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INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research

Norway-Japan Partnership for Excellent Education and Research in Aquaculture- Phase 2

Alternative title: Norsk-japansk partnerskap for fremragende utdanning og forskning i akvakultur- Fase 2

Awarded: NOK 3.5 mill.

The ExcelAQUA project has some of the best competence environments in pedagogy and aquaculture research in Norway and Japan. The research-based education and training in ExcelAQUA includes teaching and supervision of students in fish biology and physiology. This is achieved by organizing intensive summer schools and offering internships in industry, as well as mentoring Norwegian and Japanese students. The project focuses on transcultural teaching methods that are used to increase the students' learning outcomes. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, in the first period of the project we have emphasized developing, validating, and adopting research methods (WP2, WP4, WP7) and performing trials which will be used further in the project. Two PhD students connected to UiB and a Japanese collaboration partner have been part of the collaboration which has resulted in a total of 12 published papers, and 6 conference contributions. We have organized a two-week summer school in Bergen for Norwegian and Japanese students (June 23) and are now planning next year's summer school in Japan in 2024. Norwegian and all Japanese partners will participate there with students and teachers. As a direct result of this project, the ExcelAQUA 2.0 leader (I. Rønnestad) and deputy leader (TO. Nilsen) were invited in 2022 to participate in a large regional development project in Hakodate, financed by the Japanese government. As part of this, from 2024, the University of Hakodate will fund a professor II at UiB to strengthen education and research collaboration after ExcelAQUA 2.0 has ended.

The ExcelAQUA 2.0 project will solidify and strengthen a world-class long-term collaborative platform for excellent education and research between the Norwegian and Japanese partners in sustainable aquaculture and integrative fish biology. ExcelAQUA 2.0 will build excellence in research-based education by closely integrating research and education through three Norwegian Centres of Excellence/Expertise: 1) bioCEED (Center of Excellence in Biology Education) 2) CtrlAQUA (Research driven Innovation Centre for Closed-containment Aquaculture and 3) The Seafood Innovation Cluster (Norwegian Center of Expertise) and JSPS funded projects that supports the ongoing research in the platform. The Norwegian and Japanese ExcelAQUA consortium partners represent a world class and complementary competence in key aspects of fish biology and aquaculture research, from molecular mechanisms to whole animal performance and welfare to the development of innovative large-scale production strategies. This forms the basis for the research based education and training in ExcelAQUA. The partners are actively involved in teaching and supervision at all levels in fish biology and physiology and contribute in the summer school, workshops, internships and co-supervision of students in ExcelAQUA. Through expert pedagogical collaboration with bioCEED the partners aim for excellence in education using educational research and joint publishing, implementation of transcultural teaching methods and training of faculty. ExcelAQUA 2.0 will expand and run institutionalized joint courses and workshops on career development. ExcelAQUA 2.0 will strengthen world class research activities that support and facilitate mobility of students and researchers during the project period. We aim to solidify ExcelAQUA as an exciting, innovative and stimulating intellectual and world-class platform for established and early stage scientists and students in sustainable aquaculture.

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Funding scheme:

INTPART-International Partnerships for Excellent Education and Research