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令和元年度学位記授与式 学長告辞

2020年03月19日

令和元年度学位記授与式 学長告辞

大学院博士課程・博士後期課程を修了した皆さん,本日は誠におめでとうございます。新型コロナウイルス感染症が流行をするという前代未聞の状況の中で,皆さんは今日という日を迎えられました。ただし社会が変動する中でも変わらず,皆さんをこれまで支えてくださったご家族の皆様には一つの区切りを終えて学位を取得されたことに対し,お喜びのことと拝察申し上げます。長崎大学から博士の学位を授与される75人の皆さんの中には16人の留学生と21名の女性が含まれています。列席の研究科長や指導教授をはじめとする教職員一同と共に皆さんの学位取得を心よりお祝い申し上げます。
75人中に,医歯薬学総合研究科52人,工学研究科14人,水産・環境科学総合研究科7人,経済学研究科2人と様々な学問分野で皆さんが日夜研鑽を積まれ,高い研究力と克己心を身につけられたことに,心から敬意を表しますと共に大変嬉しく思います。世界では博士の学位を取得し,それぞれの専門性を高く評価され,活躍する社会が約束されています。一方,日本の現状をみれば,今でも多くの会社が,専門色に染まり過ぎているとネガティブに捉え,博士の学位をあまり評価しない風潮が感じられます。また,アカデミアに進む若い研究者には,国立大学に対する近視眼的な考えのためか,人件費を削減し,その結果若い研究者を支える基盤的な経費が削減され,表面的には選択と集中という考えのもとに競争に駆り立てて,短期決戦を強いる傾向が顕著です。しかし,皆さんはたとえ目の前の状況がどうあろうとも,勇敢にも博士の学位を取得し,これから社会の大波の中に出て行こうとされています。学長として,心から皆さんに尊敬の念と激励を送りたいと思います。
私は信じています。皆さんの選択は決して間違っていないと。皆さんは大学院の過程で,それまで以上に,答えを探すことの苦労,実際には正解の見えない課題へ果敢に挑戦され,もがき苦しみ,失敗に失敗を重ねて,一つまたは複数の結論に到達されたことと思います。それらは友人や先輩,後輩との協働,また指導教員の熱い指導により得られたものに違いありません。自分の感性を信じ,また湧き出てくるアイディアや発想力によって,皆さんが得られたものであると思います。この経験こそが,皆さんの将来の希望の実現への大きな力になることに間違いはありません。
これからの世界を正しく予測することは困難ですが,どのような社会になろうとも,皆さんの努力は必ず報われます。私が想像する世界は,地球が大きく傷つく中で,人として何ができるかを,考えて行動することではないかと考えています。グローバル化が進行するなかで,予想以上に様々な格差が広がっています。地球環境が病み,それにより人々が傷つき,科学で解決できることは何か,単なるtechnologyだけでなく,artやcultureを考慮した対応は何か,是非挑戦し続けて欲しいと願っています。
私は2020年から地球の健康(Planetary Health)を本学の重要な今後の目標に掲げました。
ここで,唐突ですが,すこし地球についてお話をしたいと思います。
私達の住む地球の存在は脅かされています。危機的だと評されるようにもなっています。人間に例えると病気を発症し,治療が必要な状況でしょう。プラネタリーヘルスが脅かされているのです。その原因は,グローバルな視点からは,17才のグレタ・トゥーンベリさんが訴えている環境問題や国際紛争などの政治問題,ローカルな視点では,高齢化や人口減少,経済格差,教育問題などにあります。これらは複雑に絡み合い,直接あるいは間接的に地球の健康を冒しています。
環境問題では,森林の伐採が進行し,すでに世界の森林の50%は消失し,このまま破壊が進めば,熱帯雨林は100年以内になくなると予想されています。それによって温室効果ガスの排出が増加し,気候変動に悪影響を与え,生物多様性は消失し,25年後には最大28000種の生物が絶滅すると推定されています。また,世界のエネルギー消費は凄まじく過去40年間に排出されたヒト由来の累積CO2排出量は,過去260年間の累積排出量の約半分を占めるほどのスピードで増加しているのです。大気中の二酸化炭素濃度は産業革命までの長い間約280ppmで安定していましたが,現在では390ppmを越えています。温室効果ガスの影響で世界の年平均気温は100年で0.74℃の割合で上昇しており,また,日本では1日に降る雨量が100ミリを越える大雨の日数も増える傾向が指摘されています。さらに海洋酸性化という問題で海洋生物とくに炭酸カルシウムを必要とする貝類や珊瑚などに対し大きな影響を与えています。地球の不健康は,表面的には海洋を含めた環境問題ですが,深層には,教育や経済あるいは文化的な問題が潜んでいると思います。また,不健康の解消には,人文科学の知恵が重要なだけでなく,同時に生化学や生物学等の基礎学問の力も必要となるでしょう。
本日大学院を修了される皆さんは,これからの日本を,さらに世界のために活躍が期待される大切な人財です。是非,プラネタリーヘルスのことも忘れず,それぞれ,理系,文系,それを融合する分野で,今までの経験を生かし,家族のため,社会のために活躍されることを祈念し,さらに皆さんの人生が充実したものであることを願い,私のご挨拶と致します。本日は誠におめでとう御座いました。
長崎大学長 河野 茂



Commencement Speech by the President of Nagasaki University (for Academic Year 2019)


It is my great pleasure to congratulate those students who have completed their doctoral or post-master’s courses in our graduate schools. This conferment ceremony is being held in an unprecedented situation, brought about by the novel coronavirus epidemic. However, I can imagine that it is a truly happy event for the students’ families and others who have always given their dedicated support despite various social changes, to see them finally receive their doctorates as a result of much hard work. Today, a total of 75 students, including 16 international students and 21 female students, are being awarded their doctoral degrees from Nagasaki University. Together with all the faculty and staff members, especially the deans of the graduate schools and academic supervisors who are here with us now, I would like to express my heartfelt congratulations to you all.

Of 75 students, 52 are being granted their doctorates from the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, 14 from the Graduate School of Engineering, 7 from the Graduate School of Fisheries and Environmental Sciences, and 2 from the Graduate School of Economics. I am delighted to express my deepest respect for all these students who have made untiring efforts, leading them to develop great self-control and excellent research abilities in their respective academic disciplines. In the global community, doctoral degree holders are highly evaluated for their expertise, and encouraged to give full play to their abilities. On the other hand, given the present circumstances in Japan, I feel that doctoral degree holders may be underestimated by many companies, since they tend to be negatively regarded as being overly specialized. There is also a noticeable trend in which young researchers who pursue a career in academia are often driven to engage in competition and to achieve short-term goals in the name of the “selection and concentration” approach. This is probably because of a short-sighted attitude to national universities, which leads to cutbacks in their personnel costs as well as in expenditures for establishing a foundation to support young researchers. Nevertheless, in defiance of these circumstances, you have been courageous enough to obtain doctoral degrees, with which you are now going into the real world. As the President of Nagasaki University, I would like to offer you my sincere respect and encouragement.

I am sure that your choice was never wrong. In your postgraduate courses, I think that you have reached one or more conclusions after much trial and error, while boldly taking on greater challenges than before, and struggling to find a solution to problems that actually have no right answers. These conclusions must have been obtained as a result of collaboration with your friends, seniors and juniors, and academic advisors who provided you with enthusiastic guidance throughout your studies. I am also certain that you have attained these achievements by believing your own sensibility, possessing a wealth of ideas, and exercising  imagination. There is no doubt that such experiences will prove to be greatly instrumental in realizing your future visions.

Although it is difficult to accurately predict what the world may be like in the future, your efforts will certainly pay off, no matter what kind of society comes into being. I imagine that in the future, the Earth will be in more dire circumstances, requiring us to reconsider what we can do and what actions we should take as members of humanity. With the advance of globalization, various disparities are widening more significantly than expected. Deterioration in the global environment is also having harmful effects on people. To resolve this challenge, how can we use science? I strongly hope that you will continue to explore effective ways of addressing this challenge, not only by pursuing technology, but also taking into account art and culture.

I have announced that Nagasaki University will uphold “For Planetary Health” beginning in 2020, as its important objective for the future. Here I would like to briefly talk about the Earth, though it may seem a slightly abrupt shift in topic.

The existence of our planet Earth is threatened, to such an extent that it is considered to be in critical condition. If likened to a human, the Earth resembles a person who has fallen ill and is in need of treatment. In other words, our planetary health is jeopardized. There are a number of causes. From the global perspective, I can cite environmental problems, as pointed out by Ms. Greta Thunberg, a 17-year-old climate activist, and political issues including international conflicts. From the local perspective, these causes include aging of society, population decrease, economic disparities, and educational problems. These causes are complicatedly interconnected with one another, adversely affecting planetary health, either directly or indirectly.

As for environmental problems, due to increasing deforestation, 50% of forests around the world have  already been lost. If forest destruction continues at the present rate, tropical rainforests are expected to vanish altogether within 100 years. Deforestation will cause an increase in greenhouse gas emissions, with a negative impact on climate change, which will accelerate biodiversity loss. It is estimated that by 25 years from now, up to 28,000 species will go extinct. Meanwhile, global energy consumption continues to expand at a tremendous speed, causing around half of cumulative man-made CO₂ emission for the past 260 years in the last four decades. The atmospheric concentration of carbon dioxide, which had remained stable at about 280 ppm for a long time until the Industrial Revolution, is now above 390 ppm. Due to the effects of greenhouse gases, the world’s average temperature has risen by 0.74°C in the past century. In Japan, experts have pointed out that the number of heavy rainy days with precipitation of more than 100 mm has been on the rise. Furthermore, the problem of ocean acidification has greatly impacted marine life, particularly shellfish, corals, and other organisms that require calcium carbonate to grow and survive. Although the Earth’s poor health is seemingly a problem associated with the environment, including the ocean, I think that its underlying causes include educational, economic, or cultural problems. To restore planetary health, it is essential for us to exercise not only the wisdom of the humanities, but also basic knowledge of biochemistry and biology.

Those who are leaving the university with their doctorates today are important human resources who are expected to play active roles in shaping a better future for Japan and the world. It is my ardent wish that all of you will bear planetary health in mind, and display your capabilities in your respective disciplines in the humanities, sciences, or combination of both fields, based on the experience you have accumulated here, for the benefit of your families and society as a whole. I also sincerely hope that you will lead a fulfilling life. In closing, I would like to reiterate to you all my warmest congratulations.

令和元年度学位記授与式 学長告辞