc/PhD courses. The project has been hit hard by the corona pandemic. In 2019, we had two NTNU students on industrial stays at YKK in Japan, and at the beginning of 2020 we had two more, at Kobelco and Toyo. The last two had to break up and return home from Japan earlier than planned. The planned workshop in Tokyo in May 2020 was cancelled, as were two planned industrial stays and exchanges (two from Japan and one to Japan). A postdoc trip to Kyushu in 2020 was also put on hold. The CAMRIC conference in Toyama in September 2020 and 2021 were online. An MSc student in Trondheim planned to go to YKK in 2022, but had to cancel. Two students from Tokyo Tech (one PhD and one MSc) and one PhD student from Kyushu, were at Sunndalsøra (Hydro) and Trondheim (NTNU) in 22/23. The planned workshop in Japan in May 2022 was cancelled but was carried out in 2023. This was successful, with 15 people from Norway (NTNU, SINTEF and Hydro) and almost 50 participants in total. We also visited Osaka and Kyushu universities. We have had some joint publications and are still working on some. We were able to extend the project for one year, but since activities had been cancelled for 3 years, this was too short.

Outcomes from the project: *We had in total 10 internships/exchange students before and after the Covid period: Four Norwegian MSc students from NTNU went to Japan for periods of 1-3 months, staying in Japanese aluminium companies (YKK(2), UACJ and Toyo) and universities (Tokyo Tech). Six Japanese MSc (2) and PhD(4) visited Hydro and NTNU for 3-6 months, all having 1 month internship at Hydro Sunndalsøra and a few months research stay at NTNU. * In total 10 common journal publications are published, and several are in pipeline. * One workshop was organised at Tokyo University of Technology, and one in Trondheim, both after Covid, in 2023. * Profs Holmestad and Marthinsen (NTNU) and Senior Research Scientist Marioara (SINTEF) are affiliated with the Center for Advanced Materials Research and International Collaboration (CAMRIC), Univ. Of Toyama, Japan, and are respectively chair (RH) and members of the Advisory Board for International Science Network (i-MSN), in the same place. * As a result of the project, Dr. Calin Marioara has been invited to a 4 months stay at University of Toyama, paid by the university to contribute and strengthen the aluminium research activity. He will stay there from December 2023 to March 2024. This may be a good basis for possible future collaborations and joint projects. * Hydro is considering to join the light Metal Centre in Toyama as a door opener to aluminium research and industry in Japan.

This proposal presents a Phase-2 continuation of the ongoing INTPART project, Norwegian-Japanese Aluminium alloy Research and Education Collaboration (NJALC), with the partners NTNU, University of Toyama, Tokyo Institute of Technology, SINTEF Materials and Chemistry and Hydro Aluminium. The content and objectives of Phase-1 and its Phase-2 continuation are: i) Research collaboration , ii) student exchange and collaboration on education, including joint supervision of MSc and PhD candidates and joint courses, iii) Internships in industry which connect education, research and innovation. In the Phase-1 project we have built a solid network within aluminium industry and academia in Norway and Japan and obtained international recognition through three joint workshops, one summer school, and ten student exchange and industry internships. Industry internships have been at Hydro Aluminium and four Japanese aluminium companies. The objective of the Phase-2 project will be to consolidate and further develop relations and collaborative activities, both with academia and industry in Japan, as a basis for stronger and more formalized bonds. One additional partner (Kyushu University) is included.

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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research