On February 13, 2025, the Center for Environmental and Health Sciences (CEHS) signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with the Child Health Research Centre (CHRC) at the University of Queensland (Brisbane, Australia), with the aim to establishing an interdepartmental exchange agreement.
The signing ceremony took place at the University of Queensland and was attended by Professor Paul Jagals from CHRC, as well as three representatives from CEHS: Director Taro Yamauchi, Head of the International Collaboration Division Yu Ait Bamai, and Deputy Head of the International Collaboration Division Atsuko Ikeda. Following the ceremony, both organizations introduced their institutions and research activities, and discussed future collaboration in research and education. CHRC is also a WHO Collaborating Centre (WHOCC) and has been continuously offering lectures in the Hokkaido Summer Institute (HSI) since 2021. With the signing of the LOI, further exchanges are promised, which will promote broader joint lectures and research collaborations in the field of environmental health sciences.
During the visit to Brisbane, we also visited the International Laboratory for Air Quality and Health (ILAQH) at the Queensland University of Technology, a WHOCC, where we held discussions with Distinguished Professor Lidia Morawska and toured the research facilities. Additionally, we visited the Queensland Alliance for Environmental Health Sciences (QAEHS) at the University of Queensland, a leading institution in Australia for monitoring emerging chemical pollutants in humans and the environment. The visit included a tour of the laboratories and discussions with Professor Jochen Mueller and his team on potential future collaborations and the latest research findings.
Further strengthening of collaboration with CHRC at the University of Queensland is expected in the future.
To date, our center has established four interdepartmental exchange agreements: with the School of Public Health at Seoul National University (South Korea) since 2016, the School of Public Health at Walailak University (Thailand) since 2019, the Faculty of Tropical Medicine at Mahidol University (Thailand) since 2021, and the Toxicological Centre at the University of Antwerp (Belgium) since 2021.
