Hosted by Tokyo Tech Philippines Office and the Association of Tokyo Tech Alumni and Research Scholars (ATTARS - Philippines Kuramaekai), the 8th Workshop on the Utilization of Waste Materials (WOW2021) was held online on March 6, 13 and 20.
Participants having a remote meeting
Tokyo Tech Philippines Office was established in 2005 on the campus of De La Salle University in Manila. The Office leads the Institute's research and educational exchange activities with universities in the Philippines.
Aimed at sharing the latest research results on the effective use of waste, as well as to promote discussion and find new solutions, the Workshop on the Utilization of Waste Materials is held annually. The theme of this year's workshop was Waste Management: Innovations, Applications, and Best Practices. It was co-sponsored by Tokyo Tech, De La Salle University, University of the Philippines Diliman, Technological University of the Philippines, and University of Santo Tomas.
Eight faculty members from the Institute participated in WOW2021.
- Professor Kiyohiko Nakasaki, Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Associate Professor Fumitake Takahashi, Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Professor Nobuaki Otsuki, Office of Education and International Cooperation
- Professor Mitsuyasu Iwanami, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering
- Professor Shin-ya Nishizaki, Global Scientific Information and Computing Center
- Professor Emeritus Hirofumi Hinode
- Lecturer Eden Mariquit Andrews, Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
- Associate Professor Alvin Christopher Galang Varquez, Department of Transdisciplinary Science and Engineering
Brother Bernard S. Oca, the chancellor of De La Salle University, and Professor Shin-ya Nishizaki, Director of the Tokyo Tech Philippines Office, gave opening remarks on the workshop's first day. Joining Nakasaki, Takahashi, Otsuki, and Iwanumi as invited lecturers were Professor A. C. Blanco and Professor M. A. Tanchuling, both of UP Diliman, and Ms. Rieko Kubota of the World Bank.
Lectures at the workshop included:
- A new methodology for the detection of pathogen in the production of pathogen-free compost for the wide spread of organic farming (Nakasaki)
- The Roles of Remote Sensing, Geographic Information and Citizen Science in Waste Management (Branco)
- Porous geopolymer fabricated from coal fly ash for pollutant removal and water hardness reduction (Takahashi)
- Good Practices on Community Engagement in Solid Waste Management in ASEAN Countries (Kubota)
Nakasaki explaining organic farming
Blanco explaining waste management
Takahashi explaining characteristics of materials
Kubota explaining good practices in ASEAN countries
Participants from the Philippines
Twelve other researchers from various universities across the Philippines also presented research papers. The workshop ended with closing remarks by the ATTARS President Jason Maximino C. Ongpeng, an associate professor at De La Salle University.
Participants from the Philippines
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, WOW2021 was held on Saturday mornings over the course of three weeks. Each session was more successful than the last, with a total attendance of more than 500 participants from Japan and the Philippines. The event was live-streamed on Facebook for those who could not join the Zoom webinar. In the future, Tokyo Tech Philippines Office plans to hold the event both on-site and online to promote further exchanges among researchers in the university and private sectors in Japan and the Philippines.
