Swedish delegation's visit to KEK

October 17, 2016

On October 5, 2016, a Swedish delegation, led by Prof. Viktor Öwall, Dean of the Faculty of Engineering, Lund University, visited the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization, KEK. The delegation also visited J-PARC on October 4, 2016.

KEK Executive Directors Dr. Yasuhiro Okada and Dr. Masaharu Nomura and the Director of the Institute of Materials Structure Science (IMSS) Dr. Kazuyoshi Yamada along with other KEK researchers welcomed the delegation. During the meeting, Dr. Okada introduced KEK's research activities, following which Prof. Öwall gave a presentation on the MIRAI Project and Dr. Yamada gave an overview of IMSS. Participants also discussed research collaborations between Sweden and Japan.

The MIRAI Project is the name of a consortium which major Swedish and Japanese research universities are forming to carry out a number of joint activities including seminars, workshops, exchange programs for scientists, the creation a joint PhD course and so on. The project aims to promote research collaboration between the two counties, especially to form a network for researchers at an early stage of their career to facilitate future collaboration activities between its participants. Included within the scope of the project are large-scale research facilities and material sciences.

In addition, Prof. Öwall introduced the Science Village Scandinavia, a district for scientific development in the city of Lund. It provides an innovative space close to the research facilities, such as the MAX-IV Laboratory, a synchrotron radiation research facility hosted by Lund University, and the European Spallation Source (ESS), an accelerator-based neutron research facility currently under construction.

After the meeting, the delegation took a tour of KEK, visiting the Belle II detector and the Photon Factory.

Deepening the relationship between Sweden and Japan is expected to enhance research collaborations, especially in the field of material sciences.

Group photo of the Swedish delegation and KEK scientists

Related web sites:
Belle II experiment
Photon Factory
MAX-IV Laboratory
European Spallation Source (ESS)
Science Village Scandinavia