9th Next Generation Global Workshop looks toward a KU-HCTS joint degree (26-27 September 2016)

Co-organized by the Graduate School of Letters and Kyoto University Asian Studies Unit (KUASU), the 9th Next Generation Global Workshop (NGGW), "Transcultural Dynamics of Asia and Europe: Mobility, Negotiation and Transformation", took place 26-27 September at the Faculty of Law and Economics East Building and the Faculty of Letters Main Building.

The focus of the Workshop, transculturality, is the major subject in the joint master's degree program being planned by Kyoto University and the Heidelberg Centre for Transcultural Studies (HCTS), Heidelberg University, making it a topic of considerable interest to the students and faculty of both universities, which already have an active academic exchange partnership with a credit-transfer program in place since October 2015.

The 9th NGGW was comprised of two parts.

Part one featured a roundtable on transcultural issues with keynotes delivered by three experts: Professor Monica Juneja and Junior Research Group Leader Sophie Roche of Heidelberg University, and Lecturer Irina Holca of the Kyoto University Institute for Research in Humanities. Professor Juneja's talk addressed "Transcultural Studies: A methodological perspective for the humanities".

Program-Specific Senior Lecturer Bjorn-Ole Kamm from the KU Center for the Promotion of Interdisciplinary Education and Research (C-PIER), three other faculty, and one student then shared their experiences of teaching and learning transcultural studies at the University, followed by a dynamic discussion on prospects and challenges faced.

Part two consisted of a workshop in which participants from 17 countries and regions delivered a total of 33 presentations; next-generation researchers, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, came together with academic staff from Kyoto University's international partners, enabling all to present their findings to an audience of early-career researchers from across the globe and to receive feedback from leading international scholars.

Many of the participants expressed deep appreciation for these experiences, which they said would certainly accelerate their professional development. During the concluding session they also suggested themes for the next Workshop, such as "nationalism" and "mobility".

The annual NGGW was inaugurated in 2008 under the Global Center of Excellence (GCOE) program, "Reconstruction of the Intimate and Public Spheres in 21st Century Asia", led by Professor Emiko Ochiai, and has been managed by KUASU since 2014.