Kyushu University EU Centre Extension Lecture Series 2022

The Kyushu University EU Centre held the JMCoE-Q Extension Lecture Series 2022 "EU and Japan's Efforts toward SDGs" online over four sessions from 28 June to 19 July 2022. This was the fifth time that the JMCoE-Q has held this Extension Lecture Series, which has been held every year on a variety of topics as part of its outreach activities to promote understanding about the EU in general among the general public.

During the coronavirus pandemic, the lecture was held in the form of an online webinar and was a great success with a total of about 230 participants from all over the country. Taking advantage of the online format, the event was attended by participants from remote areas and overseas, who would normally find it difficult to meet in person. This led to the dissemination of information to a wide area. 

In the past JMCoE-Q Extension Lecture Series, the current status and future prospects of various issues facing the EU have been explained. This time, as an approach to addressing "Global Challenges", one of the main pillars of the JMCoE-Q Second Stage, which has been implemented since November 2020, and the theme of this year's event was "SDGs (Sustainable Development Goals)" (* formulated at the 2015 United Nation Summit), which set forth 17 common global goals to be achieved by 2030 to address various social issues toward a sustainable and better world.

The EU is proactively aiming to realize the goals by linking all 17 SDGs to its own major policy issues, such as the "European Green Deal" and "Digitalization". Efforts are also underway in Japan at various levels, from the government to individuals. This Extension Lecture Series examined various efforts to achieve the goals of the UN SDGs from the perspectives of the EU and Japan. 
The lecturers were experts in many fields, not only on the EU and SDGs, but also on the current status and challenges of educational issues in Japan and Europe, as well as on climate change and supply chain trends explained from an economic perspective. In particular, Kyushu University is expected to play a role in accelerating the search for solutions to achieve the SDG targets as a higher education institution that promotes social contribution through various research and educational activities, and is a link between academia and society. 
To conclude the Extension Lecture Series this year, Mr Shigeki Inoue, Director of the SDGs Design Unit in the Faculty of Design, Kyushu University, which was established in 2018, was invited to give a comprehensive and practically suggestive lecture titled "SDGs and Future Society Design".

Other speakers and presentations included: Assoc. Prof. Takuo Kominato, Kyushu University, "The Role and Challenges of Learning and Education in the European Education Area under the SDGs”; Lecturer Haruka Takasaki, Toyo Eiwa University, "The SDGs from the Supply Chain Perspective"; Prof. Kenji Iwata, Director of Kyushu University EU Centre, “The EU Challenge to the SDGs”.