KKU NEWSLETTER 2017 JANUARY

KHON KAEN UNIVERSITY

Volume 1, Issue 1

1. KKU welcomes the representative from the British Council, Thailand

On January 11, 2017, Mr. Andrew Glass, OBE, Country Director, British Council, Thailand visited Khon Kaen University and met with the KKU administrators led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai, the President of KKU, administrator from the Department of International Affairs, the Department of Research and Technology Transfer Affairs, and Dean and lecturers from the Faculty of Science. The discussion was on cooperation between two organizations, advertisement of Newton fund, and scholarships for education and research. Mr. Andrew Glass also expressed his appreciation to KKU administrators for always supporting the activities of the British Council. The latest activity will take place under the cooperation between the two organizations on January 25, 2017 is the road show activity, FameLab, a science communication competition, and School Lab. This is the first regional event at the University which will provide opportunities for students and interested people to attend in the event. In the event, the activities included tricks and how to give presentation on sciences interestingly given by two speakers, Dr. Mr. Khaow Tonsomboon, the researcher at the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC) and the winner of FameLab Thailand 2016 and Ms. Vena Naoprateep, STEM Ambassadors Thailand.

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2. KKU, MIT Sana, and Harvard Medical School co-organize KKU mHealth 2017

KKU, MIT Sana, and Harvard Medical School co-organized KKU mHealth 2017(Bootcamp and Hackathon) under the theme “mHealth Thailand, Mobile Technology for Health Care Improvement”. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai, President of KKU, presided of the event together with administrators, lecturers, staff, and students. KKU also had an honor of delegates from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Harvard Medical School (HMS), the United States of America, University of Waterloo, Canada, and Thai Health Information Standards Development Center, Health Systems Research Institute (HSRI), Ministry of Public Health, Thailand to be speakers and mentors in this event. “KKU mHealth” was an innovative program which included Bootcamp and Hackathon that brought together students and faculty from the fields of Medicine, Public Health, Computer Engineering, Computer Science, Dentistry, Social Sciences, Business, Design, and related fields at Khon Kaen University (KKU) to collaborate on mHealth (mobile and wireless communication technologies for health), solutions for health care challenges in Thailand. It was the collaborative project with MIT Sana, a group of Harvard-MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) doctors and engineers who developed mobile health technology solutions. The project was held at Khon Kaen University on January 9-13, 2017. In this event, almost 300 interested people registered to participate in this the project. The project was divided into 3 parts including 2-day “Bootcamp” at Sirikunakorn Building, 2-day “Hackathon”, and 1-day “Presentation and Awards” at Khon Kaen University Library. There were 5 rewards funded by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA. The winner prize was 55,000 baht; the 1 st runner up prize was 35,000 baht, the 2nd runner up prize was 15,000 baht, three honorary prizes were 10,000 each. The winner is the couple team from “New Innovation” and “Srinagarind Dream Team”, which developed the queue service system for patients by using the Hospital SmartQ application, so the patients would know time for their queue and could plan and manage their time appropriately. The 1 st runner up was Ateam and KKU Blond Bank teams, and the 2 rd runner up was CC and Jargon teams. This project received the great support from MIT SANA, Harvard Medical School, KKU staff and sponsors Fresenius Kabi Thailand, True Corporation Public Company Limited, and the Faculty of Medicine, Khon Kaen University.

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3. KKU welcomes a professor from University of Porto, Portugal

On January 18, 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Piboon Daosodsai, Dean of the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences and the faculty members welcomed Prof. Dr. Anake Kijjoa, professor of chemistry from the Biomedical Sciences Institute of Abel Salazar (ICBAS), University of Porto, Portugal. He visited KKU to give the special talk on the topics of “Research and doing Research in the Universities in EU” and “European traditions, culture and medical therapeutic team working and/or sharing international experiences” to the KKU International and Thai lecturers, staff, and students. Dr. Anake Kijjoa was a former lecturer at Chulalongkorn University, and he is an honorary academic of an international repute. Prof. Dr. Anake Kijjoa has published many academic journals and is also a recipient of the Thai Professional Award. 4. KKU organizes the ForUM Expert Seminar at the Faculty of Architecture

On January 20, 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nawarat Wara-aswapati Charoen, Vice President for International Affairs presided over the ForUM Expert Seminar, co-organized by the Faculty of Architecture, Khon Kaen University and the Institute of Geography, the University of Cologne, Germany during January 19-24, 2017. This event aims to expand the roles of Khon Kaen University and Thailand to an international level. This event not only strengthened and exchanged academic knowledge in related fields to expand research and academics considerably, but it also built good relationships between institutions and overseas countries. Many academics, lecturers, graduate students, and other interested people from various institutions and private sectors attended in the event.

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5. KKU organizes FameLab & School Lab Thailand 2017

On January 20, 2017, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Teekayu Plangkoon Jorns, Assistant to the President for International Relations presided over FameLab & School Lab Thailand 2017 event which was coorganized by the Faculty of Science, KKU, British Council Thailand, Ministry of Science and Technology, True Corporation Public Company Limited, National Science and Technology Development Agency, National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office, Natural Science Museum, EURAXESS, and iT24hrs. The competition searched for people who could explain a scientific concept interestingly with fun in just three minutes. It was a single entry for two types of competitions: FameLab Thailand 2017 and SchoolLab Thailand 2017. More than 120 people participated in this event. In the afternoon, it was live audition at the Faculty of Science. There were 12 competitors from the Faculty of Science in areas of biochemistry, chemistry, biology, computer, and physics, the Faculty of Nursing, and the Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences. There were judged by the committee, the STEM Ambassador 2016 and the winner of FameLab 2016. The 10 competitors who passed the clip and live audition rounds will be able to attend the seminar for increasing their capability in science communication and join the FameLab Thailand Completion on May 4, 2017. The winner will represent Thailand to join the FameLab International Finals at Cheltenham Science Festival, United Kingdom in June 2017.

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6. KKU student receives the winner award in the PMAC 2017 World Art Contest

On January 29, 2017, Mr. Pongsathon Tipasatien, the 2nd Year student in a Visual Arts program of the Faculty of Fine and Applied Arts, Khon Kaen University submitted his drawing under the topic of “Everyone Matters” in the Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC). His drawing could make a convincing impression on the committee of PMAC and finally won the award of the PMAC 2017 World Art Contest in the general category of individuals aged between 18-25 years old. Mr. Pongsathon Tipasatien received the trophy and scholarship of 21,000 Baht. The award ceremony was held at Centara Grand, Central World, Bangkok. The Prince Mahidol Award Conference (PMAC) has been organized since 2007 as an annual international conference focusing on policy-related public health issues of global significance. The conference was hosted by the Prince Mahidol Award Foundation, the Royal Thai Government, and other prestigious global partners. It is an international policy forum that constitutes of Global Health Institutes, both public and private, can be co-owned and be used for advocacy and for seeking international perspectives on important global health issues. This year, the main issue was “Addressing the Health of Vulnerable Populations for an Inclusive Society”. 7. KKU students win the SCG Awards to go on a study trip to Japan

On January 30, 2017, KKU students had a study trip to Japan by winning the SCG Awards in the Inspire in Style Design Contest 2016 on November 26, 2016. The topics of this contest were divided into 3 groups including Mediterranean style, Thai-oriental style, and natural science. The group of competitors chose different types of a single house design in the area of 170-200 meters under the conditions of using specified SCG materials. All the 18 competitors who passed the first round would get 3,000 Baht each as supporting fund for travel and model building. Furthermore, the 7 competitors who received the winner awards would also get a chance to go for a study trip to Japan with equally shared reward of 425,000 Baht in total for pocket money. After the presentations by all the competitors, KKU students from the Faculty of Architecture received two awards under the Thaioriental style category including the winning award (Relax house) and the 1 st runner-up award (The seasons). They also received two awards under the Mediterranean style category including the winning award (Mask House) and the 2st runner-up award (Casa Panorama).

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8. Four Ambassadors to the Kingdom of Thailand officially visit KKU

On January 30, 2017, H.E. Mr. Ben King, New Zealand Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Staffan Herrström, Swedish Ambassador, H.E. Mr. Enno Drofenik, Austrian Ambassador, and H.E. Mr. Brendan Rogers, Irish Ambassador officially visited KKU. They were welcomed by KKU administrators led by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Kittichai Triratanasirichai, President of KKU. This joint visit of the ambassadors aims to strengthen the relations and discuss academic collaborations between the five organizations towards student and staff exchanges, joint research projects, and increasing numbers of international students. Moreover, the ambassadors also kindly participated in the 14th Khon Kaen International Marathon held on January 29, 2017 at KKU with enjoyable surroundings joining the enthusiastic KKU community and public participation.

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Produced by International Relations Division, Khon Kaen University © Copyright 2017 Editors: Ms. Netdao Chamroendararasmee, Acting Director for International Relations Division Mr. Isara Suriyagul Na Ayudhaya, International Relations Officer Ms. Wadinlada Thuratham, International Relations Officer Advisors: Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nawarat Wara-aswapati Charoen, Vice President for International Affairs Asst. Prof. Dr. Teekayu Plangkoon Jorns, Assistant to the President for International Relations Asst. Prof. Dr. Acharawan Topark-Ngam, Assistant to the President for International Collaboration

International Relations Division Khon Kaen University 4th Floor, Bimala Kalakicha Building, 123 Mittraparb Road, Muang District, Khon Kaen 40002, Thailand Tel: (+66) -43-202059 Fax: (+66)-43-202498 E-mail: [email protected] Website: https://ird.kku.ac.th/

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