Signing Ceremony with the University of Bordeaux (Renewal of the Campus in Campus Agreement and Signing of a New CiC Joint Research Seed Grant Agreement)

On January 12, President NAGATA Kyosuke and Vice President for Global Affairs OHNEDA Osamu visited the University of Bordeaux in France to pay a courtesy call and attend a signing ceremony with President Dean Lewis. During the ceremony, the two universities formally renewed their Campus in Campus (CiC) Agreement and concluded a new CiC Joint Research Seed Grant Agreement.

The University of Bordeaux, together with National Taiwan University, is one of the University of Tsukuba's longest-standing CiC partners. The first CiC agreement was signed in 2015, and in 2016 the three universities jointly launched the International Joint Degree Master's Program in Agro-Biomedical Science in Food and Health (GIP TRIAD).

The signing ceremony was attended by President Lewis, four vice presidents, faculty members representing a wide range of research fields, and administrative staff from the international office. Participants engaged in lively discussions on further strengthening collaboration in research and education, including the effective utilization of the newly established CiC Joint Research Seed Grant.

Before and after the ceremony, the delegation visited the Institut universitaire de technologie de Bordeaux (IUT de Bordeaux), a technological institution of the University of Bordeaux that includes engineering programs. There, they held discussions on student exchange with Prof. Murielle Benejat, Director of IUT de Bordeaux, along with faculty members from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Industrial Computing (GE2I) and the Bordeaux Computer Science Research Laboratory (LaBRI). The delegation also observed a demonstration of humanoid robots by Rhoban, a robotics team that has won five championship titles in the RoboCup Kid Size category, and toured SMART, an advanced sports science research center equipped with cutting-edge technologies.

In addition, the delegation visited ^*INRAE Centre Nouvelle Aquitaine Bordeaux, the host institution of the GIP TRIAD program, which marks its 10th anniversary this year. Following a guided tour led by Associate Professor MORI Kentaro, an alumnus of the University of Tsukuba, the group also toured the Institute of Vine and Wine Sciences (ISVV), a specialized institute dedicated to education and research on grapes and wine.

Through this visit and the signing of the renewed and new agreements, the University of Tsukuba looks forward to further deepening its collaboration with the University of Bordeaux across education, research, innovation, and a wide range of related fields.

Participants (L-R):

• Dr. Alexandra STRUK, Programme Manager, SPARK‑Bordeaux
• Prof. Etienne Duguet, VP for Innovation
• Prof. MORI Kentaro, INRAE UMR1332 Fruit Biology and Pathology
• Mr. NISHIJIMA Yusaku, Bureau of Global Initiatives
• Prof. OHNEDA Osamu, VP for Global Affairs
• Prof. NAGATA Kyosuke, President
• Prof. Dean Lewis, President
• Prof. Laurent Servant, VP for International Networks
• Prof. Joanne Pagèze, VP for Internationalisation
• Prof. Nathalie Sans, VP for Research

* Institut national de recherche pour l'agriculture, l'alimentation et l'environnement (INRAE)
The CiC Joint Research Seed Grant was proposed at the CiC Annual Meeting held in October 2025 at the Tsukuba International Congress Center. Following discussions among CiC partner institutions, the program was established to provide direct funding from each CiC university to its respective principal investigators (PIs), with the aim of promoting and accelerating collaborative research among CiC partners.