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2021年03月22日
令和二年度 学位記授与式告辞(2021年3月22日) |
長崎大学長 河野 茂 |
Nagasaki University Fall Diploma Conferral Ceremony (March 22, 2021) |
Warmest congratulations to the graduates of doctoral programs at Nagasaki University. I would like to join the Dean of the Graduate School, your supervisors, and the entire faculty in congratulating you on your degrees. You deserve this success. I would also like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to the families who have supported the graduates and to all those who have worked with them over the years. In order to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus infection, I would like to thank you for your understanding and cooperation in restricting the seating capacity. Today Eighty-three students have received their doctoral degrees from Nagasaki University. They are 58 from the Graduate School of Medicine, Dentistry and Pharmaceutical Sciences, 14 from the Graduate School of Engineering, 9 from the Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, and 2 from the Graduate School of Economics, including 19 international students. In the year 2020, a new coronavirus infection raged around the world, and the wide-spread infection has created various restrictions on your research and life. Even in the midst of such adversity, you have completed your study, and I would like to express my deepest respect for your efforts, the high level of research ability, and the self-control skills you have acquired. I am sure that all of you have done wonderful research on various topics in your specialization field, and that you have discovered new things and developed new technologies. All of this is quite impressive, but today is the beginning of a new chapter in your lives. You must move on. Five years from now, most of your research results will be outdated in this modern global society. Although you can be proud of your accomplishment, I am hoping that you will play a leading role in the new era. Now remember this. The knowledge, ideas, and emotions you have cultivated and experienced through your hard work will remain with you forever. You must move on with these assets you have acquired. When you take on new challenges, you need creativity. What is needed for creativity and innovation? They rely on imagination, the conscious representation of what is not immediately present to the senses, and the ability to rethink fixed ideas. You can notice this when you have encounters with different cultures and disciplines. I would like to take Darwin’s case as an example. He got the hint for his "theory of evolution" when he noticed the diversity of biological variants and their distribution in the Galapagos Islands. The islands are where he stopped on his round-the-world trip on the survey ship Beagle after graduating from university. Although Darwin studied medicine at the University of Edinburgh, he did not feel comfortable studying human anatomy. He decided to study natural history and observed marine life. Later, he moved to Cambridge University to study natural history and started collecting insects. In his memoirs, he said that from these universities he gained nothing academically. However, I strongly believe that the knowledge he had cultivated and the new insights he had achieved at the universities gave him the foundation for creativity. The Theory of Evolution would not have been created without these experiences. New wisdom and technology are more likely to come from societies that promote diversity. This means that you need to put yourself in a different environment. The importance of putting yourself in a different environment is evident from the fact that many Japanese Nobel Prize winners in the field of science studied and worked abroad. Let me give you a couple of good examples. Dr. Osamu Shimomura in Chemistry, a graduate of Nagasaki University, Dr. Tasuku Honjo in Physiology and Medicine, and Dr. Shinya Yamanaka in Medicine went to the U.S to study after receiving their degrees. In addition, Dr. Suzuki, Dr. Noyori, and Dr. Shirakawa, who won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, and Dr. Nambu, who won the prize in Physics, went abroad in their early 30s. We are now in the middle of a turning point due to the COVID-19 infection. This turning point can be an opportunity to exercise our creativity and open up a new era with new innovative ideas. In October, 2020, I stated my second term as the president of Nagasaki University, and set a new goal, that is, the pursuit of planetary health. Nagasaki University launched a new challenge at a historic turning point. The global challenges we face and try to tackle are: Climate change, environmental pollution, unknown infectious diseases and illnesses such as new coronavirus infections, population problems, food problems, inequality, religious and cultural conflicts, and conflicts around the Globe. As a university, we aim to change the existing framework of research and education in order to confront and solve the various problems. Nagasaki University is making a new start. You are making a new start today. Finally, I would like to conclude my address by wishing you all the best as you take the knowledge and creativity you have cultivated thus far on the challenge of creating a new society. |
Shigeru Kohno, President of Nagasaki University |