SETAC Asia-Pacific 15th Biennial Meeting

Hiroshi Yamamoto, SETAC Asia-Pacific President

As President of SETAC Asia-Pacific, it is my great pleasure to welcome you to Tsukuba, Japan, for the SETAC Asia-Pacific 15th Biennial Meeting. We are delighted to bring this meeting back to Japan for the first time in 14 years and to host it in Tsukuba, a science city blessed with rich natural surroundings and renowned for its research and innovation.

The Asia-Pacific region is still a growing Geographical Unit within SETAC. At the same time, it is a region characterized by remarkable economic and cultural diversity and by extensive production, use and disposal of chemicals. As a result, the region faces a wide range of environmental challenges as well as unique opportunities for scientific collaboration and innovation.

We are pleased to welcome more than 500 participants from over 40 countries and regions. Under the theme, “Rethinking Environmental Balance for the Future,” this meeting provides an important opportunity to exchange knowledge and explore innovative approaches to addressing emerging environmental issues. I look forward to lively and fruitful discussions based on sound science, fostering the exchange of ideas and advancing environmental toxicology and chemistry throughout our region and beyond. I also hope that this meeting will strengthen international networks and inspire new collaborations that contribute to a more sustainable future. 

Norihisa Tatarazako, SETAC Japan President

More than 2,500 years ago, Confucius wrote in the Analects:

“Is it not a pleasure to have friends come from afar?”

These ancient words seem especially fitting for an international scientific meeting. One of the things I enjoy most about SETAC meetings is that people of different ages, nationalities, cultures and backgrounds can come together and discuss science on equal ground. Science does not care very much about our titles, ages or nationalities. A good question is a good question, whoever asks it, and a good idea can come from anyone. We may not always agree—and perhaps a scientific meeting would be rather boring if we did—but through discussion, disagreement and shared curiosity, we learn from one another. To me, this is one of the greatest pleasures of an international scientific community.

It has been 14 years since a SETAC Asia-Pacific meeting was last held in Japan, when the meeting took place in Kumamoto. At that meeting, I was simply one of the participants, enjoying the science and meeting colleagues from around the world. Fourteen years later, I now find myself on the other side, welcoming all of you to the SETAC Asia-Pacific 15th Biennial Meeting in Tsukuba, Japan. I am not sure whether this means that SETAC has changed or simply that I have grown older—but either way, it is a great pleasure and a privilege to welcome you here.

Of course, an international meeting is about more than presentations and scientific sessions. Some of the best ideas—and some of the longest friendships—begin over coffee, dinner or an unexpected conversation in the hallway. I hope you will take full advantage of these opportunities to meet new people, exchange ideas freely, renew old friendships and start new collaborations.

Please enjoy the science, enjoy the people, and enjoy Japan.

Welcome to Tsukuba and to SETAC Asia-Pacific. I sincerely hope that when you return home, you will take with you not only new scientific ideas but also new friends and good memories of your time in Japan.