The academic conference "Education for Global Security Challenges and Sustainable Development: Japan-Poland Academic Meeting in Kyoto" organized by The Kyoto College of Graduate Studies for Informatics (KCGI) and co-sponsored by Kyoto Computer Gakuin (KCG) was held on Monday, July 7, 2025, at KCG Kyoto Ekimae Campus.Many researchers, university officials, and students from both countries participated in workshops, open seminars, and public lectures on international relations, peace studies, SDGs, and cross-cultural communication, and actively discussed the most pressing issues surrounding the world.
Poland participated in the ongoing Osaka-Kansai Expo.As part of the program, about 25 researchers from the University of Warsaw will visit Japan to hold public lectures, seminars, research exchange meetings, and student exchange meetings on the SDGs and other topics with Japanese university officials and researchers in Kyoto, Tokyo, and Osaka.The conference was organized by KCGI and the University of Warsaw, and co-sponsored by KCG, Daito Bunka University, and Meijo University.In addition to the organizers and co-organizers, Osaka University and Chukyo University also participated in the conference.The KCG Group faculty and staff cooperated fully in the management of the event.
The meeting began at 1:30 p.m. with the workshops "Human Security and Peacebuilding", "A: Disaster Preparedness" and "B: Conflict Stabilization and Strategic Games".This will be followed by a series of public seminars: "I: Institutional Framework for Sustainable Development," "II: Global Security Challenges," and "III: Education, Science Policy, and Research Evaluation: Perspectives from Different Socio-Cultural Systems.Professor Shoji Imai from KCGI participated in "I" as a moderator.
From 7:00 p.m., four persons from the University of Warsaw gave public lectures under the unifying theme of "Education for Sustainable Development" in the main hall on the 6th floor of KCG Kyoto Ekimae School.Opening remarks were made by KCGI Vice President and Professor Shigeru Eibo and Professor Zygmunt Lalak of the University of Warsaw.Vice President Eibo commented on this year's theme, "The theme of security has rarely been addressed in Japanese university education, but recent international developments have made security issues and their education an unavoidable challenge.It was a very meaningful and rare opportunity to hear a real voice from Poland," he said, recalling that the presentation of his paper at an international conference in Warsaw, Poland, in 1969 marked the beginning of a full-fledged research career.Prof. Marcin Zeev (Faculty of Biology, University of Warsaw, Director of the Botanical Garden, University of Warsaw) will speak on “Public Outreach and the Biodiversity Crisis: Lessons from the Polish Botanical Garden”, Prof. Justyna Godlewska-Sirkova (Faculty of Political Science and International Studies, University of Warsaw, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Medicine, University of Warsaw) will speak on “Academic Education in the Age of AI: Acquiring Critical Skills”, and Associate Prof. Sebastian Szymanski (Director of the Systemic Risk Research Center, University of Warsaw) will speak on “Academic Education in the Age of AI: Acquiring Critical Skills”. Vice Dean, Faculty of Medicine, University of Warsaw) on “Academic Education in the Age of AI: Acquiring Critical Skills”; Associate Professor Sebastian Szymanski (Director, Center for Systemic Risk Research, University of Warsaw) on “Human Agency and AI Development: Threat or Challenge”; and finally Professor Simon Malinowski (Faculty of Physics, University of Warsaw; Chair of the Advisory Committee on the Climate Crisis of the Polish Academy of Sciences) spoke on “‘The sky is not so far, the earth is smaller than you think’: Teaching the climate crisis - a teacher's and science popularizer's perspective”.At the end of the public lecture, Prof. Imai of KCGI touched on the connection between Japan and Poland, and concluded with the closing remarks: "Japan and Poland are far apart, but our hearts are very close.
